登陆注册
4703900000036

第36章

"I give it up. I cannot understand," said Valerie. "In that case you are neither betrayed nor cheated, and you ought to be very happy to see him so well married; he is now fairly afloat. And, at any rate, your day is over. Our artist goes to Madame Hulot's every evening as soon as you go out to dinner."

"Adeline!" muttered Lisbeth. "Oh, Adeline, you shall pay for this! I will make you uglier than I am."

"You are as pale as death!" exclaimed Valerie. "There is something wrong?--Oh, what a fool I am! The mother and daughter must have suspected that you would raise some obstacles in the way of this affair since they have kept it from you," said Madame Marneffe. "But if you did not live with the young man, my dear, all this is a greater puzzle to me than my husband's feelings----"

"Ah, you don't know," said Lisbeth; "you have no idea of all their tricks. It is the last blow that kills. And how many such blows have I had to bruise my soul! You don't know that from the time when I could first feel, I have been victimized for Adeline. I was beaten, and she was petted; I was dressed like a scullion, and she had clothes like a lady's; I dug in the garden and cleaned the vegetables, and she--she never lifted a finger for anything but to make up some finery!--She married the Baron, she came to shine at the Emperor's Court, while I stayed in our village till 1809, waiting for four years for a suitable match; they brought me away, to be sure, but only to make me a work-woman, and to offer me clerks or captains like coalheavers for a husband! I have had their leavings for twenty-six years!--And now like the story in the Old Testament, the poor relation has one ewe-lamb which is all her joy, and the rich man who has flocks covets the ewe-lamb and steals it--without warning, without asking. Adeline has meanly robbed me of my happiness!--Adeline! Adeline! I will see you in the mire, and sunk lower than myself!--And Hortense--I loved her, and she has cheated me. The Baron.--No, it is impossible. Tell me again what is really true of all this."

"Be calm, my dear child."

"Valerie, my darling, I will be calm," said the strange creature, sitting down again. "One thing only can restore me to reason; give me proofs."

"Your Cousin Hortense has the /Samson/ group--here is a lithograph from it published in a review. She paid for it out of her pocket-money, and it is the Baron who, to benefit his future son-in-law, is pushing him, getting everything for him."

"Water!--water!" said Lisbeth, after glancing at the print, below which she read, "A group belonging to Mademoiselle Hulot d'Ervy."

"Water! my head is burning, I am going mad!"

Madame Marneffe fetched some water. Lisbeth took off her cap, unfastened her black hair, and plunged her head into the basin her new friend held for her. She dipped her forehead into it several times, and checked the incipient inflammation. After this douche she completely recovered her self-command.

"Not a word," said she to Madame Marneffe as she wiped her face--"not a word of all this.--You see, I am quite calm; everything is forgotten. I am thinking of something very different."

"She will be in Charenton to-morrow, that is very certain," thought Madame Marneffe, looking at the old maid.

"What is to be done?" Lisbeth went on. "You see, my angel, there is nothing for it but to hold my tongue, bow my head, and drift to the grave, as all water runs to the river. What could I try to do? I should like to grind them all--Adeline, her daughter, and the Baron--all to dust! But what can a poor relation do against a rich family? It would be the story of the earthen pot and the iron pot."

"Yes; you are right," said Valerie. "You can only pull as much hay as you can to your side of the manger. That is all the upshot of life in Paris."

"Besides," said Lisbeth, "I shall soon die, I can tell you, if I lose that boy to whom I fancied I could always be a mother, and with whom I counted on living all my days----"

There were tears in her eyes, and she paused. Such emotion in this woman made of sulphur and flame, made Valerie shudder.

"Well, at any rate, I have found you," said Lisbeth, taking Valerie's hand, "that is some consolation in this dreadful trouble.--We shall be true friends; and why should we ever part? I shall never cross your track. No one will ever be in love with me!--Those who would have married me, would only have done it to secure my Cousin Hulot's interest. With energy enough to scale Paradise, to have to devote it to procuring bread and water, a few rags, and a garret!--That is martyrdom, my dear, and I have withered under it."

She broke off suddenly, and shot a black flash into Madame Marneffe's blue eyes, a glance that pierced the pretty woman's soul, as the point of a dagger might have pierced her heart.

"And what is the use of talking?" she exclaimed in reproof to herself.

"I never said so much before, believe me! The tables will be turned yet!" she added after a pause. "As you so wisely say, let us sharpen our teeth, and pull down all the hay we can get."

"You are very wise," said Madame Marneffe, who had been frightened by this scene, and had no remembrance of having uttered this maxim. "I am sure you are right, my dear child. Life is not so long after all, and we must make the best of it, and make use of others to contribute to our enjoyment. Even I have learned that, young as I am. I was brought up a spoilt child, my father married ambitiously, and almost forgot me, after making me his idol and bringing me up like a queen's daughter! My poor mother, who filled my head with splendid visions, died of grief at seeing me married to an office clerk with twelve hundred francs a year, at nine-and-thirty an aged and hardened libertine, as corrupt as the hulks, looking on me, as others looked on you, as a means of fortune!--Well, in that wretched man, I have found the best of husbands. He prefers the squalid sluts he picks up at the street corners, and leaves me free. Though he keeps all his salary to himself, he never asks me where I get money to live on----"

同类推荐
  • 广嗣要语

    广嗣要语

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 栖云真人王志谨盘山语录

    栖云真人王志谨盘山语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • URSULA

    URSULA

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 靖康缃素杂记

    靖康缃素杂记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • On the Decay of the Art of Lying

    On the Decay of the Art of Lying

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 凡人武者路

    凡人武者路

    此片不种马,也不舔狗,只是以心中的武来写下心中的武,虽然是无限流,但会凭心中说想,而写下属于自己的平凡之路,平凡之武。谢谢(嗯不喜欢国术的可以从龙族开始观看)爽文,宠粉。
  • 总裁的独宠甜妻

    总裁的独宠甜妻

    遭最亲的人背叛,原本人生陷入了绝望,开启了人生新阶段。被她努力地想和他撇清关系,却只是越陷越深……
  • 登陆舰科技知识(下)(青少年必知的舰艇航母科技)

    登陆舰科技知识(下)(青少年必知的舰艇航母科技)

    舰艇俗称军舰,是指有武器装备,能在海洋执行作战任务的海军船只,是海军主要装备。舰艇主要用于海上机动作战,进行战略核突袭,保护己方或破坏敌方海上交通线,进行封锁或反封锁,参加登陆或抗登陆作战,以及担负海上补给、运输、修理、救生、医疗、侦察、调查、测量、工程和试验等保障勤务。
  • 枫山语录

    枫山语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 宠后养成记

    宠后养成记

    阿眠觉得傅湛自私霸道又无耻,也就一张脸能看了,所以嫁给他是千般万般的不愿。可令阿眠没有想到的是——这个外表登徒子的傅湛骨子里却是个忠犬宠妻男。傅湛宠着她惯着她,还让她生了一窝小包子。直到有一天,傅湛很出息的登上了皇位——所以她这是要晋升为宠后的节奏吗?
  • 扬名NBA

    扬名NBA

    提速,追身反击,持球三分,阵容小型化,这是目前这个时代最主要的标签虽然很多中锋时代的球迷不满意这个中锋为辅助没有背身单打的时代但这个时代就是锋线的时代,超级控卫的时代中锋戏份的削弱无可避免
  • 潜力影后孕妈也是宝

    潜力影后孕妈也是宝

    莫名其妙有了孩子的她,这个本该让她厌恶的肉球,却让她看清了身边人所谓的爱。“身败名裂”的她隐藏身份想让那些人看到本该属于她的风华绝代,但是……谁特么能来告诉她?!面前这个邪魅如神的男人是怎么肥四?!“女人,孩子是我的,要带娃进演艺圈经过我同意了吗?”男人似笑非笑的看着眼前的小女人一脸惊讶的看着他。突然门被推开,一个嫩嫩的声音响起:“爹地,你再搞不定妈咪,家长会就开不成了!”多年后女人扶额,看着面前俩只长相俊俏的熊孩子,靠,谁能告诉她,她上辈子是造了什么孽了给那个混蛋生儿育女?!偏特么还没法子拒绝……
  • 幽冥使者

    幽冥使者

    我做梦都没想到,我经营的小店竟然是人间通往冥界的大门所在;自从一个美女神棍死皮赖脸的住进来以后,我就经常看见各种各样小鬼穿梭在店里……好好的门店竟然变成了一个彻头彻尾的鬼店!
  • 重生之弃妇傲世

    重生之弃妇傲世

    再次睁开眼睛,她还是那个叱咤商界的传奇女子,只是前世的历历在目……原来是上天给了她重生的机会,那么她不要再做那一个受人摆布的傻女子……带着儿子改头换面和那一个清浅绝世的男子行走天下,远离原本的世界……天下归心,四海升平她却发现自己的心已经走失,再次醒来她却发现这两生两世不过一场游戏一场梦。
  • 桂学元研究

    桂学元研究

    《桂学元研究》以“桂学”作为研究对象,从理论研究视角评述桂学研究发展状况及其研究现状,阐发“桂学”概念内涵、外延及其历史渊源、文化传统与文脉精神,辨析桂学作为广西地方学学科性质、特征与定位及其与百越文化、骆越文化、岭南文化、粤西文化、八桂文化、广西民族文化等关系,确立桂学研究的理论基础及其学理依据,夯实桂学学科研究与跨学科研究的方法论基础,为桂学学科发展及其桂学研究提供学科基础、文献资源与理论支撑。