"You might at least save yourself the trouble of lying to me, who know you too well! and who know what your conduct has always been! When a man who has no income desires to meet his obligations, he says to himself: "I"ll work and earn money."--For, as I have told you a hundred times, there"s no other way to obtain an honorable position in the world. You refuse to understand that everybody on this earth has to work, from the smallest to the greatest, from the humblest clerk to the highest functionary, from the artisan to the artist. The very rich men whose lot you envy--for the idle and lazy, the people who do nothing, naturally envy the lot of the rich--those who have great wealth have to busy themselves with investing it, managing their property, overlooking the conduct of the people they employ, regulating their expenses; and if they wish to retain their fortune, I a.s.sure you they don"t pa.s.s their whole life enjoying themselves."
Ballangier lay back in his chair, shook the ashes out of his pipe, and looked at me with a bantering air, as he rejoined:
"What work have you, who preach so eloquently, ever done? What is your employment? I don"t know what it is, but I don"t think it"s very wearisome."
I could not restrain an indignant gesture, for the man"s ingrat.i.tude was revolting to me; he owed everything to me! But I soon grew calm again; there was one thought before which my anger vanished, and I replied quietly:
"In the first place, I was justified in not taking up any profession, as my father left me fifteen thousand francs a year."
"I don"t say that you did wrong; I am not blaming you, my dear fellow, but, that being the case, I wasn"t so far out of the way, was I?"
"I beg your pardon. Be good enough to listen to me. Although I had some fortune, I began at once to study law, in order to become an advocate.
Some time after, having a pa.s.sion for the arts, I studied music, painting, and sculpture, in turn; then I turned to poetry, I wrote a poem--a bad one, perhaps, but I devoted my best energies to it, none the less. So you see that I have done something; and if I should lose now what money I still have, I could make a living honestly, and without a.s.sistance, with the small talents I have acquired. Can you say as much, you who have nothing, no future prospects, but have never been willing to do anything or to learn anything? who, instead of remaining in the sphere in which you were born, have plunged into a vice-ridden circle, and acquired the tastes and habits and manners of people who are cast out from all respectable society?"
"What"s that? what"s that? I"m a cabinetmaker! Isn"t that a respectable trade? Anyone would think, to hear you, that I worked nights--on the dust heaps!"
"Oh! I don"t despise any trade, monsieur. I esteem every man whose behavior is honorable. The mechanic, the artisan, the day laborer, are all ent.i.tled to my esteem and consideration when they are honest and upright. I say again, there is no despicable trade; the vicious, lazy, idle people, the drunken debauchees, no matter to what rank in life they belong, are the ones whom we should look upon with contempt and shame.
You claim to be a mechanic, but you lie. You are nothing, neither cabinetmaker nor anything else, because you will not do anything, because work is a burden and a bore to you, because you have acquired the habit of pa.s.sing your time in wine shops and dance halls, or in vile dens of debauchery, where you have a.s.sociated yourself with wretches who are the offscourings of society! And at thirty-four years of age, you continue this line of conduct! Ah! you are incorrigible; that is evident!"
Ballangier threw his pipe on the floor, exclaiming angrily:
"d.a.m.nation! I"m sick of this sort of thing! If I am incorrigible, I don"t quite see why you preach this sermon at me!"
"I am ent.i.tled to do it; if you had followed my advice, listened to my entreaties, you would not be where I find you now. Furthermore, if my sermons displease you, why do you come here? I told you not to. Do I not send you regularly every three months the allowance that I have consented to make you, although, as you well know, I am under no obligation to do it? Only a fortnight ago, I went myself and handed your quarterly payment to your concierge."
"That"s just what I don"t want you to do! He kept half of it, the miserly old screw!"
"Kept it! You told me yourself that he was an honest man; and you say that he kept money belonging to you!"
"He claimed that I owed him for loans, and food, and carrying letters--mere trifles!"
"If you owed him, you should pay him."
"I"d have paid him later; he had no right to pay himself. Oh! I know the law, don"t I? You ought to know about it, as you studied to be an advocate."
"What do you want to-day? Why did you come here?"
"I wanted to tell you that I am going to move! I can"t stay in a house where the concierge has no sense of delicacy. By the way, you haven"t a gla.s.s of anything to give me, have you? I came out without my breakfast this morning; I"ve done a good deal of running around, and it makes a man hollow. Come, Charlot, be a good fellow! Don"t scowl at Fanfinet!
You know that I"m a good friend."
I made no reply, but opened a cupboard containing several bottles of different liqueurs. I took out one of them and a small gla.s.s, and placed them in front of Ballangier; who instantly pounced on the bottle and filled the gla.s.s to the brim, saying:
"Won"t you drink with me?"
"No; I never drink liqueur in the morning."
"As you please; there"s no accounting for tastes. You are very delicate, you are; for my part, I"d drink a goblet of rum without winking. This is anisette--a lady"s cordial! sweet as sugar! Never mind, it"s not bad."
"What are you doing now, Ballangier? Are you working anywhere? Come, tell me frankly."
"I"m going to tell you just how it is. As if I could conceal anything from you! I always pour out my troubles on your breast."
"Why did you come here to-day?"
"I"ll tell you all about it. But haven"t you something a little stiffer to give me? Your anisette makes me sick at my stomach. Tell me where it is; don"t disturb yourself."
"I have nothing else to give you; moreover, I don"t choose to give you anything else. If I listened to you, you would drink yourself drunk here. It"s quite enough that you should take the liberty to smoke; you know perfectly well that I don"t like it."
"People smoke in the most select society."
"Enough of this, monsieur! Why did you come here in spite of my prohibition?"
"Oh! monsieur--what a tone! We seem to be in an infernal humor to-day, monseigneur! Luckily, I"m not easily frightened."
I strove to keep down my irritation; I stood in front of my mirror and arranged my cravat, then finished dressing myself. Ballangier, seeing that I paid no heed to him, poured out another gla.s.s of anisette; then, trying to a.s.sume a piteous tone, he mumbled:
"I know well enough that I don"t amount to much, that I"ve often done foolish things. That"s true; but, after all, youth must have its fling; mine seems to last a good while, but whose fault is it? And it"s no time to treat me like a dog, just when I"ve made up my mind to turn over a new leaf, to straighten myself out and be sensible!"
He paused and glanced at me; but I did not say a word, and he continued:
"Yes, this time, I have reflected seriously. As you said just now, I am no longer young, I must think of my future; and an opportunity is offered me--an affair that would suit me to a T. I have spoken to you about Morillot--a good fellow, who"s in the cabinetmaking line; he"s no ne"er-do-well, but a worker; and I confess that if I"d listened to him, I"d be in better case than I am. Well, Morillot has gone back to Besancon, where he came from. He always said to me: "When I have a place for you, I"ll write and you can come."--Well, he"s just written to me, and he says that, if I choose to come, he"s got just what I want; and that, if I behave myself, I"ll soon be able to set up for myself at Besancon. I came here to tell you that."
I listened to Ballangier without interrupting him. I did not know whether I ought to believe him, he had deceived me so often! It was no easy matter to read his face; he could a.s.sume any expression he chose; he could even weep, when he thought that would advance his schemes.
"If this Morillot has really made you such a proposition, why don"t you go?" I asked at last.
"Ah! you"re a good one, you are! That"s easy enough to say. But I don"t want to go to Besancon dressed like this--all in rags; that would give people a bad opinion of me at the outset. If a man"s hide isn"t somewhere near decent--you know what fools folks are! And then the journey; and then, I shan"t get paid as soon as I arrive. In fact, I haven"t a sou, as that rascally concierge kept almost the whole of what you gave him for me. And, anyway, fifty francs a month ain"t a fortune!
A man can"t go far with that!"
"A man can live with that; and if you chose to work, you could have everything you need. How many poor women who pa.s.s their days sewing, and sit up half the night to add a few sous to their day"s pay, don"t earn as much as this sum that seems to you too small! But do you forget all that I have done for you? I have tried every possible means of bringing you back to a respectable mode of life. The more money I give you, the more you spend in those dens of iniquity where you pa.s.s your life. I got tired at last of supporting your vices; and I still do too much for you."
"Come! come! let"s not get excited! It"s not worth while to talk about the past. What"s gone by is wiped out. To-day, to replenish my wardrobe, to pay for my journey and incidental expenses, and to keep me till I get paid for my work, I need--_dame!_ I need fully four hundred francs. Oh!
I know it"s like pulling out a tooth, and that I"ve cost you a lot of money already; but this will be the last time; and you wont hear of me again. I"ll settle at Besancon; they say Franche-Comte is a pleasant country; at all events, I can be happy anywhere."
I reflected, while Ballangier watched me with something very like anxiety. He had lied to me so often that I dared not put faith in what he said.
"What have you to prove the truth of what you tell me?"
"Oh! I suspected that you wouldn"t believe me; but I have my proofs."
And Ballangier, feeling in his pocket, triumphantly produced a letter, which he handed to me. It came from Besancon, it was signed _Morillot_, and it did, in fact, contain what he had said. I had already given him money; but if I could finally rid myself of him and of the fear of meeting him in Paris---- That hope put an end to my hesitation.
I opened my secretary, took out four hundred francs in gold, and placed the money in Ballangier"s hand.
"Take it," I said; "and may you at last make a good use of what I give you!"
Ballangier turned purple with pleasure when he held the gold pieces in his hand; he made as if he would throw himself on my neck; but I stepped back and he checked himself, crying:
"That is true, I am not worthy; but I will wait till another time. I propose to become a model of virtue. Sacrebleu! I propose that you shall be satisfied with me at last! I will make it a point of honor! Au revoir, Charlot!--no, I mean adieu! you prefer that, and you"re quite right."