登陆注册
5192500000061

第61章

"Marguerite, Marguerite! give it to me--give it!" he cried."What are sixty thousand francs against eternal remorse? See, I shall die, this will kill me.Listen, my word is sacred.If I fail now I will abandon my labors; I will leave Flanders,--France even, if you demand it; Iwill go away and toil like a day-laborer to recover, sou by sou, the fortunes I have lost, and restore to my children all that Science has taken from them."Marguerite tried to raise her father, but he persisted in remaining on his knees, and continued, still weeping:--"Be tender and obedient for this last time! If I do not succeed, Iwill myself declare your hardness just.You shall call me a fool; you shall say I am a bad father; you may even tell me that I am ignorant and incapable.And when I hear you say those words I will kiss your hands.You may beat me, if you will, and when you strike I will bless you as the best of daughters, remembering that you have given me your blood.""If it were my blood, my life's blood, I would give it to you," she cried; "but can I let Science cut the throats of my brothers and sister? No.Cease, cease!" she said, wiping her tears and pushing aside her father's caressing hands.

"Sixty thousand francs and two months," he said, rising in anger;"that is all I want: but my daughter stands between me and fame and wealth.I curse you!" he went on; "you are no daughter of mine, you are not a woman, you have no heart, you will never be a mother or a wife!-- Give it to me, let me take it, my little one, my precious child, I will love you forever,"--and he stretched his hand with a movement of hideous energy towards the gold.

"I am helpless against physical force; but God and the great Claes see us now," she said, pointing to the picture.

"Try to live, if you can, with your father's blood upon you," cried Balthazar, looking at her with abhorrence.He rose, glanced round the room, and slowly left it.When he reached the door he turned as a beggar might have done and implored his daughter with a gesture, to which she replied by a negative motion of her head.

"Farewell, my daughter," he said, gently, "may you live happy!"When he had disappeared, Marguerite remained in a trance which separated her from earth; she was no longer in the parlor; she lost consciousness of physical existence; she had wings, and soared amid the immensities of the moral world, where Thought contracts the limits both of Time and Space, where a divine hand lifts the veil of the Future.It seemed to her that days elapsed between each footfall of her father as he went up the stairs; then a shudder of dread went over her as she heard him enter his chamber.Guided by a presentiment which flashed into her soul with the piercing keenness of lightning, she ran up the stairway, without light, without noise, with the velocity of an arrow, and saw her father with a pistol at his head.

"Take all!" she cried, springing towards him.

She fell into a chair.Balthazar, seeing her pallor, began to weep as old men weep; he became like a child, he kissed her brow, he spoke in disconnected words, he almost danced with joy, and tried to play with her as a lover with a mistress who has made him happy.

"Enough, father, enough," she said; "remember your promise.If you do not succeed now, you pledge yourself to obey me?""Yes."

"Oh, mother!" she cried, turning towards Madame Claes's chamber, "YOUwould have given him all--would you not?""Sleep in peace," said Balthazar, "you are a good daughter.""Sleep!" she said, "the nights of my youth are gone; you have made me old, father, just as you slowly withered my mother's heart.""Poor child, would I could re-assure you by explaining the effects of the glorious experiment I have now imagined! you would then comprehend the truth.""I comprehend our ruin," she said, leaving him.

The next morning, being a holiday, Emmanuel de Solis brought Jean to spend the day.

"Well?" he said, approaching Marguerite anxiously.

"I yielded," she replied.

"My dear life," he said, with a gesture of melancholy joy, "if you had withstood him I should greatly have admired you; but weak and feeble, I adore you!""Poor, poor Emmanuel; what is left for us?""Leave the future to me," cried the young man, with a radiant look;"we love each other, and all is well."

同类推荐
  • 最胜问菩萨十住除垢断结经

    最胜问菩萨十住除垢断结经

    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。
  • 颖江漫稿

    颖江漫稿

    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。
  • 四书近指

    四书近指

    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。
  • 佛制比丘六物图

    佛制比丘六物图

    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。
  • 百千诵大集经地藏菩萨请问法身赞

    百千诵大集经地藏菩萨请问法身赞

    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
  • 一目卿烟

    一目卿烟

    她一穿越就被追杀!好在继承了一身好武艺,她反杀杀手,又获取高薪工作,她原想挣个小钱钱,过过小日子…可人生岂能一帆风顺,她还是不得已地被卷入了争斗,算计,阴谋,时时都有人想要她的命。可她又岂能将性命轻易奉上?她的人生格言是便是:人不犯我,我不犯人。人若犯我,礼让三分。人再犯我,斩草除根!什么?还真来了一个总想犯她的俊郎少年?要不看在他哪哪儿都好的份上,让他犯一次?
  • 暖夏夜未央

    暖夏夜未央

    暖朵在与夏未央因误会分开后,经历了各种各样的挫折,好不容易做了平面模特,而后却被骗签了卖身合同,此时,夏未央却再次出现,将她的卖身合同以公司百分之五十的股份买下。从此,暖朵便成为了夏未央的附属品,只是夏未央对暖朵此女中年如一日,还是向儿时一般宠溺……
  • 把公关做得滴水不漏

    把公关做得滴水不漏

    当蒙牛遇上伊利,360遇上QQ……危机公关当如何保护商业底线?公关,不仅能打造一个品牌,也能守卫一个品牌。本书解密公关细节,教你做一名实力派的品牌卫士。
  • 剑灵之洪门神功

    剑灵之洪门神功

    看主角带着剑灵洪门神功在异界发生一些什么样的战斗
  • 邪君独宠:浴火倾城妃

    邪君独宠:浴火倾城妃

    她本是不遗山岐黄仙府的小承主,却在一夜之间突遭变故,家破人亡,承受挖心之痛,地狱黄泉等待百年,终于浴火重生,报得灭亲之仇,挖心之恨!看我修仙道,救世人,虐变态,戏美男,妖孽自有人来收,这个腹黑美男究竟是谁?倘若世间一切都有天注定,她便是要掌控自己命运的人,她的心中自有天地,倘若有这么一个爱你的人,时间会见证他的真实,真的有完美的男子,真的有这样可爱的女子,他们的相遇,注定是一场最美的邂逅。
  • 灵怪笔录

    灵怪笔录

    一场普通的跳大神捉鬼会,竟引出诡秘墓穴千古玄案!徐、王两家后人探寻诡墓疑云,却遭遇鬼打墙、妖勾魂,件件惊人心;又遇上人面獾、僵尸王,招招要人命!更见识了炼魂秘术、鬼胎复仇、凶灵入梦!且看灵师后人如何占卜阴阳,趋吉化凶,揭开诡墓背后的终极秘密……
  • 快穿系统:无良BOSS请勿撩

    快穿系统:无良BOSS请勿撩

    (本文1V1,双洁宠文)系统:宿主,这次你是炮灰,你需要逆袭。洛芷:我想攻略。系统:宿主,这回你是反派,你需要逆袭。洛芷:我想攻略。系统:宿主,这次你要跪求好人卡,再偷偷逆袭。洛芷:我只想攻略。系统:宿主,这回你可以攻略了。洛芷:……除了攻略,我都可以。???:媳妇儿,我很好攻略哒~
  • 山海龙楼

    山海龙楼

    1990年,鄱阳湖老爷庙水域,中日水下考古研究院合作对一艘日本沉船“神户丸”进行打捞,过程中发现一处商周时期的水下古城遗迹,于是派遣考古队对遗迹点勘探,却在一次去往遗迹点路上,考古队员竟全部离奇失踪了。我受研究院邀请,组织搜救队,在一个留存遗迹的水下溶洞中,意外发现通往湖底的机关,抱着搜救队员的目的,我们下到湖底深处,越深入越匪夷所思,有关民间流传已久的“不死之国”,和深埋湖底上千年的“西天子墓”的秘密,被逐渐解开……
  • 弃妇玩翻天(大结局)

    弃妇玩翻天(大结局)

    下堂妻,却莫名的桃花朵朵开。偶尔救回来的是异国的蓝眸王子,高超的厨艺引来名义上的前夫的纠纠缠,一身的淡定引来奸夫的愤愤不平,无心一瞥,无心相视,心在刹那跌落,只是这一次,她没有了淡定——她到底招惹到谁啊!?只不过想在古代好好的谈场恋爱,结果是阴谋,绑架,追杀满天飞,还遇上了同样来自千年后的奇异男子——运筹帷幄的之时,才知道自己遭人利用,一切晚矣!一切成空,终究是镜中缘,水中月……!
  • 辛亥革命

    辛亥革命

    全景展示了推翻清朝政府、结束统治中国几千年的君主专制制度、建立民主共和国的辛亥革命的整个过程。以孙中山的革命历程为主线,围绕中国同盟会成立、武昌起义、中华民国成立以及革命成果被袁世凯窃取后进行二次革命、护国战争到取消帝制等重大历史事件,真实地展现了中国近代民主革命的艰难曲折,生动再现了伟大先行者孙中山“首举彻底反封建的旗帜”“起共和而终帝制”九死不悔的奋斗历程,讴歌了暗夜下追求民主自由的民族精英、仁人志士的不屈意志和下层群众、新军官兵奋勇投身革命的牺牲精神。全剧尊重历史真实、尊重革命实践,浓墨重彩描绘了一幅中国近代史风云激荡的多彩画卷,堪称一部形象的辛亥革命教科书。