Gerfaut, Complete

n why, instead of visiting the banks of the Rhine as we agreed, you made me leave the route at Strasbourg under the pretext of walking through the picturesq

rfaut; "I have not fini

ont Blanc. She left for her home the next day without my meeting her again; but I preserved her name, and it was not unknown to me. I had heard i

assion not unlike an access of rage. I finished in four days two acts of a drama that I was then writing. I never had written anything more vigorous or more highly colored. My unconstrained genius

and to the meditations 'a la Werther'! The sky was blu

ting, the smallest details of her features, her toilette, her manner of walking and carrying her head. What had impressed me most was the extreme softness of her dark eyes, the almost childish tone of her voice, a vague odor of heliotrope with whic

more and more, and threatened to usurp the place of everything else. I then subjected myself to a rigid analysis; I sought for the exact location of this sentiment whose involuntary yoke I alr

ly blossomed, perfumed with the most fragrant of odors and decked with the most charming colors. Artless enthusiasm, faith in love, all the brilliant array of the fresh illusions of my youth returned, as if by enchantment, to greet this new bloom of my life; it seemed to me as if I had been created a second

y friend Casorans, who knows the Faubo

r chariot, and a third on the waiting-list, and yet it is impossible for one to find a word to say against her behavior. Just at this moment, Mauleon and d'Arzenac compose the team; I do not know who is on the waiting-list. She will probably spend the winter here with her

hese ladies frequented, and lef

of your seductions upon the little Barones

tisfied me in every way. Evidently the place wa

a Jacobin; aside from these two little defects, they think well enough of me. Besides, it is a notorious fact that I have rejected several offers from the present government, and refused last year the 'croix d'honneur'; this makes amends and washes away half my sins. Finally, I have the reputation of having a certain-knowledge of heraldry, which I owe to my uncle, a confirmed hunter after ge

bout? Do you wish that we should cut each other's throats before breakfast to-mo

title of a Vicomte has still a more powerful attraction than you, with you

d. I accept y

gish bachelor. Duke above all titles is the one that sounds the best. Moliere and Regnard have done great harm to the title of marquis. Count is terribly bourgeois, thanks to the senators of the empire. As to a Baron, unless he is

o the article upon my family in the Dictionnaire de Saint-Allais; I found that one of my

but no matter, I thank you. You are going to serve me as a grappling iron; I sha

b would doubtless produce should he put his foot into one of the drawing-rooms in Paradise. That evening, when I was announced, I saw a certain undulation of heads in a group of young women who

s of the house, I mingled with a crowd of men, and entered into conversation with an ol

ame to ask the peer to play whist; he e

turning toward me; 'besides, I understand too well that it is to my inter

eagerness which might have made her suppose that I

ying with unusual attention. I was her partner, and I knew from experience the profound horror which the loss of money inspires in old women. Thank heaven, we won! Mademoiselle de Corandeuil, who has an inco

n alliance, offensive and defe

ntracted, Mademoiselle,' sai

her head with a dignified air, as if she were g

htened up and gave a f

what makes me speak of an alliance between us as a thing already concluded. One of my ancestors, Chris

'I bear it myself. The Corandeuils, Monsieur, never have denied their alliances, and it is a pleasure for me to r

ed, in my most insinuating voice; 'may I hope that this g

rbed in our conversation that I did not see in a mirror, during this time, the interest with which Madame de Bergenheim watched my c

fore, prepared. We exchanged only one rapid, earnest glance, that was all. Availing myself of the presence of other callers, numer

est positions that one could desire; he is not unworthy of his name and his fortune. Irreproachable in morals as in manners; sufficiently well informed; of an exquisite but reserved politeness; understanding perfectly the ground that he is walking upon; making also more advances than is customary among the pachas of modern France, he was, without doubt, the flower of the flock in Mademoiselle de Corandeuil's dra

d and the admirers, dangerous and otherwise, having been passed in re

der to formulate in a decisive manner the accomplishment of my desire, I

es not love, and who has resisted nine admirers, will yield to the tenth. The

tle importance, the first was of great weight. According to all probability, it was too soon for any serious attack. Without being beautiful, she pleased much and many; a s

ns, old maids, retired beauties in one word, all that feminine mounted police, whose eyes, ears, and mouths seem t

ly before my eyes; but the means to attain this end? No satisfactory plan came to me. Women are so capricious, deep, and unfathomable! It is, with them, the thing soonest done which is soonest ended! A false step, th

c ways; flowers fade in the candle-light; the oppressive atmosphere of balls and fetes stifles the heart, so ready to dilate in pure mountain air. The unexpected and irresistible influence of the glacier would have been improper and foolish in Paris. There, an artless sympathy, stron

be my plan

assically called paying court? But D'Arzenac had seized this role, and filled it in such a superior way that all competition would be unsuccessful. I saw where t

nly the whites are to be seen and which seem to say: 'Love me, or I will kill you!' produce a prodigious effect. I had myself felt the power of this fascination while using it one day upon a softhearted blond

them an opportunity for displaying a mine of pretty expressions, piquant pouts, fresh bursts of laughter, graceful peculiarities of which they well kn

of the more or less infallible methods of conquering female hearts; in a word, I went over my tactics like a

upon to play the plain role of true lover. Let those who like play the part of Lovelace! As for myself, I will love; upon the

my reserve, which was in singular contrast with my almost extravagant conduct at our first meeting, her woman's intelligence h

me; and I, who willingly lent myself to her deception, did not feel very much duped. It was evident that the sort of halo which my merited or unmerited reputation had thrown over me had made me appear to her as a conquest of some value, a victim upon whom one could lavish just enough flowers in order to bring him to the sacrificial altar. In order to wind the first cha

as a legitimate pastime, without giving it any importance or feeling any scruples. Like all women, she liked to please; her success was sweet to her vanity; perhaps flattery turned her head at times, but in the midst of this tumult her heart remained in perfect pea

rights earned on the day of her marriage, the same as her diamonds and cashmeres. There was something touching in the sound of her voice and in her large, innocent eyes which

he world resembles those master-swimmers who, while spectators are admiring the grace of their poses, are struck by an unexpected current; the performer is sometimes swept away and drowned without his elegant strokes being of much service to him. Throw Celimene

ery few; there were no balls or soirees; dancing in drawing-rooms to the piano was hardly permissible, even with intimate friends. When once I was installed in Made

to make me expiate my success afterward, my love for her was soon an understood thing between us; she listened to me in a mocking way, but did not dispute my right to speak. She ended by receivi

after telling her a hundred times how much I adored her, my love still had for her the attraction of the unknown. I really had something inexhaustible in my h

their depths; instead of dazzling me by their excessive splendor, as had often happened to me before, they seemed to soften as they rested on mine; she kept her eyelids a trifle lowered, as if she were tired of being gazed at by me. Her vo

py, for I loved this woman with a love

e of my strong determination to allow myself to love with the utmost candor, it was impossible for me to return to that happy age when the frowning brows of the beautiful idol to whom we paid court inspired us with the resolve to dr

s, and half-avowals to that of severity and prudery, while waiting for the remorse and despair of the denouement. I am sure that at this time she called to her help all her powers of resistance. From that day she would retreat behind the line of duty, conjugal fidelity, honor, and all the other fine sentiments which would need numbering

l earthquake," int

red to me only a question of time, a few days or weeks at most-so long on the husband's account, so

ainder of the winter, I did not find more than one opportunity of speaking to her alone. As I was a permanent fixture every evening in her aunt's parlors, she entered them only when other guests were there. She never went out alone, and in every place where I was likely to meet her I was sure to find a triple rampart of women erected between us, through which it wa

and indifferent; she wa

e room I saw Madame de Bergenheim; she was alone at her embroidery, seated upon a divan. There were several vases of flowers in the windows, whose curtains only permitted a soft, mysterious light to

Oh! I am sure of it, my words penetrated to the very depth of her heart, for I felt her hands tremble as they left mine. She listened without interrupting me or making any reply, with her face bent toward me as if she were breathing the perfume of a flower. When I begged her to answer me, when I implored her for one single word from her heart, she w

aroused me. When I opened my eyes I saw her face bathed in tears. She drew back and

ppy woman?' said she, and f

rvant, whom I would willingly have assassinated, as w

nt of a lawsuit which you know all about. Upon my return, at the end of three weeks, I found she had lef

of keeping you awake until one o'clock in the morning. I wanted to explain to you that it was

you are aiming at," said

l stay to dinner. You will see Mademoiselle de Corandeuil, in whose presence you will speak my name as you refe

room in long strides. "I know very well that in all circumstances bachelors should triumph over husba

g will result from this step save the little enjoyment I shall tak

to work at our drama or upon 'The Chaste Suzannah' opera in three acts?

d History we shall put into vaudeville,

to-mo