Cousin Betty — Chapter 29
On hearing these words, “Two hundred thousand francs,” Crevel understood all.
He cheerfully raised the Baroness, saying insolently: “Come, come, bear up, mother,” which Adeline, in her distraction, failed to hear.
The scene was changing its character.
Crevel was becoming “master of the situation,” to use his own words.
The vastness of the sum startled Crevel so greatly that his emotion at seeing this handsome woman in tears at his feet was forgotten.
Besides, however angelical and saintly a woman may be, when she is crying bitterly her beauty disappears.
A Madame Marneffe, as has been seen, whimpers now and then, a tear trickles down her cheek; but as to melting into tears and making her eyes and nose red!
--never would she commit such a blunder.
“Come, child, compose yourself.
--Deuce take it!
” Crevel went on, taking Madame Hulot’s hands in his own and patting them.
“Why do you apply to me for two hundred thousand francs?
What do you want with them?
Whom are they for?
” “Do not,” said she, “insist on any explanations.
Give me the money!
--You will save three lives and the honor of our children.
” “And do you suppose, my good mother, that in all Paris you will find a man who at a word from a half-crazy woman will go off _hic et nunc_, and bring out of some drawer, Heaven knows where, two hundred thousand francs that have been lying simmering there till she is pleased to scoop them up?
Is that all you know of life and of business, my beauty?
Your folks are in a bad way; you may send them the last sacraments; for no one in Paris but her Divine Highness Madame la Banque, or the great Nucingen, or some miserable miser who is in love with gold as we other folks are with a woman, could produce such a miracle!
The civil list, civil as it may be, would beg you to call again tomorrow.
Every one invests his money, and turns it over to the best of his powers.
“You are quite mistaken, my angel, if you suppose that King Louis-Philippe rules us; he himself knows better than that.
He knows as well as we do that supreme above the Charter reigns the holy, venerated, substantial, delightful, obliging, beautiful, noble, ever-youthful, and all-powerful five-franc piece!
But money, my beauty, insists on interest, and is always engaged in seeking it!
‘God of the Jews, thou art supreme!
’ says Racine.
The perennial parable of the golden calf, you see!
--In the days of Moses there was stock-jobbing in the desert!
“We have reverted to Biblical traditions; the Golden Calf was the first State ledger,” he went on.
“You, my Adeline, have not gone beyond the Rue Plumet.
The Egyptians had lent enormous sums to the Hebrews, and what they ran after was not God’s people, but their capital.
” He looked at the Baroness with an expression which said, “How clever I am!
” “You know nothing of the devotion of every city man to his sacred hoard!
” he went on, after a pause.
“Excuse me.
Listen to me.
Get this well into your head.
--You want two hundred thousand francs?
No one can produce the sum without selling some security.
Now consider!
To have two hundred thousand francs in hard cash it would be needful to sell about seven hundred thousand francs’ worth of stock at three per cent.
Well;
and then you would only get the money on the third day.
That is the quickest way.
To persuade a man to part with a fortune--for two hundred thousand francs is the whole fortune of many a man--he ought at least to know where it is all going to, and for what purpose--” “It is going, my dear kind Crevel, to save the lives of two men, one of whom will die of grief and the other will kill himself!
And to save me too from going mad!
Am I not a little mad already?
” “Not so mad!
” said he, taking Madame Hulot round the knees; “old Crevel has his price, since you thought of applying to him, my angel.
” “They submit to have a man’s arms round their knees, it would seem!
” thought the saintly woman, covering her face with her hands.
“Once you offered me a fortune!
” said she, turning red.
“Ay, mother!
but that was three years ago!
” replied Crevel.
“Well, you are handsomer now than ever I saw you!
” he went on, taking the Baroness’ arm and pressing it to his heart.
“You have a good memory, my dear, by Jove!
--And now you see how wrong you were to be so prudish, for those three hundred thousand francs that you refused so magnanimously are in another woman’s pocket.
I loved you then, I love you still; but just look back these three years.
“When I said to you, ‘You shall be mine,’ what object had I in view?
I
meant to be revenged on that rascal Hulot.
But your husband, my beauty, found himself a mistress--a jewel of a woman, a pearl, a cunning hussy then aged three-and-twenty, for she is six-and-twenty now.
It struck me as more amusing, more complete, more Louis XV.
, more Marechal de Richelieu, more first-class altogether, to filch away that charmer, who, in point of fact, never cared for Hulot, and who for these three years has been madly in love with your humble servant.
” As he spoke, Crevel, from whose hands the Baroness had released her own, had resumed his favorite attitude; both thumbs were stuck into his armholes, and he was patting his ribs with his fingers, like two flapping wings, fancying that he was thus making himself very attractive and charming.
It was as much as to say, “And this is the man you would have nothing to say to!
” “There you are my dear; I had my revenge, and your husband knows it.
I
proved to him clearly that he was basketed--just where he was before, as we say.
Madame Marneffe is my mistress, and when her precious Marneffe kicks the bucket, she will be my wife.
” Madame Hulot stared at Crevel with a fixed and almost dazed look.
“Hector knew it?
” she said.
“And went back to her,” replied Crevel.
“And I allowed it, because Valerie wished to be the wife of a head-clerk; but she promised me that she would manage things so that our Baron should be so effectually bowled over that he can never interfere any more.
And my little duchess--for that woman is a born duchess, on my soul!
--kept her word.
She restores you your Hector, madame, virtuous in perpetuity, as she says--she is so witty!
He has had a good lesson, I can tell you!
The Baron has had some hard knocks; he will help no more actresses or fine ladies; he is radically cured; cleaned out like a beer-glass.
“If you had listened to Crevel in the first instance, instead of scorning him and turning him out of the house, you might have had four hundred thousand francs, for my revenge has cost me all of that.
--But I shall get my change back, I hope, when Marneffe dies--I have invested in a wife, you see; that is the secret of my extravagance.
I have solved the problem of playing the lord on easy terms.
” “Would you give your daughter such a mother-in-law?
cried Madame Hulot.
“You do not know Valerie, madame,” replied Crevel gravely, striking the attitude of his first manner.
“She is a woman with good blood in her veins, a lady, and a woman who enjoys the highest consideration.
Why, only yesterday the vicar of the parish was dining with her.
She is pious, and we have presented a splendid monstrance to the church.
“Oh!
she is clever, she is witty, she is delightful, well informed--she has everything in her favor.
For my part, my dear Adeline, I owe everything to that charming woman; she has opened my mind, polished my speech, as you may have noticed; she corrects my impetuosity, and gives me words and ideas.
I never say anything now that I ought not.
I have greatly improved; you must have noticed it.
And then she has encouraged my ambition.
I shall be a Deputy; and I shall make no blunders, for I shall consult my Egeria.
Every great politician, from Numa to our present Prime Minister, has had his Sibyl of the fountain.
A score of deputies visit Valerie; she is acquiring considerable influence; and now that she is about to be established in a charming house, with a carriage, she will be one of the occult rulers of Paris.
“A fine locomotive!
That is what such a woman is.
Oh, I have blessed you many a time for your stern virtue.
” “It is enough to make one doubt the goodness of God!
” cried Adeline, whose indignation had dried her tears.
“But, no!
Divine justice must be hanging over her head.
” “You know nothing of the world, my beauty,” said the great politician, deeply offended.
“The world, my Adeline, loves success!
Say, now, has it come to seek out your sublime virtue, priced at two hundred thousand francs?
” The words made Madame Hulot shudder; the nervous trembling attacked her once more.
She saw that the ex-perfumer was taking a mean revenge on her as he had on Hulot; she felt sick with disgust, and a spasm rose to her throat, hindering speech.
“Money!
” she said at last.
“Always money!
” “You touched me deeply,” said Crevel, reminded by these words of the woman’s humiliation, “when I beheld you there, weeping at my feet!
--You perhaps will not believe me, but if I had my pocket-book about me, it would have been yours.
--Come, do you really want such a sum?
” As she heard this question, big with two hundred thousand francs, Adeline forgot the odious insults heaped on her by this cheap-jack fine gentleman, before the tempting picture of success described by Machiavelli-Crevel, who only wanted to find out her secrets and laugh over them with Valerie.
“Oh!
I will do anything, everything,” cried the unhappy woman.
“Monsieur, I will sell myself--I will be a Valerie, if I must.
” “You will find that difficult,” replied Crevel.
“Valerie is a masterpiece in her way.
My good mother, twenty-five years of virtue are always repellent, like a badly treated disease.
And your virtue has grown very mouldy, my dear child.
But you shall see how much I love you.
I will manage to get you your two hundred thousand francs.
” Adeline, incapable of uttering a word, seized his hand and laid it on her heart; a tear of joy trembled in her eyes.
“Oh!
don’t be in a hurry; there will be some hard pulling.
I am a jolly good fellow, a good soul with no prejudices, and I will put things plainly to you.
You want to do as Valerie does--very good.
But that is not all; you must have a gull, a stockholder, a Hulot.
--Well, I know a retired tradesman--in fact, a hosier.
He is heavy, dull, has not an idea, I am licking him into shape, but I don’t know when he will do me credit.
My man is a deputy, stupid and conceited; the tyranny of a turbaned wife, in the depths of the country, has preserved him in a state of utter virginity as to the luxury and pleasures of Paris life.
But Beauvisage--his name is Beauvisage--is a millionaire, and, like me, my dear, three years ago, he will give a hundred thousand crowns to be the lover of a real lady.
--Yes, you see,” he went on, misunderstanding a gesture on Adeline’s part, “he is jealous of me, you understand; jealous of my happiness with Madame Marneffe, and he is a fellow quite capable of selling an estate to purchase a--” “Enough, Monsieur Crevel!
” said Madame Hulot, no longer controlling her disgust, and showing all her shame in her face.
“I am punished beyond my deserts.
My conscience, so sternly repressed by the iron hand of necessity, tells me, at this final insult, that such sacrifices are impossible.
--My pride is gone; I do not say now, as I did the first time, ‘Go!
’ after receiving this mortal thrust.
I have lost the right to do so.
I have flung myself before you like a prostitute.
“Yes,” she went on, in reply to a negative on Crevel’s part, “I have fouled my life, till now so pure, by a degrading thought; and I am inexcusable!
--I know it!
--I deserve every insult you can offer me!
God’s will be done!
If, indeed, He desires the death of two creatures worthy to appear before Him, they must die!
I shall mourn them, and pray for them!
If it is His will that my family should be humbled to the dust, we must bow to His avenging sword, nay, and kiss it, since we are Christians.
--I know how to expiate this disgrace, which will be the torment of all my remaining days.
“I who speak to you, monsieur, am not Madame Hulot, but a wretched, humble sinner, a Christian whose heart henceforth will know but one feeling, and that is repentance, all my time given up to prayer and charity.
With such a sin on my soul, I am the last of women, the first only of penitents.
--You have been the means of bringing me to a right mind; I can hear the Voice of God speaking within me, and I can thank you!
” She was shaking with the nervous trembling which from that hour never left her.
Her low, sweet tones were quite unlike the fevered accents of the woman who was ready for dishonor to save her family.
The blood faded from her cheeks, her face was colorless, and her eyes were dry.
“And I played my part very badly, did I not?
” she went on, looking at Crevel with the sweetness that martyrs must have shown in their eyes as they looked up at the Proconsul.
“True love, the sacred love of a devoted woman, gives other pleasures, no doubt, than those that are bought in the open market!
--But why so many words?
” said she, suddenly bethinking herself, and advancing a step further in the way to perfection.
“They sound like irony, but I am not ironical!
Forgive me.
Besides, monsieur, I did not want to hurt any one but myself--” The dignity of virtue and its holy flame had expelled the transient impurity of the woman who, splendid in her own peculiar beauty, looked taller in Crevel’s eyes.
Adeline had, at this moment, the majesty of the figures of Religion clinging to the Cross, as painted by the old Venetians; but she expressed, too, the immensity of her love and the grandeur of the Catholic Church, to which she flew like a wounded dove.
Crevel was dazzled, astounded.
“Madame, I am your slave, without conditions,” said he, in an inspiration of generosity.
“We will look into this matter--and--whatever you want--the impossible even--I will do.
I will pledge my securities at the Bank, and in two hours you shall have the money.
” “Good God!
a miracle!
” said poor Adeline, falling on her knees.
She prayed to Heaven with such fervor as touched Crevel deeply; Madame Hulot saw that he had tears in his eyes when, having ended her prayer, she rose to her feet.
“Be a friend to me, monsieur,” said she.
“Your heart is better than your words and conduct.
God gave you your soul; your passions and the world have given you your ideas.
Oh, I will love you truly,” she exclaimed, with an angelic tenderness in strange contrast with her attempts at coquettish trickery.
“But cease to tremble so,” said Crevel.
“Am I trembling?
” said the Baroness, unconscious of the infirmity that had so suddenly come upon her.
“Yes; why, look,” said Crevel, taking Adeline by the arm and showing her that she was shaking with nervousness.
“Come, madame,” he added respectfully, “compose yourself; I am going to the Bank at once.
” “And come back quickly!
Remember,” she added, betraying all her secrets, “that the first point is to prevent the suicide of our poor Uncle Fischer involved by my husband--for I trust you now, and I am telling you everything.
Oh, if we should not be on time, I know my brother-in-law, the Marshal, and he has such a delicate soul, that he would die of it in a few days.
” “I am off, then,” said Crevel, kissing the Baroness’ hand.
“But what has that unhappy Hulot done?
” “He has swindled the Government.
” “Good Heavens!
I fly, madame; I understand, I admire you!
” Crevel bent one knee, kissed Madame Hulot’s skirt, and vanished, saying, “You will see me soon.
” Unluckily, on his way from the Rue Plumet to his own house, to fetch the securities, Crevel went along the Rue Vanneau, and he could not resist going in to see his little Duchess.
His face still bore an agitated expression.
He went straight into Valerie’s room, who was having her hair dressed.
She looked at Crevel in her glass, and, like every woman of that sort, was annoyed, before she knew anything about it, to see that he was moved by some strong feeling of which she was not the cause.
“What is the matter, my dear?
” said she.
“Is that a face to bring in to your little Duchess?
I will not be your Duchess any more, monsieur, no more than I will be your ‘little duck,’ you old monster.
” Crevel replied by a melancholy smile and a glance at the maid.
“Reine, child, that will do for to-day; I can finish my hair myself.
Give me my Chinese wrapper; my gentleman seems to me out of sorts.
” Reine, whose face was pitted like a colander, and who seemed to have been made on purpose to wait on Valerie, smiled meaningly in reply, and brought the dressing-gown.
Valerie took off her combing-wrapper; she was in her shift, and she wriggled into the dressing-gown like a snake into a clump of grass.
“Madame is not at home?
” “What a question!
” said Valerie.
--“Come, tell me, my big puss, have _Rives Gauches_ gone down?
” “No. ” “They have raised the price of the house?
” “No. ” “You fancy that you are not the father of our little Crevel?
” “What nonsense!
” replied he, sure of his paternity.
“On my honor, I give it up!
” said Madame Marneffe.
“If I am expected to extract my friend’s woes as you pull the cork out of a bottle of Bordeaux, I let it alone.
--Go away, you bore me.
” “It is nothing,” said Crevel.
“I must find two hundred thousand francs in two hours.
” “Oh, you can easily get them.
--I have not spent the fifty thousand francs we got out of Hulot for that report, and I can ask Henri for fifty thousand--” “Henri--it is always Henri!
” exclaimed Crevel.
“And do you suppose, you great baby of a Machiavelli, that I will cast off Henri?
Would France disarm her fleet?
--Henri!
why, he is a dagger in a sheath hanging on a nail.
That boy serves as a weather-glass to show me if you love me--and you don’t love me this morning.
” “I don’t love you, Valerie?
” cried Crevel.
“I love you as much as a million.
” “That is not nearly enough!
” cried she, jumping on to Crevel’s knee, and throwing both arms round his neck as if it were a peg to hang on by.
“I want to be loved as much as ten millions, as much as all the gold in the world, and more to that.
Henri would never wait a minute before telling me all he had on his mind.
What is it, my great pet?
Have it out.
Make a clean breast of it to your own little duck!
” And she swept her hair over Crevel’s face, while she jestingly pulled his nose.
“Can a man with a nose like that,” she went on, “have any secrets from his _Vava--lele--ririe_?
” And at the _Vava_ she tweaked his nose to the right; at _lele_ it went to the left; at _ririe_ she nipped it straight again.
“Well, I have just seen--” Crevel stopped and looked at Madame Marneffe.
“Valerie, my treasure, promise me on your honor--ours, you know?
--not to repeat a single word of what I tell you.
” “Of course, Mayor, we know all about that.
One hand up--so--and one foot--so!
” And she put herself in an attitude which, to use Rabelais’ phrase, stripped Crevel bare from his brain to his heels, so quaint and delicious was the nudity revealed through the light film of lawn.
“I have just seen virtue in despair.
” “Can despair possess virtue?
” said she, nodding gravely and crossing her arms like Napoleon.
“It is poor Madame Hulot.
She wants two hundred thousand francs, or else Marshal Hulot and old Johann Fischer will blow their brains out; and as you, my little Duchess, are partly at the bottom of the mischief, I am going to patch matters up.
She is a saintly creature, I know her well;
she will repay you every penny.
” At the name of Hulot, at the words two hundred thousand francs, a gleam from Valerie’s eyes flashed from between her long eyelids like the flame of a cannon through the smoke.
“What did the old thing do to move you to compassion?
Did she show you--what?
--her--her religion?
” “Do not make game of her, sweetheart; she is a very saintly, a very noble and pious woman, worthy of all respect.
” “Am I not worthy of respect then, heh?
” answered Valerie, with a threatening gaze at Crevel.
“I never said so,” replied he, understanding that the praise of virtue might not be gratifying to Madame Marneffe.
“I am pious too,” Valerie went on, taking her seat in an armchair; “but I do not make a trade of my religion.
I go to church in secret.
” She sat in silence, and paid no further heed to Crevel.
He, extremely ill at ease, came to stand in front of the chair into which Valerie had thrown herself, and saw her lost in the reflections he had been so foolish as to suggest.
“Valerie, my little Angel!
” Utter silence.
A highly problematical tear was furtively dashed away.
“One word, my little duck?
” “Monsieur!
” “What are you thinking of, my darling?
” “Oh, Monsieur Crevel, I was thinking of the day of my first communion!
How pretty I was!
How pure, how saintly!
--immaculate!
--Oh!
if any one had come to my mother and said, ‘Your daughter will be a hussy, and unfaithful to her husband; one day a police-officer will find her in a disreputable house; she will sell herself to a Crevel to cheat a Hulot--two horrible old men--’ Poof!
horrible--she would have died before the end of the sentence, she was so fond of me, poor dear!
--” “Nay, be calm.
” “You cannot think how well a woman must love a man before she can silence the remorse that gnaws at the heart of an adulterous wife.
I
am quite sorry that Reine is not here; she would have told you that she found me this morning praying with tears in my eyes.
I, Monsieur Crevel, for my part, do not make a mockery of religion.
Have you ever heard me say a word I ought not on such a subject?
” Crevel shook his head in negation.
“I will never allow it to be mentioned in my presence.
I can make fun of anything under the sun: Kings, politics, finance, everything that is sacred in the eyes of the world--judges, matrimony, and love--old men and maidens.
But the Church and God!
--There I draw the line.
--I know I am wicked; I am sacrificing my future life to you.
And you have no conception of the immensity of my love.
” Crevel clasped his hands.
“No, unless you could see into my heart, and fathom the depth of my conviction so as to know the extent of my sacrifice!
I feel in me the making of a Magdalen.
--And see how respectfully I treat the priests;
