Old Maid

De Balzac Honore, Prescott Wormeley Katharine

Description

Immerse yourself in the inner workings of a quaint French village in this charming novel from Honore de Balzac, an early master of literary realism. Brimming with finely observed details and Balzac's trademark insight into human motivations and morality, An Old Maid follows several men who have designs -- honorable and not-so-honorable -- on one of the village's wealthiest bachelorettes.

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776539253
• Langue: English

Extrait

AN OLD MAID
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HONORE DE BALZAC
Translated by
KATHARINE PRESCOTT WORMELEY
 
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An Old Maid First published in 1837 Epub ISBN 978-1-77653-925-3 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77653-926-0 © 2014 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Chapter I - One of Many Chevaliers de Valois Chapter II - Susannah and the Elders Chapter III - Athanase Chapter IV - Mademoiselle Cormon Chapter V - An Old Maid's Household Chapter VI - Final Disappointment and its First Result Chapter VII - Other Results Addendum
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To Monsieur Eugene-Auguste-Georges-Louis Midy de la Greneraye Surville, Royal Engineer of the Ponts at Chausses.
As a testimony to the affection of his brother-in-law,
De Balzac
Chapter I - One of Many Chevaliers de Valois
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Most persons have encountered, in certain provinces in France, a numberof Chevaliers de Valois. One lived in Normandy, another at Bourges,a third (with whom we have here to do) flourished in Alencon, anddoubtless the South possesses others. The number of the Valesiantribe is, however, of no consequence to the present tale. All thesechevaliers, among whom were doubtless some who were Valois as Louis XIV.was Bourbon, knew so little of one another that it was not advisableto speak to one about the others. They were all willing to leave theBourbons in tranquil possession of the throne of France; for it was tooplainly established that Henri IV. became king for want of a male heirin the first Orleans branch called the Valois. If there are any Valois,they descend from Charles de Valois, Duc d'Angouleme, son of CharlesIX. and Marie Touchet, the male line from whom ended, until proof tothe contrary be produced, in the person of the Abbe de Rothelin. TheValois-Saint-Remy, who descended from Henri II., also came to an endin the famous Lamothe-Valois implicated in the affair of the DiamondNecklace.
Each of these many chevaliers, if we may believe reports, was, likethe Chevalier of Alencon, an old gentleman, tall, thin, withered, andmoneyless. He of Bourges had emigrated; he of Touraine hid himself; heof Alencon fought in La Vendee and "chouanized" somewhat. The youth ofthe latter was spend in Paris, where the Revolution overtook him whenthirty years of age in the midst of his conquests and gallantries.
The Chevalier de Valois of Alencon was accepted by the highestaristocracy of the province as a genuine Valois; and he distinguishedhimself, like the rest of his homonyms, by excellent manners, whichproved him a man of society. He dined out every day, and played cardsevery evening. He was thought witty, thanks to his foible for relatinga quantity of anecdotes on the reign of Louis XV. and the beginningsof the Revolution. When these tales were heard for the first time, theywere held to be well narrated. He had, moreover, the great merit ofnot repeating his personal bons mots and of never speaking ofhis love-affairs, though his smiles and his airs and graces weredelightfully indiscreet. The worthy gentleman used his privilege as aVoltairean noble to stay away from mass; and great indulgence was shownto his irreligion because of his devotion to the royal cause. One of hisparticular graces was the air and manner (imitated, no doubt, from Mole)with which he took snuff from a gold box adorned with the portrait ofthe Princess Goritza,—a charming Hungarian, celebrated for her beautyin the last years of the reign of Louis XV. Having been attached duringhis youth to that illustrious stranger, he still mentioned her withemotion. For her sake he had fought a duel with Monsieur de Lauzun.
The chevalier, now fifty-eight years of age, owned to only fifty; and hemight well allow himself that innocent deception, for, among the otheradvantages granted to fair thin persons, he managed to preservethe still youthful figure which saves men as well as women from anappearance of old age. Yes, remember this: all of life, or ratherall the elegance that expresses life, is in the figure. Among thechevalier's other possessions must be counted an enormous nose withwhich nature had endowed him. This nose vigorously divided a pale faceinto two sections which seemed to have no knowledge of each other, forone side would redden under the process of digestion, while theother continued white. This fact is worthy of remark at a period whenphysiology is so busy with the human heart. The incandescence, so tocall it, was on the left side. Though his long slim legs, supporting alank body, and his pallid skin, were not indicative of health, Monsieurde Valois ate like an ogre and declared he had a malady called in theprovinces "hot liver," perhaps to excuse his monstrous appetite. Thecircumstance of his singular flush confirmed this declaration; but in aregion where repasts are developed on the line of thirty or forty dishesand last four hours, the chevalier's stomach would seem to have been ablessing bestowed by Providence on the good town of Alencon. Accordingto certain doctors, heat on the left side denotes a prodigal heart.The chevalier's gallantries confirmed this scientific assertion, theresponsibility for which does not rest, fortunately, on the historian.
In spite of these symptoms, Monsieur de Valois' constitution wasvigorous, consequently long-lived. If his liver "heated," to use anold-fashioned word, his heart was not less inflammable. His face waswrinkled and his hair silvered; but an intelligent observer would haverecognized at once the stigmata of passion and the furrows of pleasurewhich appeared in the crow's-feet and the marches-du-palais, so prizedat the court of Cythera. Everything about this dainty chevalier bespokethe "ladies' man." He was so minute in his ablutions that his cheekswere a pleasure to look upon; they seemed to have been laved in somemiraculous water. The part of his skull which his hair refused to covershone like ivory. His eyebrows, like his hair, affected youth by thecare and regularity with which they were combed. His skin, alreadywhite, seemed to have been extra-whitened by some secret compound.Without using perfumes, the chevalier exhaled a certain fragrance ofyouth, that refreshed the atmosphere. His hands, which were those ofa gentleman, and were cared for like the hands of a pretty woman,attracted the eye to their rosy, well-shaped nails. In short, had it notbeen for his magisterial and stupendous nose, the chevalier might havebeen thought a trifle too dainty.
We must here compel ourselves to spoil this portrait by the avowal of alittleness. The chevalier put cotton in his ears, and wore, appended tothem, two little ear-rings representing negroes' heads in diamonds, ofadmirable workmanship. He clung to these singular appendages, explainingthat since his ears had been bored he had ceased to have headaches (hehad had headaches). We do not present the chevalier as an accomplishedman; but surely we can pardon, in an old celibate whose heart sendsso much blood to his left cheek, these adorable qualities, founded,perhaps, on some sublime secret history.
Besides, the Chevalier de Valois redeemed those negroes' heads by somany other graces that society felt itself sufficiently compensated. Hereally took such immense trouble to conceal his age and give pleasure tohis friends. In the first place, we must call attention to the extremecare he gave to his linen, the only distinction that well-bred mencan nowadays exhibit in their clothes. The linen of the chevalier wasinvariably of a fineness and whiteness that were truly aristocratic. Asfor his coat, though remarkable for its cleanliness, it was always halfworn-out, but without spots or creases. The preservation of that garmentwas something marvellous to those who noticed the chevalier's high-bredindifference to its shabbiness. He did not go so far as to scrape theseams with glass,—a refinement invented by the Prince of Wales; buthe did practice the rudiments of English elegance with a personalsatisfaction little understood by the people of Alencon. The world owesa great deal to persons who take such pains to please it. In this thereis certainly some accomplishment of that most difficult precept of theGospel about rendering good for evil. This freshness of ablution andall the other little cares harmonized charmingly with the blue eyes, theivory teeth, and the blond person of the old chevalier.
The only blemish was that this retired Adonis had nothing manly abouthim; he seemed to be employing this toilet varnish to hide the ruinsoccasioned by the military service of gallantry only. But we must hastento add that his voice produced what might be called an antithesis to hisblond delicacy. Unless you adopted the opinion of certain observers ofthe human heart, and thought that the chevalier had the voice ofhis nose, his organ of speech would have amazed you by its full andredundant sound. Without possessing the volume of classical bass voices,the tone of it was pleasing from a slightly muffled quality like that ofan English bugle, which is firm and sweet, strong but velvety.
The chevalier had repudiated the ridiculous costume still preserved bycertain monarchical old men; he had frankly modernized himself. Hewas always seen in a maroon-colored coat with gilt buttons, half-tightbreeches of poult-de-soie with gold buckles, a white waistcoat withoutembroidery, and a tight cravat showing no shirt-collar,—a last vestigeof the old French costume which he did not renounce, perhaps, becauseit enabled him to s