Speaker 1: The conscript by Honore de Balzac. The inner self, by
Speaker 1: a phenomenon of vision or of locomotion, has been known
Speaker 1: at times to abolish space in its two modes of
Speaker 1: time and distance, the one intellectual, the other physical history
Speaker 1: of Louis Lambert. On a November evening in the year
Speaker 1: seventeen ninety three, the principal citizens of Carentan were assembled
Speaker 1: in Madame de Day's drawing room. Madame de Day held
Speaker 1: this recipsion every night of the week, but an unwonted
Speaker 1: interest attached to this evening's gathering, owing to certain circumstances
Speaker 1: which would have passed altogether unnoticed in a great city,
Speaker 1: though in a small country town they excited the greatest curiosity.
Speaker 1: For two days before, Madame de Day had not been
Speaker 1: at home to her visitors, and on the previous evening
Speaker 1: her door had been shut on the ground of indisposition.
Speaker 1: Two such events at any ordinary time would have produced
Speaker 1: in Carentan the same sensation that Paris knows on nights
Speaker 1: when there is no performance at the theatre's existence is
Speaker 1: in some sort incomplete. But in those times when the
Speaker 1: least indiscretion on the part of an aristocrat might be
Speaker 1: a matter of life and death. This conduct of Madame
Speaker 1: de Day's was likely to bring about the most disastrous
Speaker 1: consequences for her. Her position in Carentan ought to be
Speaker 1: made clear if the reader is to appreciate the expression
Speaker 1: of keen curiosity and cunning fanaticism on the countenances of
Speaker 1: these Norman citizens, and what is of most importance the
Speaker 1: part that the lady played among them many a one
Speaker 1: during the days of the revolution has doubtless passed through
Speaker 1: a crisis as difficult as hers at that moment, and
Speaker 1: the sympathies of more than one reader will fill in
Speaker 1: all the coloring of the picture. Madame de Day was
Speaker 1: the widow of a lieutenant general, a Knight of the
Speaker 1: Orders of Saint Michael and of the Holy Ghost. She
Speaker 1: had left the court when the emigration began and taken
Speaker 1: refuge in the neighborhood of Carenti, where she had large estates,
Speaker 1: hoping that the influence of the Reign of Terror would
Speaker 1: be but little felt there. Her calculations, based on a
Speaker 1: thorough knowledge of the district, proved correct. The revolution made
Speaker 1: little disturbance in Lower Normandy. Formerly, when Madame de Day
Speaker 1: had spent any time in the country. Her circle of
Speaker 1: acquaintance had been confined to the noble families of the district,
Speaker 1: but now from politic motives, she opened her house to
Speaker 1: the principal citizens and to the revolutionary authorities of the town,
Speaker 1: endeavoring to touch and gratify their social pride without arousing
Speaker 1: either hatred or jealousy. Gracious and kindly, possessed of the
Speaker 1: indescribable charm that wins good will, without loss of dignity
Speaker 1: or effort to pay court to any she had succeeded
Speaker 1: in gaining universal esteem. The discreet warnings of exquisite tact
Speaker 1: enabled her to steer a difficult course among the exacting
Speaker 1: claims of this mixed society, without wounding the overweening self
Speaker 1: love of Parvenus on the one hand, or the susceptibilities
Speaker 1: of her old friends on the other. She was about
Speaker 1: thirty eight years of age and still preserved not the fresh,
Speaker 1: high colored beauty of the Bais normand, but a fragile
Speaker 1: loveliness of what may be called an aristocratic type. Her
Speaker 1: figure was lissome and slender, her features delicate and clearly cut.
Speaker 1: The pale face seemed to light up and live when
Speaker 1: she spoke, But there was a quiet and devout look
Speaker 1: in the great dark eyes, for all their graciousness of expression,
Speaker 1: a look that seemed to say that the springs of
Speaker 1: her life lay without her own existence. In her early
Speaker 1: girlhood she had been married to an elderly and jealous soldier.
Speaker 1: Her false position in the midst of a gay court
Speaker 1: had doubtless done something to bring a veil of sadness
Speaker 1: over a face that must once have been bright with
Speaker 1: the charms of quick, pulsed life and love. She had
Speaker 1: been compelled to set constant restraint upon her frank impulses
Speaker 1: and emotions at an age when a woman feels rather
Speaker 1: than thinks, and the depths of passion in her heart
Speaker 1: had never been stirred. In this lay the secret of
Speaker 1: her greatest charm, a youthfulness of the inmost soul, betrayed
Speaker 1: at times by her face, and a certain tinge of
Speaker 1: innocent wistfulness in her ideas. She was reserved in her demeanor,
Speaker 1: but in her bearing and in the tones of her
Speaker 1: voice there was still something that told of girlish longings
Speaker 1: directed toward a vague future. Before very long, the least
Speaker 1: susceptible fell in love with her, and yet stood somewhat
Speaker 1: in awe of her dignity and high bred manner. Her
Speaker 1: great soul, strengthened by the cruel ordeals through which she
Speaker 1: had passed, seemed to set her too far above the
Speaker 1: ordinary level. And these men weighed themselves and instinctively felt
Speaker 1: that they were found wanting such a nature demanded an
Speaker 1: exalted passion. Moreover, Madame de Dey's affections were concentrated in
Speaker 1: one sentiment, a mother's love for her son. All the
Speaker 1: happiness and joy that she had not known as a wife,
Speaker 1: she had found later in her boundless love for him,
Speaker 1: the coquetry of a mistress, the jealousy of a wife,
Speaker 1: mingled with the pure and deep affection of a mother.
Speaker 1: She was miserable when they were apart, and nervous about
Speaker 1: him while he was away. She could never see enough
Speaker 1: of him, and lived through and for him alone. Some
Speaker 1: idea of the strength of this type may be conveyed
Speaker 1: to the masculine understanding by adding that this was not
Speaker 1: only Madame de Day's only son, but all she had
Speaker 1: of kith or kin in the world, the one human
Speaker 1: being on earth bound to her by all the fears
Speaker 1: and hopes and joys of her life. The late Comte
Speaker 1: de Dey was the last of his race, and she,
Speaker 1: his wife, was the sole heiress and descendant of her house.
Speaker 1: So worldly ambitions and family considerations, as well as the
Speaker 1: noblest cravings of the soul, combined to heighten in the
Speaker 1: countess a sentiment that is strong in every woman's heart.
Speaker 1: The child was all the dearer because only with infinite
Speaker 1: care had she succeeded in rearing him to man's estate.
Speaker 1: Medical science had predicted his death a score of times,
Speaker 1: but she had held fast to her presentiments and her hopes,
Speaker 1: and had known the inexpressible joy of watching him pass
Speaker 1: safely through the perils of infancy, of seeing his constitution
Speaker 1: strengthen in spite of the decrees of the faculty. Thanks
Speaker 1: to her constant care, the boy had grown up and
Speaker 1: developed so favorably that at twenty years of age, he
Speaker 1: was regarded as one of the most accomplished gentlemen at
Speaker 1: the court of Versailles. One final happiness that does not
Speaker 1: always crown a mother's efforts was hers Her son worshiped her,
Speaker 1: and between these two there was the deep sympathy of
Speaker 1: kindred souls. If they had not been bound to each
Speaker 1: other already by a natural and sacred tie, they would
Speaker 1: instinctively have felt for each other, a friendship that is
Speaker 1: rarely met with between two men. At the age of eighteen,
Speaker 1: the young count had received an appointment as a sub
Speaker 1: lieutenant in a regiment of dragoons, and had made it
Speaker 1: a point of honor to follow the emigrant princes into exile.
Speaker 1: Then Madame de Day faced the dangers of her cruel position.
Speaker 1: She was rich, noble, and the mother of an emigrant,
Speaker 1: with the one desire to look after her son's great fortune.
Speaker 1: She had denied herself the happiness of being with him,
Speaker 1: And when she read the rigorous laws in virtue of
Speaker 1: which the Republic was daily confiscating the property of emigrants
Speaker 1: at Carentan, she congratulated herself on the courageous course that
Speaker 1: she had taken. Was she not keeping watch over the
Speaker 1: wealth of her son at the risk of her life? Later,
Speaker 1: when news came of the horrible executions ordered by the Convention,
Speaker 1: she slept happy in the knowledge that her own treasure
Speaker 1: was in safety, out of reach of peril, far from
Speaker 1: the scaffolds of the revolution. She loved to think that
Speaker 1: she had followed the best course, that she had saved
Speaker 1: her darling and her darling's fortunes. And to this secret
Speaker 1: thought she made such concessions as the misfortunes of the
Speaker 1: times demanded, without compromising her dignity or her aristocratic tenets,
Speaker 1: and enveloped her sorrows in reserve and mystery. She had
Speaker 1: foreseen the difficulties that would beset her at Carentan. Did
Speaker 1: she not tempt the scaffold by the very fact of
Speaker 1: going thither to take a prominent place. Yet, sustained by
Speaker 1: a mother's courage, she succeeded in winning the affection of
Speaker 1: the poor, ministering without distinction to everyone in trouble, and
Speaker 1: made herself necessary to the well to do by providing
Speaker 1: amusements for them. The procureur of the commune might be
Speaker 1: seen at her house, the mayor, the president of the district,
Speaker 1: and the public prosecutor, and even the judges of the
Speaker 1: revolutionary tribunals went there. The four first named gentlemen were
Speaker 1: none of them married, and each paid court to her
Speaker 1: in the hope that Madame de Deay would take him
Speaker 1: for her husban, either from fear of making an enemy
Speaker 1: or from a desire to find a protector. The public prosecutor,
Speaker 1: once an attorney at Cannes, and the countess's man of business,
Speaker 1: did what he could to inspire love by a system
Speaker 1: of devotion and generosity, a dangerous game of cunning. He
Speaker 1: was the most formidable of all her suitors. He alone
Speaker 1: knew the amount of the large fortune of his sometime client,
Speaker 1: and his fervor was inevitably increased by the cupidity of greed,
Speaker 1: and by the consciousness that he wielded an enormous power,
Speaker 1: the power of life and death in the district. He
Speaker 1: was still a young man, and owing to the generosity
Speaker 1: of his behavior, Madame de Day was unable as yet
Speaker 1: to estimate him truly. But in despite of the danger
Speaker 1: of matching herself against Norman cunning, she used all the
Speaker 1: craft and inventiveness that nature has bestowed on women to
Speaker 1: play off the rival suitors one against another. She hoped,
Speaker 1: by gaining time to emerge, sin and sound from her
Speaker 1: difficulties at last. For at that time, royalists in the
Speaker 1: provinces flattered themselves with a hope daily renewed that the
Speaker 1: morrow would see the end of the revolution, a conviction
Speaker 1: that proved fatal to many of them. In spite of difficulties,
Speaker 1: the countess had maintained her independence with considerable skill, until
Speaker 1: the day when, by an inexplicable want of prudence, she
Speaker 1: took occasion to close her salon. So deep and sincere
Speaker 1: was the interest that she inspired that those who usually
Speaker 1: filled her drawing room felt a lively anxiety when the
Speaker 1: news was spread. Then, with the frank curiosity characteristic of
Speaker 1: provincial manners, they went to inquire into the misfortune, grief,
Speaker 1: or illness that had befallen Madame de Day. To all
Speaker 1: these questions, Brigitte the housekeeper answered with the same formula.
Speaker 1: Her mistress was keeping her room and would see no one,
Speaker 1: not even her own servants. The almost close lives of
Speaker 1: dwellers in small towns fosters a habit of analysis and
Speaker 1: conjectural explanation of the business of everybody else. So strong
Speaker 1: is it that when everyone had exclaimed over poor Madame
Speaker 1: de Day, without knowing whether the lady was overcome by
Speaker 1: joy or sorrow, each one began to inquire into the
Speaker 1: causes of her sudden seclusion. If she were ill, she
Speaker 1: would have sent for the doctor, said Gossip Number one.
Speaker 1: Now the doctor has been playing chess in my house
Speaker 1: all day. He said to me, laughing, that in these
Speaker 1: days there is only one disease, and that unluckily, it
Speaker 1: is incurable. The joke was hazarded discreetly. Women and men,
Speaker 1: elderly folk and young girls forthwith betook themselves to the
Speaker 1: vast fields of conjecture. Everyone imagined that there was some
Speaker 1: secret in it, and every head was busy with the secret.
Speaker 1: Next day the suspicions became malignant. Everyone lives in public
Speaker 1: in a small town, and the womenkind were the first
Speaker 1: find out that Brigitte had laid in an extra stock
Speaker 1: of provisions. The thing could not be disputed. Brigitte had
Speaker 1: been seen in the market place Betimes that morning, and
Speaker 1: wonderful to relate, she had bought the one hare to
Speaker 1: be had. The whole town knew that Madame de Day
Speaker 1: did not care for game. The hare had become a
Speaker 1: starting point for endless conjectures. Elderly gentlemen taking their constitutional
Speaker 1: noticed a sort of suppressed bustle in the Countess's house.
Speaker 1: The symptoms were the more apparent because the servants were
Speaker 1: at evident pains to conceal them. The man servant was
Speaker 1: beating a carpet in the garden. Only yesterday no one
Speaker 1: would have remarked the fact. But today everybody began to
Speaker 1: build romances upon that harmless piece of household stuff. Everyone
Speaker 1: had a version. On the following day, that on which
Speaker 1: Madame de Day gave out that she was not well,
Speaker 1: the magnets of Carentan went to spend the evening at
Speaker 1: the mayor's brother's house. He was a retired merchant, a
Speaker 1: married man, a strictly honorable soul. Everyone respected him, and
Speaker 1: the countess held him in high regard. There all the
Speaker 1: rich widow's suitors were fain to invent more or less
Speaker 1: probable fictions, each one thinking the while how to turn
Speaker 1: to his own advantage the secret that compelled her to
Speaker 1: compromise herself in such a manner. The public prosecutor spun
Speaker 1: out a whole drama to bring Madame de Day's son
Speaker 1: to her house. Of a knight. The mayor had a
Speaker 1: belief in a priest who had refused the oath a
Speaker 1: refugee from Lavender, but this left him not a little embarrassed.
Speaker 1: How to account for the purchase of a hare on
Speaker 1: a Friday, The President of the district had strong leanings
Speaker 1: toward a Chouan chief or a Vandean leader hotly pursued.
Speaker 1: Others voted for a noble escaped from the prisons of Paris.
Speaker 1: In short, one and all suspected that the Countess had
Speaker 1: been guilty of some piece of generosity that the law
Speaker 1: of those days defined as a crime, an offense that
Speaker 1: was likely to bring her to the scaffold. The public prosecutor,
Speaker 1: moreover said in a low voice that they must hush
Speaker 1: the matter up and try to save the unfortunate lady
Speaker 1: from the abyss toward which she was hastening. If you
Speaker 1: spread reports about, he added, I shall be obliged to
Speaker 1: take cognizance of the matter and to search the house.
Speaker 1: And then he said no more. But everyone understood what
Speaker 1: was left unsaid. The countess's real friends were so much
Speaker 1: alarmed for her that on the morning of the third day,
Speaker 1: the procureur Syndic of the commune made his wife write
Speaker 1: a few lines to persuade Madame de Day to hold
Speaker 1: her reception as usual. That evening, the old merchant took
Speaker 1: a bolder step. He called that morning upon the lady.
Speaker 1: Strong in the thought of the service, he meant to
Speaker 1: do her. He insisted that he must see Madame de Day,
Speaker 1: and was amazed beyond expression to find her out in
Speaker 1: the garden, busy gathering last autumn flowers in her borders
Speaker 1: to fill the vases. She has given refuge to her lover.
Speaker 1: No doubt, thought the old man, struck with pity for
Speaker 1: the charming woman before him. The Countess's face wore a
Speaker 1: strange look that confirmed his suspicions. Deeply moved by the
Speaker 1: devotion so natural to women, but that always touches us,
Speaker 1: because all men are flattered by the sacrifices that any
Speaker 1: woman makes for any one of them. The merchant told
Speaker 1: the Countess of the gossip that was circulating in the town,
Speaker 1: and showed her the danger that she was running. He
Speaker 1: wound up at last with saying that if there are
Speaker 1: some of our public functionaries who are sufficiently ready to
Speaker 1: pardon a piece of heroism on your part, so long
Speaker 1: as it is a priest that you wish to save,
Speaker 1: no one will show you any mercy if it is
Speaker 1: discovered that you are sacrificing yourself to the dictates of
Speaker 1: your heart. At these words, Madame de Day gazed at
Speaker 1: her visitor with a wild excitement in her manner that
Speaker 1: made him tremble. Old though he was come in, she said,
Speaker 1: taking him by the hand to bring him to her room.
Speaker 1: And as soon as she had assured herself that they
Speaker 1: were alone, she drew a soiled, torn letter from her bodice.
Speaker 1: Read it, she cried with a violent effort to pronounce
Speaker 1: the words. She dropped as if exhausted, into her arm chair,
Speaker 1: while the old Merchant looked for his spectacles and wiped them.
Speaker 1: She raised her eyes and for the first time, looked
Speaker 1: at him with curiosity. Then, in an uncertain voice, I
Speaker 1: trust in you, she said, softly. Why did I come
Speaker 1: but to share in your crime? The old merchant said simply.
Speaker 1: She trembled for the first time since she had come
Speaker 1: to the little town. Her soul found sympathy in another soul.
Speaker 1: A sudden light dawned meantime on the old merchant. He
Speaker 1: understood the Countess's joy and her prostration. Her son had
Speaker 1: taken part in the Granville expedition. He wrote to his
Speaker 1: mother from his prison, and the letter brought her a sad,
Speaker 1: sweet hope. Feeling no doubts as to his means of escape,
Speaker 1: he wrote that within three days, he was sure to
Speaker 1: reach her disguised. The same letter that brought these weighty
Speaker 1: tidings was full of heartrending farewells in case the writers
Speaker 1: should not be in Carentan by the evening of the
Speaker 1: third day, and he implored his mother to send a
Speaker 1: considerable sum of money by the bearer, who had gone
Speaker 1: through dangers innumerable to deliver it. The paper shook in
Speaker 1: the old man's hands. And to day is the third day,
Speaker 1: cried Madame de Day. She sprang to her feet, took
Speaker 1: back the letter, and walked up and down. You have
Speaker 1: set to work imprudently, the merchant remarked, addressing her, Why
Speaker 1: did you buy provisions? Why he may come in dying
Speaker 1: of hunger, worn out with fatigue, and she broke off.
Speaker 1: I am sure of my brother, the old merchant went on,
Speaker 1: I will engage him in your interests. The merchant in
Speaker 1: this crisis recovered his old business Shreekdeness, and the advice
Speaker 1: that he gave Madame de Day was full of prudence
Speaker 1: and wisdom. After the two had agreed together as to
Speaker 1: what they were to do and say, the old merchant
Speaker 1: went on various ingenious pretexts to pay visits to the
Speaker 1: principal houses of Carentan, announcing wherever he went that he
Speaker 1: had just been to see Madame de Day and that,
Speaker 1: in spite of her indisposition, she would receive that evening.
Speaker 1: Matching his shrewdness against Norman wits in the cross examination
Speaker 1: he underwent in every family as to the Countess's complaint,
Speaker 1: he succeeded in putting almost everyone who took an interest
Speaker 1: in the mysterious affair upon the wrong scent. His very
Speaker 1: first call worked wonders. He told, in the hearing of
Speaker 1: a gouty old lady, how that Madame de Deay had
Speaker 1: all but died of an attack of gout in the stomach,
Speaker 1: how that the illustrious Tronchin had recommended her, in such
Speaker 1: a case to put the skin from a live hair
Speaker 1: on her chest, to stop in bed and keep perfectly still.
Speaker 1: The Countess, he said, had lain in danger of her
Speaker 1: life for the past two days, but after carefully following
Speaker 1: out Tronchin's singular prescription, she was now sufficiently recovered to
Speaker 1: receive visitors that evening. This tale had an immense success
Speaker 1: in Carentan. The local doctor, a royalist ant Petaut, added
Speaker 1: to its effect by gravely discussing the specific suspicion nevertheless,
Speaker 1: had taken too deep root in a few perverse or
Speaker 1: philosophical minds to be entirely dissipated. So it fell out
Speaker 1: that those who had the right of entry into Madame
Speaker 1: de Dey's drawing room hurried thither at an early hour,
Speaker 1: some to watch her face, some out of friendship, but
Speaker 1: the more part attracted by the fame of the marvelous cure.
Speaker 1: They found the Countess seated in a corner of the
Speaker 1: great chimney piece in her room, which was almost as
Speaker 1: modestly furnished as similar apartments in Carentan. For she had
Speaker 1: given up the enjoyment of luxuries to which she had
Speaker 1: formed only been accustomed, for fear of offending the narrow
Speaker 1: prejudices of her guests. And she had made no changes
Speaker 1: in her house. The floor was not even polished. She
Speaker 1: had left the old somber hangings on the walls, had
Speaker 1: kept the old fashioned country furniture, burned tallow candles, had
Speaker 1: fallen in with the ways of the place, and adopted
Speaker 1: provincial life without flinching before its cast iron narrowness, its
Speaker 1: most disagreeable hardships, but knowing that her guests would forgive
Speaker 1: her for any prodigality that conduced to their comfort, she
Speaker 1: left nothing undone where their personal enjoyment was concerned. Her dinners,
Speaker 1: for instance, were excellent. She even went so far as
Speaker 1: to affect avarice to recommend herself to these sordid natures,
Speaker 1: and had the ingenuity to make it appear that certain
Speaker 1: concessions to luxury had been made at the instance of others,
Speaker 1: to whom she had graciously yielded towards seven o'clock that evening. Therefore,
Speaker 1: the nearest approach to polite society that Tarentine could boast
Speaker 1: was assembled in Madame de Day's drawing room in a
Speaker 1: wide circle about the fire. The old merchant's sympathetic glances
Speaker 1: sustained the Mistress of the house through this ordeal. With
Speaker 1: wonderful strength of mind, she underwent the curious scrutiny of
Speaker 1: her guests and bore with their trivial prosings every time
Speaker 1: there was a knock at the door, at every sound
Speaker 1: of footsteps in the street. She hid her agitation by
Speaker 1: raising questions of absorbing interest to the countryside. She led
Speaker 1: the conversation on to the burning topic of the quality
Speaker 1: of various sighters, and was so well seconded by her friend,
Speaker 1: who shared her secret, that her guests almost forgot to
Speaker 1: watch her, and her face wore its wonted look. Her
Speaker 1: self possession was unshaken. The public prosecutor and one of
Speaker 1: the judges of the Revolutionary Tribunal kept silence, however, noting
Speaker 1: the slightest change that flickered over her features. Listening through
Speaker 1: the noisy talk to every sound in the several times
Speaker 1: they put awkward questions, which the Countess answered with wonderful
Speaker 1: presence of mind. So brave is a mother's heart. Madame
Speaker 1: de Day had drawn her visitors into little groups, had
Speaker 1: made parties of Whist Boston or Reversus, and sat talking
Speaker 1: with some of the young people. She seemed to be
Speaker 1: living completely in the present moment and played her part
Speaker 1: like a consummate actress. She elicited a suggestion of lotto,
Speaker 1: and saying that no one else knew where to find
Speaker 1: the game, she left the room. My good Brigitte, I
Speaker 1: cannot breathe down there, she cried, brushing away the tears
Speaker 1: that sprang to her eyes that glittered with fever, sorrow
Speaker 1: and impatience. She had gone up to her son's room
Speaker 1: and was looking round it. He does not come, She said, Here,
Speaker 1: I can breathe and live a few minutes more, and
Speaker 1: he will be here, for he is alive. I am
Speaker 1: sure that he is alive. My heart tells me so.
Speaker 1: Do you hear nothing, Brigitte, Oh, I would give the
Speaker 1: rest of my life to know whether he is still
Speaker 1: in prison or tramping across the country. I would rather
Speaker 1: not think once more. She looked to see that everything
Speaker 1: was in order. A bright fire blazed on the hearth.
Speaker 1: The shutters were carefully closed, the furniture shone with cleanliness.
Speaker 1: The bed had been made after a fashion that showed
Speaker 1: that Brigitte and the Countess had given their minds to
Speaker 1: every trifling detail. It was impossible not to read her
Speaker 1: hopes in the dainty and thoughtful preparations about the room.
Speaker 1: Love and a mother's tenderest caresses seemed to pervade the air,
Speaker 1: in the scent of flowers. None but a mother could
Speaker 1: have foreseen the requirements of a soldier and arranged so
Speaker 1: completely for their satisfaction. A dainty meal, the best of wine,
Speaker 1: clean linen, slippers, no necessary. No comfort was lacking for
Speaker 1: the weary traveler, and all the delights of home heaped
Speaker 1: upon him should reveal his mother's love. Oh, Brigitte, cried
Speaker 1: the countess, with a heart rending inflection in her voice.
Speaker 1: She drew a chair to the table, as if to
Speaker 1: strengthen her illusions and realize her longings. Ah, Madame, he
Speaker 1: is coming. He is not far off. I haven't a
Speaker 1: doubt that he is living and on his way, Brigitte answered.
Speaker 1: I put a key in the Bible and held it
Speaker 1: on my fingers while Cotton read the Gospel of Saint John,
Speaker 1: and the key did not turn. Madame, Is that a
Speaker 1: certain sign? The countess asked, why, Yes, Madame, everybody knows
Speaker 1: that he is still alive. I would stake my salvation
Speaker 1: on it. God cannot be mistaken. If only I could
Speaker 1: see him here in the house. In spite of the danger,
Speaker 1: poor Monsieur August, cried Brigitte, I expect he is tramping
Speaker 1: along the lanes, and that is eight o'clock striking now,
Speaker 1: cried the Countess in terror. She was afraid that she
Speaker 1: had been too long in the room where she felt
Speaker 1: sure that her son was alive. All those preparations made
Speaker 1: for him meant that he was alive. She went down,
Speaker 1: but she lingered a moment in the peristyle for any
Speaker 1: sound that might waken the sleeping echoes of the town.
Speaker 1: She smiled at Brigitte's husband, who was standing there on guard.
Speaker 1: The man's eyes looked stupid with the strain of listening
Speaker 1: to the faint sounds of the night. She stared into
Speaker 1: the darkness, seeing her son in every shadow everywhere, but
Speaker 1: it was only for a moment. Then she went back
Speaker 1: to the drawing room with an assumption of high spirits,
Speaker 1: and began to play latto with the little girls. But
Speaker 1: from time to time she complained of feeling unwell and
Speaker 1: went to sit in her great chair by the fireside.
Speaker 1: So things went in Madame de Dey's house and in
Speaker 1: the minds of those beneath her roof. Meanwhile, on the
Speaker 1: road from Paris to Cherbourg, a young man dressed in
Speaker 1: the inevitable brown carmagnole of those days, was plodding his
Speaker 1: way toward Carentan. When the first levies were made, there
Speaker 1: was little or no discipline kept up. The exigencies of
Speaker 1: the moment. Scarcely admitted of soldiers being equipped at once,
Speaker 1: and it was no uncommon thing to see the roads
Speaker 1: thronged with conscripts in their ordinary clothes. The young fellows
Speaker 1: went ahead of their company to the next halting place,
Speaker 1: or lagged behind it. It depended upon their fitness to
Speaker 1: bear the fatigues of a long march. This particular wayfarer
Speaker 1: was some considerable way in advance of a company of
Speaker 1: conscripts on the way to Cherbourg, whom the mayor was
Speaker 1: expecting to arrive every hour, for it was his duty
Speaker 1: to distribute their billets. The young man's footsteps were still
Speaker 1: firm as he trudged along, and his bearings seemed to
Speaker 1: indicate that he was no stranger to the rough life
Speaker 1: of a soldier. The moon shone on the pasture land
Speaker 1: about Carentan, but he had noticed great masses of white
Speaker 1: cloud that were about to scatter showers of snow over
Speaker 1: the country, and doubtless the fear of being overtaken by
Speaker 1: a storm had quickened his pace. In spite of his weariness,
Speaker 1: the wallet on his back was almost empty, and he
Speaker 1: carried a stick in his hand cut from one of
Speaker 1: the high, thick box hedges that surround most of the
Speaker 1: farms in Lower Normandy. As the solitary wayfarer came into Carentan.
Speaker 1: The gleaming moonlit outlines of its towers stood out for
Speaker 1: a moment with the ghostly effect against the sky. He
Speaker 1: met no one in the silent streets that rang with
Speaker 1: the echoes of his own footsteps, and was obliged to
Speaker 1: ask the way to the mayor's house of a weaver
Speaker 1: who was working late. The magistrate was not far to seek,
Speaker 1: and in a few minutes the conscript was sitting on
Speaker 1: a stone bench in the mayor's porch, waiting for his billet.
Speaker 1: He was sent for, however, and confronted with that functionary
Speaker 1: who scrutinized him closely. The foot soldier was a good
Speaker 1: looking young man who appeared to be of gentle birth.
Speaker 1: There was something aristocratic in his bearing, and signs in
Speaker 1: his face of intelligence developed by a good education. What
Speaker 1: is your name, asked the mayor, eyeing him shrewdly. Julien Mosieu,
Speaker 1: answered the conscript from queried the official, and an incredulous
Speaker 1: smile stole over his features. From Paris. Your comrades must
Speaker 1: be a good way behind, remarked the Norman, in sarcastic tones.
Speaker 1: I am three leagues ahead of the battalion. Some sentiment
Speaker 1: attracts you to Carentan. Of course, citizen, conscript, said the
Speaker 1: mayor astutely. All right, all right, he added, with a
Speaker 1: wave of the hand, seeing that the young man was
Speaker 1: about to speak, we know where to send you there.
Speaker 1: Off with you, citizensieur, and he handed over the billet.
Speaker 1: There was a tinge of irony in the stress. The
Speaker 1: magistrate laid on the last two words while he held
Speaker 1: out a billet on Madame de Day. The conscript read
Speaker 1: the direction curiously. He knows quite well that he has
Speaker 1: not far to go, and when he gets outside, he
Speaker 1: will very soon cross the market place. The mayor said
Speaker 1: to himself, as the other went out. He is uncommonly bold.
Speaker 1: God guide him. He has an answer ready for everything. Yes,
Speaker 1: but if somebody else had asked to see his papers,
Speaker 1: it would have been all up with him. The clocks
Speaker 1: in Carentan struck half past nine. As he spoke. Lanterns
Speaker 1: were being lit in Madame de Day's ante chamber. Servants
Speaker 1: were helping their masters and mistresses into sabout greatcoats and calashes.
Speaker 1: The card players settled their accounts, and everybody went out
Speaker 1: together after the fashion of all little country towns. It
Speaker 1: looks as if the prosecutor meant to stop, said a
Speaker 1: lady who noticed that that important personage was not in
Speaker 1: the group in the market place where they all took
Speaker 1: leave of one another before going their separate ways home.
Speaker 1: And as a matter of fact, that redoubtable functionary was
Speaker 1: alone with the Countess, who waited trembling till he should go.
Speaker 1: There was something appalling in their long silence. Citoyenne, he said,
Speaker 1: at last, I am here to see that the laws
Speaker 1: of the republic are carried out. Madame de Daz shuddered,
Speaker 1: Have you nothing to tell me? Nothing? She answered in amazement.
Speaker 1: Ah Madame, cried the prosecutor, sitting down beside her and
Speaker 1: changing his tone. At this moment, for lack of a word,
Speaker 1: one of us, you or I may carry our heads
Speaker 1: to the scaffold. I have watched your character, your soul,
Speaker 1: your manner too closely to share the error into which
Speaker 1: you have managed to lead your visitors. To night. You
Speaker 1: are expecting your son, I could not doubt it. The
Speaker 1: Countess made an involuntary sign of denial, but her face
Speaker 1: had grown white and drawn with the struggle to maintain
Speaker 1: the composure. That she did not feel, and no tremor
Speaker 1: was lost on the merciless prosecutor. Very well, the revolutionary
Speaker 1: official went on, receive him, but do not let him
Speaker 1: stay under your roof after seven o'clock tomorrow morning. For tomorrow,
Speaker 1: as soon as it is light, I shall come with
Speaker 1: a denunciation that I will have made out. And she
Speaker 1: looked at him, and the dull misery in her eyes
Speaker 1: would have softened a tiger. I will make it clear
Speaker 1: that the denunciation was false by making a thorough search.
Speaker 1: He went on, in a gentle voice. My report shall
Speaker 1: be such that you will be safe from any subsequent suspicion.
Speaker 1: I shall make mention of your patriotic gifts, your civicism,
Speaker 1: and all of us will be safe. Madame de Day,
Speaker 1: fearful of a trap, sat motionless, her face afire, her
Speaker 1: tongue frozen. A knock at the door rang through the house. Oh,
Speaker 1: cried the terrified mother, falling upon her knees. Save him,
Speaker 1: save him, Yes, let us save him, returned the public prosecutor,
Speaker 1: and his eyes grew bright as he looked at her.
Speaker 1: If it costs us our lives lost, she wailed. The
Speaker 1: prosecutor raised her politely, madame, he said, with a flourish
Speaker 1: of eloquence, to your own free will alone, I would, Oh, Madame,
Speaker 1: he is, cried Brigitte, thinking that her mistress was alone.
Speaker 1: At the sight of the public prosecutor, the old servant's
Speaker 1: joy flushed countenance became haggard and impassive. Who is it, Brigitte,
Speaker 1: The prosecutor asked, kindly, as if he too were in
Speaker 1: the secret of the household, a conscript that the mayor
Speaker 1: has sent here for a night's lodging. The woman replied,
Speaker 1: holding out the billet. So it is, said the prosecutor,
Speaker 1: when he had read the slip of paper. A battalion
Speaker 1: is coming here to night, and he went. The Countess's
Speaker 1: need to believe in the faith of her some time
Speaker 1: attorney was so great that she dared not entertain any
Speaker 1: suspicion of him. She fled upstairs. She felt scarcely strength
Speaker 1: enough to stand. She opened the door and sprang, half
Speaker 1: dead with fear, into her son's arms. Oh, my child,
Speaker 1: my child, she sobbed, covering him with almost frenzied kisses.
Speaker 1: Madame said a stranger's voice, Oh it is not he,
Speaker 1: she cried, shrinking away in terror and She stood face
Speaker 1: to face with the conscript, gazing at him with haggard eyes. Oh,
Speaker 1: Saint bon dieu, how like he is, cried Brigitte. There
Speaker 1: was silence for a moment. Even the stranger trembled at
Speaker 1: the sight of Madame de Der's face. Ah monsieur, she said,
Speaker 1: leaning on the arm of Brigitte's husband, feeling for the
Speaker 1: first time the full extent of a sorrow that had
Speaker 1: all but killed her at its first threatening Ah, monsieur,
Speaker 1: I cannot stay to see you any longer. Permit my
Speaker 1: servants to supply my place and to see that you
Speaker 1: have all that you want. She went down to her
Speaker 1: own room, Brigitte and the old serving man half carrying
Speaker 1: her between them. The housekeeper set her mistress in a
Speaker 1: chair and broke out, what, Madame, is that man to
Speaker 1: sleep in Monsieur Auguste's bed and wear Monsieur August's slippers
Speaker 1: and eat the pasty that I made for Monsieur Auguste.
Speaker 1: Why if they were to guillotine me for it, I,
Speaker 1: Brigitte cried. Madame de de Brigitte said no more, hold
Speaker 1: your tongue, chatterbox, said her husband in a low voice.
Speaker 1: Do you want to kill Madame. A sound came from
Speaker 1: the conscript's room as he drew his chair to the table.
Speaker 1: I shall not stay here, cried Madame de Dey. I
Speaker 1: shall go into the conservatory. I shall hear better there
Speaker 1: if any one passes in the night. She still wavered
Speaker 1: between the fear that she had lost her son and
Speaker 1: the hope of seeing him once more. That night was
Speaker 1: hideously silent. Once for the countess. There was an awful
Speaker 1: interval when the battalion of conscripts entered the town, and
Speaker 1: the men went by one by one to their lodgings.
Speaker 1: Every footfall, every sound in the street raised hopes to
Speaker 1: be disappointed. But it was not for long. The dreadful
Speaker 1: why it succeeded again toward morning, the Countess was forced
Speaker 1: to return to her room. Brigitte, ever keeping watch over
Speaker 1: her mistress's movements, did not see her come out again,
Speaker 1: and when she went she found the Countess lying there dead.
Speaker 1: I expect she heard that conscript, cried Brigitte walking about
Speaker 1: Monsieur Auguste's room, whistling that accursed marseies of there, while
Speaker 1: he dressed as if he had been in a stable.
Speaker 1: That must have killed her. But it was a deeper
Speaker 1: and more solemn emotion, and doubtless some dreadful vision, that
Speaker 1: had caused Madame de Day's death, for at the very
Speaker 1: hour when she died at Carentan, her son was shot
Speaker 1: in ler Morbihan. This tragical story may be added to
Speaker 1: all the instances on record of the workings of sympathies
Speaker 1: uncontrolled by the laws of time and space. These observations,
Speaker 1: collected with scientific curiosity by a few isolated indibi, will
Speaker 1: one day serve as documents on which to base the
Speaker 1: foundations of a new science which hitherto has lacked its
Speaker 1: man of genius.