登陆注册
5390900000014

第14章 CHAPTER II(7)

The winter of 1814-1815 was a lucky one for Joseph. Secretly encouraged by Madame Descoings and Bixiou, a pupil of Gros, he went to work in the celebrated atelier of that painter, whence a vast variety of talent issued in its day, and there he formed the closest intimacy with Schinner. The return from Elba came; Captain Bridau joined the Emperor at Lyons, accompanied him to the Tuileries, and was appointed to the command of a squadron in the dragoons of the Guard. After the battle of Waterloo--in which he was slightly wounded, and where he won the cross of an officer of the Legion of honor--he happened to be near Marshal Davoust at Saint-Denis, and was not with the army of the Loire. In consequence of this, and through Davoust's intercession, his cross and his rank were secured to him, but he was placed on half-pay.

Joseph, anxious about his future, studied all through this period with an ardor which several times made him ill in the midst of these tumultuous events.

"It is the smell of the paints," Agathe said to Madame Descoings. "He ought to give up a business so injurious to his health."

However, all Agathe's anxieties were at this time for her son the lieutenant-colonel. When she saw him again in 1816, reduced from the salary of nine thousand francs (paid to a commander in the dragoons of the Imperial Guard) to a half-pay of three hundred francs a month, she fitted up her attic rooms for him, and spent her savings in doing so.

Philippe was one of the faithful Bonapartes of the cafe Lemblin, that constitutional Boeotia; he acquired the habits, manners, style, and life of a half-pay officer; indeed, like any other young man of twenty-one, he exaggerated them, vowed in good earnest a mortal enmity to the Bourbons, never reported himself at the War department, and even refused opportunities which were offered to him for employment in the infantry with his rank of lieutenant-colonel. In his mother's eyes, Philippe seemed in all this to be displaying a noble character.

"The father himself could have done no more," she said.

Philippe's half-pay sufficed him; he cost nothing at home, whereas all Joseph's expenses were paid by the two widows. From that moment, Agathe's preference for Philippe was openly shown. Up to that time it had been secret; but the persecution of this faithful servant of the Emperor, the recollection of the wound received by her cherished son, his courage in adversity, which, voluntary though it were, seemed to her a glorious adversity, drew forth all Agathe's tenderness. The one sentence, "He is unfortunate," explained and justified everything.

Joseph himself,--with the innate simplicity which superabounds in the artist-soul in its opening years, and who was, moreover, brought up to admire his big brother,--so far from being hurt by the preference of their mother, encouraged it by sharing her worship of the hero who had carried Napoleon's orders on two battlefields, and was wounded at Waterloo. How could he doubt the superiority of the grand brother, whom he had beheld in the green and gold uniform of the dragoons of the Guard, commanding his squadron on the Champ de Mars?

Agathe, notwithstanding this preference, was an excellent mother. She loved Joseph, though not blindly; she simply was unable to understand him. Joseph adored his mother; Philippe let his mother adore him.

Towards her, the dragoon softened his military brutality; but he never concealed the contempt he felt for Joseph,--expressing it, however, in a friendly way. When he looked at his brother, weak and sickly as he was at seventeen years of age, shrunken with determined toil, and over-weighted with his powerful head, he nicknamed him "Cub."

Philippe's patronizing manners would have wounded any one less carelessly indifferent than the artist, who had, moreover, a firm belief in the goodness of heart which soldiers hid, he thought, beneath a brutal exterior. Joseph did not yet know, poor boy, that soldiers of genius are as gentle and courteous in manner as other superior men in any walk of life. All genius is alike, wherever found.

"Poor boy!" said Philippe to his mother, "we mustn't plague him; let him do as he likes."

To his mother's eyes the colonel's contempt was a mark of fraternal affection.

"Philippe will always love and protect his brother," she thought to herself.

同类推荐
  • LORD JIM

    LORD JIM

    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。
  • 太上老君经律

    太上老君经律

    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。
  • 送徐使君赴岳州

    送徐使君赴岳州

    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。
  • 晏子春秋

    晏子春秋

    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。
  • THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE

    THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE

    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
  • 混在末唐当军阀

    混在末唐当军阀

    (本书因为大纲笔记丢失,暂时完结,等有时间再继续写。)赵凡从来没有想过有一天居然会穿越,毕竟这种事情说起来是比较扯淡的。本来只想做个普通人,没想到命运跟他开了个天大的玩笑,他竟然就是未来的末代皇帝,唐昭宗!为了活命,赵凡不得不走上了一条王者之路,灭宦官,练军队,兴商业,养民生,且看他如何从头开始,收拾旧河山!
  • 重生千金的诱惑

    重生千金的诱惑

    前世被最深爱的男友背叛,把她推向了地狱。重生后的她成为了豪门的富家千金,而且还是家族的第一继承人。前世欠她的,这一次,她一并要回来。今世属于她的,谁也别想夺走。-----------------------------------------有个群,群号:105732379,欢迎大家加入!
  • 任你消失在世界的尽头

    任你消失在世界的尽头

    这部作品,有我这一生所有的爱恨情仇,有我对你的所有喜欢。送给你们,祝平安喜乐!
  • 阳缝阴闱

    阳缝阴闱

    “夕姐,夕姐,大新闻呐!你知不知道那个西城的富商今早被发现了和小三儿一起死在城郊的山下了,……
  • 我做秋萤印君心

    我做秋萤印君心

    她是一缕穿越时空的灵魂,无牵无挂,特立独行,虽然为他驻足,却始终不接受他的册封;他是无名朝代的帝王,身为少年天子,号令天下,唯独无法左右她的言行;在他眼里,她是特别的,只有在她面前他才是最真实的人,而她也只会为他一人特别;她不做他的妃子,只想做他身边的一名侍婢,永远陪着他,守护他……然而事事难料,三千宠爱与一身的她却卷入了政斗与宫斗的两重漩涡中。她将何去何从呢?
  • 故河口物语IV

    故河口物语IV

    这是一部有关一群拓荒者的小说。全篇以鹿女的“父辈之家”为主线,祖母贯穿始终。父亲的家大口阔之梦,母亲的粮食梦,小姑的读书梦,二叔的渔船梦……等为主要内容。糅合着鹿女及笔者的童年记忆与最初生活的体验。使之成为一部自然人情风物相结合的小说。更展示那个时期人不敌自然的悲惨,人与人之间诚挚忘我的的情感,与人对自然无限崇爱热切的矛盾心理。
  • 风驭

    风驭

    一个战场上的小兵,偶然间以杂役的身份进入修道者的世界,不甘心生活的平凡,不甘于生命的无法掌控,任他荆棘重重,我自驭风乘龙,剑啸天下!
  • 张果星宗

    张果星宗

    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。
  • 记忆是崩落的沙

    记忆是崩落的沙

    幼年时,苏枕白偷走了秦月离保险箱里的十万元钱不告而别,从此在秦月离心里留下了一道伤口。十年之后,对穷人有偏见的秦月离意外遭遇了对富人有偏见的蓝净柯。两个人在针锋相对中彼此了解,最后蓝净柯带着秦月离走出阴影,重新回归生活,结交朋友。
  • 不做你的妃:太子请让开

    不做你的妃:太子请让开

    【本故事纯属虚构,请勿模仿,请勿雷同,请勿盗版!】【搞笑版】不就是爬山么,居然一不小心穿越了!穿越过来居然还遇见一只熊,还好出现了一个帅哥相救!一,这不是长的像熟人么?当然要到他家去混吃混喝。不就是逛逛街,英雄救美一番么,居然把身边的朋友弄丢了,呜呜这可怎么办?居然还遇见一个冰山酷男,抓着人家的手不放,我命怎么那么苦啊!变态冰山男接招吧,姐就是要勾引你,让你爱上姐,然后一脚把你踢掉!哈哈......———————————————————————————【正剧版】她,一朝穿越,邂逅如同冰山的男子,针锋想对,误会重重,最终是什么化解他们之间的芥蒂?他,冷漠无情,却不想一个娇小的身影,在一次次的针锋相对中潜入他的心,当昔日的对变为错,曾经的最爱逝去之后,他们的爱又将何去何从?她说:“我要的爱是全部,如果不是宁可不要。”他说:“今生如果无法与你携手,上穷碧落下黄泉我也一定会找到你。”爱就如毒药一般让他们相互纠缠、刻骨铭心......