登陆注册
5192500000009

第9章

Vice and Genius too often produce the same effects; and this misleads the common mind.What is genius but a long excess which squanders time and wealth and physical powers, and leads more rapidly to a hospital than the worst of passions? Men even seem to have more respect for vices than for genius, since to the latter they refuse credit.The profits accruing from the hidden labors of the brain are so remote that the social world fears to square accounts with the man of learning in his lifetime, preferring to get rid of its obligations by not forgiving his misfortunes or his poverty.

If, in spite of this inveterate forgetfulness of the present, Balthazar Claes had abandoned his mysterious abstractions, if some sweet and companionable meaning had revisited that thoughtful countenance, if the fixed eyes had lost their rigid strain and shone with feeling, if he had ever looked humanly about him and returned to the real life of common things, it would indeed have been difficult not to do involuntary homage to the winning beauty of his face and the gracious soul that would then have shone from it.As it was, all who looked at him regretted that the man belonged no more to the world at large, and said to one another: "He must have been very handsome in his youth." A vulgar error! Never was Balthazar Claes's appearance more poetic than at this moment.Lavater, had he seen him, would fain have studied that head so full of patience, of Flemish loyalty, and pure morality,--where all was broad and noble, and passion seemed calm because it was strong.

The conduct of this man could not be otherwise than pure; his word was sacred, his friendships seemed undeviating, his self-devotedness complete: and yet the will to employ those qualities in patriotic service, for the world or for the family, was directed, fatally, elsewhere.This citizen, bound to guard the welfare of a household, to manage property, to guide his children towards a noble future, was living outside the line of his duty and his affections, in communion with an attendant spirit.A priest might have thought him inspired by the word of God; an artist would have hailed him as a great master; an enthusiast would have taken him for a seer of the Swedenborgian faith.

At the present moment, the dilapidated, uncouth, and ruined clothes that he wore contrasted strangely with the graceful elegance of the woman who was sadly admiring him.Deformed persons who have intellect, or nobility of soul, show an exquisite taste in their apparel.Either they dress simply, convinced that their charm is wholly moral, or they make others forget their imperfections by an elegance of detail which diverts the eye and occupies the mind.Not only did this woman possess a noble soul, but she loved Balthazar Claes with that instinct of the woman which gives a foretaste of the communion of angels.Brought up in one of the most illustrious families of Belgium, she would have learned good taste had she not possessed it; and now, taught by the desire of constantly pleasing the man she loved, she knew how to clothe herself admirably, and without producing incongruity between her elegance and the defects of her conformation.The bust, however, was defective in the shoulders only, one of which was noticeably much larger than the other.

She looked out of the window into the court-yard, then towards the garden, as if to make sure she was alone with Balthazar, and presently said, in a gentle voice and with a look full of a Flemish woman's submissiveness,--for between these two love had long since driven out the pride of her Spanish nature:--"Balthazar, are you so very busy? this is the thirty-third Sunday since you have been to mass or vespers."Claes did not answer; his wife bowed her head, clasped her hands, and waited: she knew that his silence meant neither contempt nor indifference, only a tyrannous preoccupation.Balthazar was one of those beings who preserve deep in their souls and after long years all their youthful delicacy of feeling; he would have thought it criminal to wound by so much as a word a woman weighed down by the sense of physical disfigurement.No man knew better than he that a look, a word, suffices to blot out years of happiness, and is the more cruel because it contrasts with the unfailing tenderness of the past: our nature leads us to suffer more from one discord in our happiness than pleasure coming in the midst of trouble can bring us joy.

Presently Balthazar appeared to waken; he looked quickly about him, and said,--"Vespers? Ah, yes! the children are at vespers."He made a few steps forward, and looked into the garden, where magnificent tulips were growing on all sides; then he suddenly stopped short as if brought up against a wall, and cried out,--"Why should they not combine within a given time?""Is he going mad?" thought the wife, much terrified.

To give greater interest to the present scene, which was called forth by the situation of their affairs, it is absolutely necessary to glance back at the past lives of Balthazar Claes and the granddaughter of the Duke of Casa-Real.

同类推荐
  • 集古今佛道论

    集古今佛道论

    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。
  • 西昆酬唱集

    西昆酬唱集

    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。
  • 销释大乘正宗神默然宝卷

    销释大乘正宗神默然宝卷

    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。
  • Little Britain

    Little Britain

    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。
  • 十二门论

    十二门论

    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
  • 这个江湖不太冷

    这个江湖不太冷

    都说有人的地方,就有江湖。有江湖的地方,便有争斗。人这一世,谁都逃不过江湖。但即使逃不过江湖,我也要远离江湖,和她平平淡淡……
  • Charmides and Other

    Charmides and Other

    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。
  • 半座城池

    半座城池

    段槿陌出生的地方叫红叶镇,在那里她度过了自己最美好的童年。后来于秋嫁人,生病,段槿陌被朋友出卖,于秋过世,被继父骚扰,段槿陌决定按于秋去世前留下的信去找自己的亲身父亲。却发现自己的亲生爸爸是一个很有钱的人,他有自己的家庭。然后开始了另一段生活,认识了好朋友叶轻舟。大学开学那天,段槿陌也遇到自己喜欢的男孩桐岛,叶轻舟在开学前的暑假进了段槿陌爸爸的公司打工……生活悄无声息地跟希望背道而驰。段槿陌对桐岛毫无保留的关心,于小五对段槿陌沉默隐忍的疼爱,叶轻舟和桐岛间一触即发的情感,段皓予对叶轻舟无微不至的照顾……
  • 天文奇观(走进科学)

    天文奇观(走进科学)

    本套书全面而系统地介绍了当今世界各种各样的难解之谜和科学技术,集知识性、趣味性、新奇性、疑问性与科普性于一体,深入浅出,生动可读,通俗易懂,目的是使广大读者在兴味盎然地领略世界难解之谜和科学技术的同时,能够加深思考,启迪智慧,开阔视野,增加知识,能够正确了解和认识这个世界,激发求知的欲望和探索的精神,激起热爱科学和追求科学的热情,不断掌握开启人类世界的金钥匙,不断推动人类社会向前发展,使我们真正成为人类社会的主人。
  • 森林里的怪歌

    森林里的怪歌

    倒霉蛋儿虽然他和娘生活的十分艰辛,但仍逃脱不了被人追杀厄运……他娘被施魔法变成个双目失明的瞎子。倒霉蛋听说七仙山上有一种启明草能治娘的眼睛,他一个人冒险来到处处是陷阱的神秘的七仙山上采药。一路上历经坎坷,重重磨难,在芦花仙姑、大馋鬼、鼠五爷和狼三等仙人的帮助下,战胜了花蘑菇精、天牛怪等一个又一个的妖魔鬼怪。最后,找到了那颗神奇的启明草,治好了母亲的眼睛。故事整篇贯穿着惊险刺激,耐人寻味。是青少年朋友闲暇时最好的读物。
  • 此去经年:我们回忆里再相爱

    此去经年:我们回忆里再相爱

    命运的捉弄,使得她爱上了一个本是和她无缘的人,她始终都在为他付出,希望自己能够将他改变,但他始终对她都是冷漠的,最终,她成功了,但是他们却已是不可能了。
  • 15位国学大师给青少年讲述的人生智慧

    15位国学大师给青少年讲述的人生智慧

    《15位国学大师给青少年讲述的人生智慧》中,15位博学多才、个性迥异的国学大师们化身为青少年朋友的良师益友,将人生的智慧娓娓道来。他们的话语或洗练精粹、幽默风趣;或犀利深邃、发人深省,让青少年朋友们在豁达博爱的情怀中品读人生百味,学会自强不息。一花一世界,一叶一菩提。
  • 鸱鸮娘

    鸱鸮娘

    空想家,妖孽制造者,非妖孽不写,非奇异不说,在东游西荡里寻找和描绘那些个潜藏于世的妖孽,以及古古怪怪的传说。代表作:独家刊于《最推理》的“死影师”系列,作品《宝珠鬼话》等。宣德六年十二月他不知道自己为什么会睡在一片田地里。四周寒风刺骨,沙沙作响的蓬蒿叶夹杂着雨丝时不时拍在他身上,扎得他浑身刺痒难耐。忍着天旋地转般的昏沉,他使劲醒过来,顶着头顶刺眼的光将眼睛睁开。随后发觉全身好似被剥了一层皮似的。
  • 余生,温先生常在

    余生,温先生常在

    死了一年突然重生的乔竹,出现在村口石碑被人所救。故事的一切则是从这村子开始的,在村子的的背后,有着各种各样光怪陆离的故事……只是乔竹重生后,却遇到了不走寻常路的总裁大人。乔竹:只要你坦白从宽抗拒从严,一切都好说。某男:那我把身心都交给你,能好说吗?乔竹:……
  • 爱你是我最甜的时光

    爱你是我最甜的时光

    慕心尘觉得自己真是倒霉,四年前被老公无情赶出家门,现在又被这个和前老公长得一模一样的小叔子接回家给她已逝的老公守寡,好吧,她认命……只是这好像跟她想像中有些不一样,不凄凉,不无助,还有个极品帅男人对她从头到脚的照顾。夜里男人霸道欺身而上,强势入侵。“不要,你不能这么无耻,我要改嫁。”“想改嫁,下辈子吧。”两本红本本甩在她面前,她目瞪口呆,她什么时候和他结婚了。男人再次霸气压倒:“你说我无耻,那你不是把全天下所有的男人都骂进去了……”