"I am not so romantic as you are pleased to say, sir. I must confess that, as regards the future, I have counted upon your kindness. You are so rich, that five hundred thousand francs would not materially affect your fortune; and, on the interest of that sum, I could live quietly, if not happily."
"And suppose I refuse you this money?"
"I know you well enough, sir, to feel sure that you will not do so. You are too just to wish that I alone should expiate wrongs that are not of my making. Left to myself, I should at my present age have achieved a position. It is late for me to try and make one now; but I will do my best."
"Superb!" interrupted the count; "you are really superb! One never heard of such a hero of romance. What a character! But tell me, what do you expect from all this astonishing disinterestedness?"
"Nothing, sir."
The count shrugged his shoulders, looked sarcastically at his son, and observed: "The compensation is very slight. And you expect me to believe all this! No, sir, mankind is not in the habit of indulging in such fine actions for its pleasure alone. You must have some reason for acting so grandly; some reason which I fail to see."
"None but what I have already told you."
"Therefore it is understood you intend to relinquish everything; you will even abandon your proposed union with Mademoiselle Claire d"Arlange? You forget that for two years I have in vain constantly expressed my disappointment of this marriage."
"No, sir. I have seen Mademoiselle Claire; I have explained my unhappy position to her. Whatever happens, she has sworn to be my wife."
"And do you think that Madame d"Arlange will give her granddaughter to M. Gerdy?"
"We hope so, sir. The marchioness is sufficiently infected with aristocratic ideas to prefer a n.o.bleman"s b.a.s.t.a.r.d to the son of some honest tradesman; but should she refuse, we would await her death, though without desiring it."
The calm manner in which Albert said this enraged the count.
"Can this be my son?" he cried. "Never! What blood have you then in your veins, sir? Your worthy mother alone might tell us, provided, however, she herself knows."
"Sir," cried Albert menacingly, "think well before you speak! She is my mother, and that is sufficient. I am her son, not her judge. No one shall insult her in my presence, I will not permit it, sir; and I will suffer it least of all from you."
The count made great efforts to keep his anger within bounds, but Albert"s behavior thoroughly enraged him. What, his son rebelled, he dared to brave him to his face, he threatened him! The old fellow jumped from his chair, and moved towards the young man as if he would strike him.
"Leave the room," he cried, in a voice choking with rage, "leave the room instantly! Retire to your apartments, and take care not to leave them without my orders. To-morrow I will let you know my decision."
Albert bowed respectfully, but without lowering his eyes and walked slowly to the door. He had already opened it, when M. de Commarin experienced one of those revulsions of feeling, so frequent in violent natures.
"Albert," said he, "come here and listen to me."
The young man turned back, much affected by this change.
"Do not go," continued the count, "until I have told you what I think.
You are worthy of being the heir of a great house, sir. I may be angry with you; but I can never lose my esteem for you. You are a n.o.ble man, Albert. Give me your hand."
It was a happy moment for these two men, and such a one as they had scarcely ever experienced in their lives, restrained as they had been by cold etiquette. The count felt proud of his son, and recognised in him himself at that age. For a long time their hands remained clasped, without either being able to utter a word.
At last, M. de Commarin resumed his seat.
"I must ask you to leave me, Albert," he said kindly. "I must be alone to reflect, to try and accustom myself to this terrible blow."
And, as the young man closed the door, he added, as if giving vent to his inmost thoughts, "If he, in whom I have placed all my hope, deserts me, what will become of me? And what will the other one be like?"
Albert"s features, when he left the count"s study, bore traces of the violent emotions he had felt during the interview. The servants whom he met noticed it the more, as they had heard something of the quarrel.
"Well," said an old footman who had been in the family thirty years, "the count has had another unhappy scene with his son. The old fellow has been in a dreadful pa.s.sion."
"I got wind of it at dinner," spoke up a valet de chambre: "the count restrained himself enough not to burst out before me; but he rolled his eyes fiercely."
"What can be the matter?"
"Pshaw! that"s more than they know themselves. Why, Denis, before whom they always speak freely, says that they often wrangle for hours together, like dogs, about things which he can never see through."
"Ah," cried out a young fellow, who was being trained to service, "if I were in the viscount"s place, I"d settle the old gent pretty effectually!"
"Joseph, my friend," said the footman pointedly, "you are a fool. You might give your father his walking ticket very properly, because you never expect five sous from him; and you have already learned how to earn your living without doing any work at all. But the viscount, pray tell me what he is good for, what he knows how to do? Put him in the centre of Paris, with only his fine hands for capital, and you will see."
"Yes, but he has his mother"s property in Normandy," replied Joseph.
"I can"t for the life of me," said the valet de chambre, "see what the count finds to complain of; for his son is a perfect model, and I shouldn"t be sorry to have one like him. There was a very different pair, when I was in the Marquis de Courtivois"s service. He was one who made it a point never to be in good humor. His eldest son, who is a friend of the viscount"s, and who comes here occasionally, is a pit without a bottom, as far as money is concerned. He will fritter away a thousand-franc note quicker than Joseph can smoke a pipe."
"But the marquis is not rich," said a little old man, who himself had perhaps the enormous wages of fifteen francs; "he can"t have more than sixty thousand francs" income at the most."
"That"s why he gets angry. Every day there is some new story about his son. He had an apartment in the house; he went in and out when he pleased; he pa.s.sed his nights in gaming and drinking; he cut up so with the actresses that the police had to interfere. Besides all this, I have many a time had to help him up to his room, and put him to bed, when the waiters from the restaurants brought him home in a carriage, so drunk that he could scarcely say a word."
"Ha!" exclaimed Joseph enthusiastically, "this fellow"s service must be mighty profitable."
"That was according to circ.u.mstances. When he was at play, he was lavish with his money; but he always lost: and, when he was drunk, he had a quick temper, and didn"t spare the blows. I must do him the justice to say, though, that his cigars were splendid. But he was a ruffian; while the viscount here is a true child of wisdom. He is severe upon our faults, it is true; but he is never harsh nor brutal to his servants.
Then he is uniformly generous; which in the long run pays us best. I must say that he is better than the majority, and that the count is very unreasonable."
Such was the judgment of the servants. That of society was perhaps less favorable.
The Viscount de Commarin was not one of those who possess the rather questionable and at times unenviable accomplishment of pleasing every one. He was wise enough to distrust those astonishing personages who are always praising everybody. In looking about us, we often see men of success and reputation, who are simply dolts, without any merit except their perfect insignificance. That stupid propriety which offends no one, that uniform politeness which shocks no one"s vanity, have peculiarly the gift of pleasing and of succeeding.
One cannot meet certain persons without saying, "I know that face; I have seen it somewhere, before;" because it has no individuality, but simply resembles faces seen in a common crowd. It is precisely so with the minds of certain other people. When they speak, you know exactly what they are going to say; you have heard the same thing so many times already from them, you know all their ideas by heart. These people are welcomed everywhere: because they have nothing peculiar about them; and peculiarity, especially in the upper cla.s.ses, is always irritating and offensive; they detest all innovations.
Albert was peculiar; consequently much discussed, and very differently estimated. He was charged with sins of the most opposite character, with faults so contradictory that they were their own defence. Some accused him, for instance, of entertaining ideas entirely too liberal for one of his rank; and, at the same time, others complained of his excessive arrogance. He was charged with treating with insulting levity the most serious questions, and was then blamed for his affectation of gravity.
People knew him scarcely well enough to love him, while they were jealous of him and feared him.
He wore a bored look in all fashionable reunions, which was considered very bad taste. Forced by his relations, by his father, to go into society a great deal, he was bored, and committed the unpardonable sin of letting it be seen. Perhaps he had been disgusted by the constant court made to him, by the rather coa.r.s.e attentions which were never spared the n.o.ble heir of one of the richest families in France. Having all the necessary qualities for shining, he despised them. Dreadful sin!
He did not abuse his advantages; and no one ever heard of his getting into a sc.r.a.pe.
He had had once, it was said, a very decided liking for Madame Prosny, perhaps the naughtiest, certainly the most mischievous woman in Paris; but that was all. Mothers who had daughters to dispose of upheld him; but, for the last two years, they had turned against him, when his love for Mademoiselle d"Arlange became well known.
At the club they rallied him on his prudence. He had had, like others, his run of follies; but he had soon got disgusted with what it is the fashion to call pleasure. The n.o.ble profession of bon vivant appeared to him very tame and tiresome. He did not enjoy pa.s.sing his nights at cards; nor did he appreciate the society of those frail sisters, who in Paris give notoriety to their lovers. He affirmed that a gentleman was not necessarily an object of ridicule because he would not expose himself in the theatre with these women. Finally, none of his friends could ever inoculate him with a pa.s.sion for the turf.
As doing nothing wearied him, he attempted, like the parvenu, to give some meaning to life by work. He purposed, after a while, to take part in public affairs; and, as he had often been struck with the gross ignorance of many men in power, he wished to avoid their example. He busied himself with politics; and this was the cause of all his quarrels with his father. The one word of "liberal" was enough to throw the count into convulsions; and he suspected his son of liberalism, ever since reading an article by the viscount, published in the "Revue des Deux Mondes."
His ideas, however, did not prevent his fully sustaining his rank. He spent most n.o.bly on the world the revenue which placed his father and himself a little above it. His establishment, distinct from the count"s, was arranged as that of a wealthy young gentleman"s ought to be. His liveries left nothing to be desired; and his horses and equipages were celebrated. Letters of invitation were eagerly sought for to the grand hunting parties, which he formed every year towards the end of October at Commarin,--an admirable piece of property, covered with immense woods.
Albert"s love for Claire--a deep, well-considered love--had contributed not a little to keep him from the habits and life of the pleasant and elegant idleness indulged in by his friends. A n.o.ble attachment is always a great safeguard. In contending against it, M. de Commarin had only succeeded in increasing its intensity and insuring its continuance.
This pa.s.sion, so annoying to the count, was the source of the most vivid, the most powerful emotions in the viscount. Ennui was banished from his existence.