The Village Rector..............................................................................................................................................1

Honore de Balzac .....................................................................................................................................1

I. THE SAUVIATS ..................................................................................................................................1

II. VERONIQUE ......................................................................................................................................7

III. MARRIAGE....................................................................................................................................12

IV. THE HISTORY OF MANY MARRIED WOMEN IN THE PROVINCES ...................................20

V. TASCHERON ...................................................................................................................................24

VI. DISCUSSIONS AND CHRISTIAN SOLICITUDES .....................................................................32

VII. MONTEGNAC..............................................................................................................................38

VIII. THE RECTOR OF MONTEGNAC.............................................................................................45

IX. DENISE...........................................................................................................................................53

X. THIRD PHASE OF VERONIQUE'S LIFE ......................................................................................61

XI. THE RECTOR AT WORK.............................................................................................................67

XII. THE SOUL OF FORESTS............................................................................................................71

XIII. FARRABESCHE ..........................................................................................................................74

XIV. THE TORRENT OF THE GABOU.............................................................................................80

XV. STORY OF A GALLEYSLAVE................................................................................................86

XVI. CONCERNS ONE OF THE BLUNDERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY ......................90

XVII. THE REVOLUTION OF JULY JUDGED AT MONTEGNAC................................................99

XVIII. CATHERINE CURIEUX........................................................................................................108

XIX. A DEATH BLOW......................................................................................................................114

XX. THE LAST STRUGGLE.............................................................................................................123

XXI. CONFESSION AT THE GATES OF THE TOMB...................................................................131

In the lower town of Limoges, at the corner of the rue de la Vieille Poste and the rue de la Cite might have

been seen, a generation ago, one of those shops which were scarcely changed from the period of the

middleages. Large tiles seamed with a thousand cracks lay on the soil itself, which was damp in places, and

would have tripped up those who failed to observe the hollows and ridges of this singular flooring. The dusty

walls exhibited a curious mosaic of wood and brick, stones and iron, welded together with a solidity due to

time, possibly to chance. For more than a hundred years the ceiling, formed of colossal beams, bent beneath

the weight of the upper stories, though it had never given way under them. Built en colombage, that is to say,

with a wooden frontage, the whole facade was covered with slates, so put on as to form geometrical

figures,thus preserving a naive image of the burgher habitations of the olden time.

None of the windows, cased in wood and formerly adorned with carvings, now destroyed by the action of the

weather, had continued plumb; some bobbed forward, others tipped backward, while a few seemed disposed

to fall apart; all had a compost of earth, brought from heaven knows where, in the nooks and crannies

hollowed by the rain, in which the springtide brought forth fragile flowers, timid creeping plants, and sparse

herbage. Moss carpeted the roof and draped its supports. The corner pillar, with its composite masonry of

stone blocks mingled with brick and pebbles, was alarming to the eye by reason of its curvature; it seemed on

the point of giving way under the weight of the house, the gable of which overhung it by at least half a foot.

The municipal authorities and the commissioner of highways did, eventually, pull the old building down,

The pillar we have mentioned, placed at the angle of two streets, was a treasure to the seekers for Limousin

antiquities, on account of its lovely sculptured niche in which was a Virgin, mutilated during the Revolution.

All visitors with archaeological proclivities found traces of the stone sockets used to hold the candelabra in

At the farther end of the shop, a wormeaten wooden staircase led to the two upper floors which were in turn

surmounted by an attic. The house, backing against two adjoining houses, had no depth and derived all its

light from the front and side windows. Each floor had two small chambers only, lighted by single windows,

In the middleages no artisan was better lodged. The house had evidently belonged in those times to makers

of halberds and battle axes, armorers in short, artificers whose work was not injured by exposure to the open

air; for it was impossible to see clearly within, unless the iron shutters were raised from each side of the

building; where were also two doors, one on either side of the corner pillar, as may be seen in many shops at

the corners of streets. From the sill of each doorof fine stone worn by the tread of centuriesa low wall

about three feet high began; in this wall was a groove or slot, repeated above in the beam by which the wall

of each facade was supported. From time immemorial the heavy shutters had been rolled along these grooves,

held there by enormous iron bars, while the doors were closed and secured in the same manner; so that these

merchants and artificers could bar themselves into their houses as into a fortress.

Examining the interior, which, during the first twenty years of this century, was encumbered with old iron

and brass, tires of wheels, springs, bells, anything in short which the destruction of buildings afforded of old

metals, persons interested in the relics of the old town noticed signs of the flue of a forge, shown by a long

trail of soot,a minor detail which confirmed the conjecture of archaeologists as to the original use to which

the building was put. On the first floor (above the groundfloor) was one room and the kitchen; on the floor

above that were two bedrooms. The garret was used to put away articles more choice and delicate than those

This house, hired in the first instance, was subsequently bought by a man named Sauviat, a hawker or peddler

who, from 1786 to 1793, travelled the country over a radius of a hundred and fifty miles around Auvergne,

exchanging crockery of a common kind, plates, dishes, glasses,in short, the necessary articles of the

poorest households, for old iron, brass, and lead, or any metal under any shape it might lurk in. The

Auvergnat would give, for instance, a brown earthenware saucepan worth two sous for a pound of lead, two

pounds of iron, a broken spade or hoe or a cracked kettle; and being invariably the judge of his own cause, he

At the close of his third year Sauviat added the hawking of tin and copper ware to that of his pottery. In 1793

he was able to buy a chateau sold as part of the National domain, which he at once pulled to pieces. The

profits were such that he repeated the process at several points of the sphere in which he operated; later, these

first successful essays gave him the idea of proposing something of a like nature on a larger scale to one of

his compatriots who lived in Paris. Thus it happened that the "Bande Noire," so celebrated for its

devastations, had its birth in the brain of old Sauviat, the peddler, whom all Limoges afterward saw and knew

for twentyseven years in the rickety old shop among his cracked bells and rusty bars, chains and scales, his

twisted leaden gutters, and metal rubbish of all kinds. We must do him the justice to say that he knew nothing

of the celebrity or the extent of the association he originated; he profited by his own idea only in proportion

Tired of frequenting fairs and roaming the country, the Auvergnat settled at Limoges, where he married, in

1797, the daughter of a coppersmith, a widower, named Champagnac. When his fatherinlaw died he

bought the house in which he had been carrying on his trade of old iron dealer, after ceasing to roam the

country as a peddler. Sauviat was fifty years of age when he married old Champagnac's daughter, who was

herself not less than thirty. Neither handsome nor pretty, she was nevertheless born in Auvergne, and the

patois seemed to be the mutual attraction; also she had the sturdy frame which enables women to bear hard

work. In the first three years of their married life Sauviat continued to do some peddling, and his wife

accompanied him, carrying iron or lead on her back, and leading the miserable horse and cart full of crockery

with which her husband plied a disguised usury. Darkskinned, highcolored, enjoying robust health, and

showing when she laughed a brilliant set of teeth, white, long, and broad as almonds, Madame Sauviat had

If this strong girl were not earlier married, the fault must be attributed to the Harpagon "no dowry" her father

practised, though he never read Moliere. Sauviat was not deterred by the lack of dowry; besides, a man of

fifty can't make difficulties, not to speak of the fact that such a wife would save him the cost of a servant. He

added nothing to the furniture of his bedroom where, from the day of his wedding to the day he left the house,

twenty years later, there was never anything but a single fourpost bed, with valance and curtains of green

serge, a chest, a bureau, four chairs, a table, and a lookingglass, all collected from different localities. The

chest contained in its upper section pewter plates, dishes, etc., each article dissimilar from the rest. The

Neither husband nor wife knew how to read,a slight defect of education which did not prevent them from

ciphering admirably and doing a most flourishing business. Sauviat never bought any article without the

certainty of being able to sell it for one hundred per cent profit. To relieve himself of the necessity of keeping

books and accounts, he bought and sold for cash only. He had, moreover, such a perfect memory that the cost

of any article, were it only a farthing, remained in his mind year after year, together with its accrued interest.

Except during the time required for her household duties, Madame Sauviat was always seated in a rickety

wooden chair placed against the corner pillar of the building. There she knitted and looked at the passers,

watched over the old iron, sold and weighed it, and received payment if Sauviat was away making purchases.

When at home the husband could be heard at daybreak pushing open his shutters; the household dog rushed

out into the street; and Madame Sauviat presently came out to help her man in spreading upon the natural

counter made by the low walls on either side of the corner of the house on the two streets, the multifarious

collection of bells, springs, broken gunlocks, and the other rubbish of their business, which gave a

povertystricken look to the establishment, though it usually contained as much as twenty thousand francs'

Never were the former peddler and his wife known to speak of their fortune; they concealed its amount as

carefully as a criminal hides a crime; and for years they were suspected of shaving both gold and silver coins.

When Champagnac died the Sauviats made no inventory of his property; but they rummaged, with the

intelligence of rats, into every nook and corner of the old man's house, left it as naked as a corpse, and sold

Once a year, in December, Sauviat went to Paris in one of the public conveyances. The gossips of the

neighborhood concluded that in order to conceal from others the amount of his fortune, he invested it himself

on these occasions. It was known later that, having been connected in his youth with one of the most

celebrated dealers in metal, an Auvergnat like himself, who was living in Paris, Sauviat placed his funds with

the firm of Bresac, the mainspring and spine of that famous association known by the name of the "Bande

Noire," which, as we have already said, took its rise from a suggestion made by Sauviat himself.

Sauviat was a fat little man with a weary face, endowed by Nature with a look of honesty which attracted

customers and facilitated the sale of goods. His straightforward assertions, and the perfect indifference of his

tone and manner, increased this impression. In person, his naturally ruddy complexion was hardly perceptible

under the black metallic dust which powdered his curly black hair and the seams of a face pitted with the

smallpox. His forehead was not without dignity; in fact, it resembled the wellknown brow given by all

painters to Saint Peter, the man of the people, the roughest, but withal the shrewdest, of the apostles. His

hands were those of an indefatigable worker,large, thick, square, and wrinkled with deep furrows. His

chest was of seemingly indestructible muscularity. He never relinquished his peddler's costume,thick,

hobnailed shoes; blue stockings knit by his wife and hidden by leather gaiters; bottlegreen velveteen

trousers; a checked waistcoat, from which depended the brass key of his silver watch by an iron chain which

long usage had polished till it shone like steel; a jacket with short tails, also of velveteen, like that of the

trousers; and around his neck a printed cotton cravat much frayed by the rubbing of his beard.

On Sundays and fetedays Sauviat wore a frockcoat of maroon cloth, so well taken care of that two new

ones were all he bought in twenty years. The living of galleyslaves would be thought sumptuous in

comparison with that of the Sauviats, who never ate meat except on the great festivals of the Church. Before

paying out the money absolutely needed for their daily subsistence, Madame Sauviat would feel in the two

pockets hidden between her gown and petticoat, and bring forth a single wellscraped coin,a crown of six

francs, or perhaps a piece of fiftyfive sous,which she would gaze at for a long time before she could bring

herself to change it. As a general thing the Sauviats ate herrings, dried peas, cheese, hard eggs in salad,

vegetables seasoned in the cheapest manner. Never did they lay in provisions, except perhaps a bunch of

garlic or onions, which could not spoil and cost but little. The small amount of wood they burned in winter

they bought of itinerant sellers day by day. By seven in winter, by nine in summer, the household was in bed,

and the shop was closed and guarded by a huge dog, which got its living from the kitchens in the

neighborhood. Madame Sauviat used about three francs' worth of candles in the course of the year.

The sober, toilsome life of these persons was brightened by one joy, but that was a natural joy, and for it they

made their only known outlays. In May, 1802, Madame Sauviat gave birth to a daughter. She was confined

all alone, and went about her household work five days later. She nursed her child in the open air, seated as

usual in her chair by the corner pillar, continuing to sell old iron while the infant sucked. Her milk cost

nothing, and she let her little daughter feed on it for two years, neither of them being the worse for the long

Veronique (that was the infant's name) became the handsomest child in the Lower town, and every one who

saw her stopped to look at her. The neighbors then noticed for the first time a trace of feeling in the old

Sauviats, of which they had supposed them devoid. While the wife cooked the dinner the husband held the

little one, or rocked it to the tune of an Auvergnat song. The workmen as they passed sometimes saw him

motionless gazing at Veronique asleep on her mother's knees. He softened his harsh voice when he spoke to

her, and wiped his hands on his trousers before taking her up. When Veronique tried to walk, the father bent

his legs and stood at a little distance holding out his arms and making little grimaces which contrasted funnily

with the rigid furrows of his stern, hard face. The man of iron, brass, and lead became a being of flesh and

blood and bones. If he happened to be standing with his back against the corner pillar motionless, a cry from

Veronique would agitate him and send him flying over the mounds of iron fragments to find her; for she

spent her childhood playing with the wreck of ancient castles heaped in the depths of that old shop. There

were other days on which she went to play in the street or with the neighboring children; but even then her

It is not unimportant to say here that the Sauviats were eminently religious. At the very height of the

Revolution they observed both Sunday and fetedays. Twice Sauviat came near having his head cut off for

hearing mass from an unsworn priest. He was put in prison, being justly accused of helping a bishop, whose

life he saved, to fly the country. Fortunately the oldiron dealer, who knew the ways of bolts and bars, was

able to escape; nevertheless he was condemned to death by default, and as, by the bye, he never purged

His wife shared his piety. The avariciousness of the household yielded to the demands of religion. The

oldiron dealers gave their alms punctually at the sacrament and to all the collections in church. When the

vicar of SaintEtienne called to ask help for his poor, Sauviat or his wife fetched at once without reluctance

or sour faces the sum they thought their fair share of the parish duties. The mutilated Virgin on their corner

pillar never failed (after 1799) to be wreathed with holly at Easter. In the summer season she was feted with

bouquets kept fresh in tumblers of blue glass; this was particularly the case after the birth of Veronique. On

the days of the processions the Sauviats scrupulously hung their house with sheets covered with flowers, and

contributed money to the erection and adornment of the altar, which was the pride and glory of the whole

Veronique Sauviat was, therefore, brought up in a Christian manner. From the time she was seven years old

she was taught by a Gray sister from Auvergne to whom the Sauviats had done some kindness in former

times. Both husband and wife were obliging when the matter did not affect their pockets or consume their

time,like all poor folk who are cordially ready to be serviceable to others in their own way. The Gray sister

taught Veronique to read and write; she also taught her the history of the people of God, the catechism, the

Old and the New Testaments, and a very little arithmetic. That was all; the worthy sister thought it enough; it

At nine years of age Veronique surprised the whole neighborhood with her beauty. Every one admired her

face, which promised much to the pencil of artists who are always seeking a noble ideal. She was called "the

Little Virgin" and showed signs already of a fine figure and great delicacy of complexion. Her Madonnalike

facefor the popular voice had well named herwas surrounded by a wealth of fair hair, which brought out

the purity of her features. Whoever has seen the sublime Virgin of Titian in his great picture of the

"Presentation" at Venice, will know that Veronique was in her girlhood,the same ingenuous candor, the

same seraphic astonishment in her eyes, the same simple yet noble attitude, the same majesty of childhood in

At eleven years of age she had the smallpox, and owed her life to the care of Soeur Marthe. During the two

months that their child was in danger the Sauviats betrayed to the whole community the depth of their

tenderness. Sauviat no longer went about the country to sales; he stayed in the shop, going upstairs and down

to his daughter's room, sitting up with her every night in company with his wife. His silent anguish seemed so

great that no one dared to speak to him; his neighbors looked at him with compassion, but they only asked

news of Veronique from Soeur Marthe. During the days when the child's danger reached a crisis, the

neighbors and passers saw, for the first and only time in Sauviat's life, tears in his eyes and rolling down his

hollow cheeks; he did not wipe them, but stood for hours as if stupefied, not daring to go upstairs to his

daughter's room, gazing before him and seeing nothing, so oblivious of all things that any one might have

Veronique was saved, but her beauty perished. Her face, once exquisitely colored with a tint in which brown

and rose were harmoniously mingled, came out from the disease with a myriad of pits which thickened the

skin, the flesh beneath it being deeply indented. Even her forehead did not escape the ravages of the scourge;

it turned brown and looked as though it were hammered, like metal. Nothing can be more discordant than

brick tones of the skin surrounded by golden hair; they destroy all harmony. These fissures in the tissues,

capriciously hollowed, injured the purity of the profile and the delicacy of the lines of the face, especially that

of the nose, the Grecian form of which was lost, and that of the chin, once as exquisitely rounded as a piece

of white porcelain. The disease left nothing unharmed except the parts it was unable to reach,the eyes and

the teeth. She did not, however, lose the elegance and beauty of her shape,neither the fulness of its lines

nor the grace and suppleness of her waist. At fifteen Veronique was still a fine girl, and to the great

consolation of her father and mother, a good and pious girl, busy, industrious, and domestic.

After her convalescence and after she had made her first communion, her parents gave her the two chambers

on the second floor for her own particular dwelling. Sauviat, so course in his way of living for himself and his

wife, now had certain perceptions of what comfort might be; a vague idea came to him of consoling his child

for her great loss, which, as yet, she did not comprehend. The deprivation of that beauty which was once the

pride and joy of those two beings made Veronique the more dear and precious to them. Sauviat came home

one day, bearing a carpet he had chanced upon in some of his rounds, which he nailed himself on Veronique's

floor. For her he saved from the sale of an old chateau the gorgeous bed of a fine lady, upholstered in red silk

damask, with curtains and chairs of the same rich stuff. He furnished her two rooms with antique articles, of

the true value of which he was wholly ignorant. He bought mignonette and put the pots on the ledge outside

her window; and he returned from many of his trips with rose trees, or pansies, or any kind of flower which

If Veronique could have made comparisons and known the character, past habits, and ignorance of her

parents she would have seen how much there was of affection in these little things; but as it was, she simply

The girl wore the finest linen her mother could find in the shops. Madame Sauviat left her daughter at liberty

to buy what materials she liked for her gowns and other garments; and the father and mother were proud of

her choice, which was never extravagant. Veronique was satisfied with a blue silk gown for Sundays and

fetedays, and on workingdays she wore merino in winter and striped cotton dresses in summer. On

Sundays she went to church with her father and mother, and took a walk after vespers along the banks of the

Vienne or about the environs. On other days she stayed at home, busy in filling worsted work patterns, the

payment for which she gave to the poor,a life of simple, chaste, and exemplary principles and habits. She

did some reading together with her tapestry, but never in any books except those lent to her by the vicar of

All the rules of the Sauviat's domestic economy were suspended in favor of Veronique. Her mother delighted

in giving her dainty things to eat, and cooked her food separately. The father and mother still ate their nuts

and dry bread, their herrings and parched peas fricasseed in salt butter, while for Veronique nothing was

"Veronique must cost you a pretty penny," said a hatmaker who lived opposite to the Sauviats and had

designs on their daughter for his son, estimating the fortune of the oldiron dealer at a hundred thousand

"Yes, neighbor, yes," Pere Sauviat would say; "if she asked me for ten crowns I'd let her have them. She has

Veronique was, as a matter of fact, absolutely ignorant of the value of things. She had never wanted for

anything; she never saw a piece of gold till the day of her marriage; she had no money of her own; her mother

bought and gave her everything she needed and wished for; so that even when she wanted to give alms to a

"So you think, do you?" replied Sauviat. "You wouldn't get off under forty crowns a year, I can tell you that.

Why, her room, she has at least a hundred crowns' worth of furniture in it! But when a man has but one child,

"The little! Why, you must be rich, pere Sauviat! It is pretty nigh forty years that you have been doing a

"Ha! I sha'n't go to the poorhouse for want of a thousand francs or so!" replied the oldiron dealer.

From the day when Veronique lost the soft beauty which made her girlish face the admiration of all who saw

it, Pere Sauviat redoubled in activity. His business became so prosperous that he now went to Paris several

times a year. Every one felt that he wanted to compensate his daughter by force of money for what he called

her "loss of profit." When Veronique was fifteen years old a change was made in the internal manners and

customs of the household. The father and mother went upstairs in the evenings to their daughter's apartment,

where Veronique would read to them, by the light of a lamp placed behind a glass globe full of water, the

"Vie des Saints," the "Lettres Edifiantes," and other books lent by the vicar. Madame Sauviat knitted

stockings, feeling that she thus recouped herself for the cost of oil. The neighbors could see through the

window the old couple seated motionless in their armchairs, like Chinese images, listening to their daughter,

and admiring her with all the powers of their contracted minds, obtuse to everything that was not business or

There are, no doubt, many young girls in the world as pure as Veronique, but none purer or more modest. Her

At sixteen years of age she was fully developed, and appeared the woman she was eventually to become. She

was of medium height, neither her father nor her mother being tall; but her figure was charming in its

graceful suppleness, and in the serpentine curves laboriously sought by painters and sculptors,curves

which Nature herself draws so delicately with her lissom outlines, revealed to the eye of artists in spite of

swathing linen and thick clothes, which mould themselves, inevitably, upon the nude. Sincere, simple, and

natural, Veronique set these beauties of her form into relief by movements that were wholly free from

affectation. She brought out her "full and complete effect," if we may borrow that strong term from legal

phraseology. She had the plump arms of the Auvergnat women, the red and dimpled hand of a barmaid, and

At times there seemed to pass within her a marvellous and delightful phenomenon which promised to Love a

woman concealed thus far from every eye. This phenomenon was perhaps one cause of the admiration her

father and mother felt for her beauty, which they often declared to be divine,to the great astonishment of

their neighbors. The first to remark it were the priests of the cathedral and the worshippers with her at the

same altar. When a strong emotion took possession of Veronique,and the religious exaltation to which she

yielded herself on receiving the communion must be counted among the strongest emotions of so pure and

candid a young creature,an inward light seemed to efface for the moment all traces of the smallpox. The

pure and radiant face of her childhood reappeared in its pristine beauty. Though slightly veiled by the

thickened surface disease had laid there, it shone with the mysterious brilliancy of a flower blooming beneath

the water of the sea when the sun is penetrating it. Veronique was changed for a few moments; the Little

Virgin reappeared and then disappeared again, like a celestial vision. The pupils of her eyes, gifted with the

power of great expansion, widened until they covered the whole surface of the blue iris except for a tiny

circle. Thus the metamorphose of the eye, which became as keen and vivid as that of an eagle, completed the

extraordinary change in the face. Was it the storm of restrained passions; was it some power coming from the

depths of the soul, which enlarged the pupils in full daylight as they sometimes in other eyes enlarge by

However that may be, it was impossible to look indifferently at Veronique as she returned to her seat from

the altar where she had united herself with God,a moment when she appeared to all the parish in her

primitive splendor. At such moments her beauty eclipsed that of the most beautiful of women. What a charm

was there for the man who loved her, guarding jealously that veil of flesh which hid the woman's soul from

every eye,a veil which the hand of love might lift for an instant and then let drop over conjugal delights!

Veronique's lips were faultlessly curved and painted in the clear vermilion of her pure warm blood. Her chin

and the lower part of her face were a little heavy, in the acceptation given by painters to that term,a

heaviness which is, according to the relentless laws of physiognomy, the indication of an almost morbid

vehemence in passion. She had above her brow, which was finely modelled and almost imperious, a

From the age of sixteen to the day of her marriage Veronique's bearing was always thoughtful, and

sometimes melancholy. Living in such deep solitude, she was forced, like other solitary persons, to examine

and consider the spectacle of that which went on within her,the progress of her thought, the variety of the

images in her mind, and the scope of feelings warmed and nurtured in a life so pure.

Those who looked up from their lower level as they passed along the rue de la Cite might have seen, on all

fine days, the daughter of the Sauviats sitting at her open window, sewing, embroidering, or pricking the

needle through the canvas of her worstedwork, with a look that was often dreamy. Her head was vividly

defined among the flowers which poetized the brown and crumbling sills of her casement windows with their

leaded panes. Sometimes the reflection of the red damask window curtains added to the effect of that head,

already so highly colored; like a crimson flower she glowed in the aerial garden so carefully trained upon her

The quaint old house possessed therefore something more quaint than itself,the portrait of a young girl

worthy of Mieris, or Van Ostade, or Terburg, or Gerard Douw, framed in one of those old, defaced, half

ruined windows the brushes of the old Dutch painters loved so well. When some stranger, surprised or

interested by the building, stopped before it and gazed at the second story, old Sauviat would poke his head

beyond the overhanging projection, certain that he should see his daughter at her window. Then he would

retreat into the shop rubbing his hands and saying to his wife in the Auvergne vernacular:

In 1820 an incident occurred in the simple uneventful life the girl was leading, which might have had no

importance in the life of any other young woman, but which, in point of fact, did no doubt exercise over

On one of the suppressed church fetedays, when many persons went about their daily labor, though the

Sauviats scrupulously closed their shop, attended mass, and took a walk, Veronique passed, on their way to

the fields, a bookseller's stall on which lay a copy of "Paul and Virginia." She had a fancy to buy it for the

sake of the engraving, and her father paid a hundred sous for the fatal volume, which he put into the pocket of

"Wouldn't it be well to show that book to Monsieur le vicaire before you read it?" said her mother, to whom

The girl passed the whole night reading the story,one of the most touching bits of writing in the French

language. The picture of mutual love, half Biblical and worthy of the earlier ages of the world, ravaged her

heart. A handwas it divine or devilish?raised the veil which, till then, had hidden nature from her. The

Little Virgin still existing in the beautiful young girl thought on the morrow that her flowers had never been

so beautiful; she heard their symbolic language, she looked into the depths of the azure sky with a fixedness

In the life of all women there comes a moment when they comprehend their destiny,when their hitherto

mute organization speaks peremptorily. It is not always a man, chosen by some furtive involuntary glance,

who awakens their slumbering sixth sense; oftener it is some unexpected sight, the aspect of scenery, the

coup d'oeil of religious pomp, the harmony of nature's perfumes, a rosy dawn veiled in slight mists, the

winning notes of some divinest music, or indeed any unexpected motion within the soul or within the body.

To this lonely girl, buried in that old house, brought up by simple, half rustic parents, who had never heard an

unfit word, whose pure unsullied mind had never known the slightest evil thought,to the angelic pupil of

Soeur Marthe and the vicar of SaintEtienne the revelation of love, the life of womanhood, came from the

hand of genius through one sweet book. To any other mind the book would have offered no danger; to her it

was worse in its effects than an obscene tale. Corruption is relative. There are chaste and virgin natures which

a single thought corrupts, doing all the more harm because no thought of the duty of resistance has occurred.

The next day Veronique showed the book to the good priest, who approved the purchase; for what could be

more childlike and innocent and pure than the history of Paul and Virginia? But the warmth of the tropics, the

beauty of the scenery, the almost puerile innocence of a love that seemed so sacred had done their work on

Veronique. She was led by the sweet and noble achievement of its author to the worship of the Ideal, that

fatal human religion! She dreamed of a lover like Paul. Her thoughts caressed the voluptuous image of that

balmy isle. Childlike, she named an island in the Vienne, below Limoges and nearly opposite to the Faubourg

SaintMartial, the Ile de France. Her mind lived there in the world of fancy all young girls construct,a

world they enrich with their own perfections. She spent long hours at her window, looking at the artisans or

the mechanics who passed it, the only men whom the modest position of her parents allowed her to think of.

Accustomed, of course, to the idea of eventually marrying a man of the people, she now became aware of

In such a situation she naturally made many a romance such as young girls are fond of weaving. She clasped

the ideaperhaps with the natural ardor of a noble and virgin imaginationof ennobling one of those men,

and of raising him to the height where her own dreams led her. She may have made a Paul of some young

man who caught her eye, merely to fasten her wild ideas on an actual being, as the mists of a damp

atmosphere, touched by frost, crystallize on the branches of a tree by the wayside. She must have flung

herself deep into the abysses of her dream, for though she often returned bearing on her brow, as if from vast

heights, some luminous reflections, oftener she seemed to carry in her hand the flowers that grew beside a

On the warm summer evenings she would ask her father to take her on his arm to the banks of the Vienne,

where she went into ecstasies over the beauties of the sky and fields, the glories of the setting sun, or the

infinite sweetness of the dewy evening. Her soul exhaled itself thenceforth in a fragrance of natural poesy.

Her hair, until then simply wound about her head, she now curled and braided. Her dress showed some

research. The vine which was running wild and naturally among the branches of the old elm, was

After the return of old Sauviat (then seventy years of age) from a trip to Paris in December, 1822, the vicar

came to see him one evening, and after a few insignificant remarks he said suddenly:

"You had better think of marrying your daughter, Sauviat. At your age you ought not to put off the

"Why didn't you speak to me about it before I went to Paris, mother?" said Sauviat. "I shall have to go back

JeromeBaptiste Sauviat, a man in whose eyes money seemed to constitute the whole of happiness, who

knew nothing of love, and had never seen in marriage anything but the means of transmitting property to

another self, had long sworn to marry Veronique to some rich bourgeois,so long, in fact, that the idea had

assumed in his brain the characteristics of a hobby. His neighbor, the hatmaker, who possessed about two

thousand francs a year, had already asked, on behalf of his son, to whom he proposed to give up his

hatmaking establishment, the hand of a girl so well known in the neighborhood for her exemplary conduct

and Christian principles. Sauviat had politely refused, without saying anything to Veronique. The day after

the vicara very important personage in the eyes of the Sauviat householdhad mentioned the necessary of

marrying Veronique, whose confessor he was, the old man shaved and dressed himself as for a feteday, and

went out without saying a word to his wife or daughter; both knew very well, however, that the father was in

Monsieur Graslin, a rich banker in Limoges, had, like Sauviat himself, started from Auvergne without a

penny; he came to Limoges to be a porter, found a place as an officeboy in a financial house, and there, like

many other financiers, he made his way by dint of economy, and also through fortunate circumstances.

Cashier at twentyfive years of age, partner ten years later, in the firm of Perret and Grossetete, he ended by

finding himself the head of the house, after buying out the senior partners, both of whom retired into the

Pierre Graslin, then fortyseven years of age, was supposed to possess about six hundred thousand francs.

The estimate of his fortune had lately increased throughout the department, in consequence of his outlay in

having built, in a new quarter of the town called the place d'Arbres (thus assisting to give Limoges an

improved aspect), a fine house, the front of it being on a line with a public building with the facade of which

it corresponded. This house had now been finished six months, but Pierre Graslin delayed furnishing it; it had

cost him so much that he shrank from the further expense of living in it. His vanity had led him to transgress

the wise laws by which he governed his life. He felt, with the good sense of a business man, that the interior

of the house ought to correspond with the character of the outside. The furniture, silverware, and other

needful accessories to the life he would have to lead in his new mansion would, he estimated, cost him nearly

as much as the original building. In spite, therefore, of the gossip of tongues and the charitable suppositions

of his neighbors, he continued to live on in the damp, old, and dirty ground floor apartment in the rue

Montantmanigne where his fortune had been made. The public carped, but Graslin had the approval of his

A fortune and a position like those of Pierre Graslin naturally excited the greed of not a few in a small

provincial city. During the last ten years more than one proposition of marriage had been intimated to

Monsieur Graslin. But the bachelor state was so well suited to a man who was busy from morning till night,

overrun with work, eager in the pursuit of money as a hunter for game, and always tired out with his day's

labor, that Graslin fell into none of the traps laid for him by ambitious mothers who coveted so brilliant a

Graslin, another Sauviat in an upper sphere, did not spend more than forty sous a day, and clothed himself no

better than his underclerk. Two clerks and an officeboy sufficed him to carry on his business, which was

immense through the multiplicity of its details. One clerk attended to the correspondence; the other had

charge of the accounts; but Pierre Graslin was himself the soul, and body too, of the whole concern. His

clerks, chosen from his own relations, were safe men, intelligent and as welltrained in the work as himself.

As for the officeboy, he led the life of a truck horse,up at five in the morning at all seasons, and never

Graslin employed a charwoman by the day, an old peasant from Auvergne, who did his cooking. The brown

earthenware off which he ate, and the stout coarse linen which he used, were in keeping with the character of

his food. The old woman had strict orders never to spend more than three francs daily for the total expenses

of the household. The officeboy was also manofallwork. The clerks took care of their own rooms. The

tables of blackened wood, the straw chairs half unseated, the wretched beds, the counters and desks, in short,

the whole furniture of house and office was not worth more than a thousand francs, including a colossal iron

safe, built into the wall, before which slept the manofallwork with two dogs at his feet.

Graslin did not often go into society, which, however, discussed him constantly. Two or three times a year he

dined with the receiver general, with whom his business brought him into occasional intercourse. He also

occasionally took a meal at the prefecture; for he had been appointed, much to his regret, a member of the

Council general of the department"a waste of time," he remarked. Sometimes his brother bankers with

whom he had dealings kept him to breakfast or dinner; and he was forced also to visit his former partners,

who spent their winters in Limoges. He cared so little to keep up his relations to society that in twentyfive

years Graslin had not offered so much as a glass of water to any one. When he passed along the street persons

would nudge each other and say: "That's Monsieur Graslin"; meaning, "There's a man who came to Limoges

without a penny and has now acquired an enormous fortune." The Auvergnat banker was a model which

more than one father pointed out to his son, and wives had been known to fling him in the faces of their

We can now understand the reasons that led a man who had become the pivot of the financial machine of

Limoges to repulse the various propositions of marriage which parents never ceased to make to him. The

daughters of his partners, Messrs. Perret and Grossetete, were married before Graslin was in a position to take

a wife; but as each of these ladies had young daughters, the wiseheads of the community finally concluded

that old Perret or old Grossetete had made an arrangement with Graslin to wait for one of his granddaughters,

Sauviat had watched the ascending career of his compatriot more attentively and seriously than any one else.

He had known him from the time he first came to Limoges; but their respective positions had changed so

much, at least apparently, that their friendship, now become merely superficial, was seldom freshened. Still,

in his relation as compatriot, Graslin never disdained to talk with Sauviat when they chanced to meet. Both

continued to keep up their early tutoiement, but only in their native dialect. When the receiver general of

Bourges, the youngest of the brothers Grossetete, married his daughter in 1823 to the youngest son of Comte

Fontaine, Sauviat felt sure that the Grossetetes would never allow Graslin to enter their family.

After his conference with the banker, Pere Sauviat returned home joyously. He dined that night in his

"Is it possible?" said Veronique, to whom Graslin was personally unknown, and whose imagination regarded

"Yes, it is settled," said old Sauviat solemnly. "Graslin will furnish his house magnificently; he is to give our

daughter a fine Parisian carriage and the best horses to be found in the Limousin; he will buy an estate worth

five hundred thousand francs, and settle that and his townhouse upon her. Veronique will be the first lady in

Limoges, the richest in the department, and she can do what she pleases with Graslin."

Veronique's education, her religious ideas, and her boundless affection for her parents, prevented her from

making a single objection; it did not even cross her mind to think that she had been disposed of without

reference to her own will. On the morrow Sauviat went to Paris, and was absent for nearly a week.

Pierre Graslin was, as can readily be imagined, not much of a talker; he went straight and rapidly to deeds. A

thing decided on was a thing done. In February, 1822, a strange piece of news burst like a thunderbolt on the

town of Limoges. The hotel Graslin was being handsomely furnished; carriers' carts came day after day from

Paris, and their contents were unpacked in the courtyard. Rumors flew about the town as to the beauty and

good taste of the modern or the antique furniture as it was seen to arrive. The great firm of Odiot and

Company sent down a magnificent service of plate by the mailcoach. Three carriages, a caleche, a coupe,

and a cabriolet arrived, wrapped in straw with as much care as if they were jewels.

These words were said by every pair of lips in Limoges in the course of a single evening,in the salons of

the upper classes, in the kitchens, in the shops, in the streets, in the suburbs, and before long throughout the

whole surrounding country. But to whom? No one could answer. Limoges had a mystery.

On the return of old Sauviat Graslin paid his first evening visit at halfpast nine o'clock. Veronique was

expecting him, dressed in her blue silk gown and muslin guimpe, over which fell a collaret made of lawn with

a deep hem. Her hair was simply worn in two smooth bandeaus, gathered into a Grecian knot at the back of

her head. She was seated on a tapestried chair beside her mother, who occupied a fine armchair with a carved

back, covered with red velvet (evidently the relic of some old chateau), which stood beside the fireplace. A

bright fire blazed on the hearth. On the chimneypiece, at either side of an antique clock, the value of which

was wholly unknown to the Sauviats, six wax candles in two brass sconces twisted like vineshoots, lighted

the dark room and Veronique in all her budding prime. The old mother was wearing her best gown.

From the silent street, at that tranquil hour, through the soft shadows of the ancient stairway, Graslin

appeared to the modest, artless Veronique, her mind still dwelling on the sweet ideas which Bernadin de

Graslin, who was short and thin, had thick black hair like the bristles of a brush, which brought into vigorous

relief a face as red as that of a drunkard emeritus, and covered with suppurating pimples, either bleeding or

about to burst. Without being caused by eczema or scrofula, these signs of a blood overheated by continual

toil, anxiety, and the lust of business, by wakeful nights, poor food, and a sober life, seemed to partake of

both these diseases. In spite of the advice of his partners, his clerks, and his physician, the banker would

never compel himself to take the healthful precautions which might have prevented, or would at least modify,

this malady, which was slight at first, but had greatly increased from year to year. He wanted to cure it, and

would sometimes take baths or drink some prescribed potion; but, hurried along on the current of his

business, he soon neglected the care of his person. Sometimes he thought of suspending work for a time,

travelling about, and visiting the noted baths for such diseases; but where is the hunter after millions who is

In that blazing furnace shone two gray eyes rayed with green lines starting from the pupils, and speckled with

brown spots,two implacable eyes, full of resolution, rectitude, and shrewd calculation. Graslin's nose was

short and turned up; he had a mouth with thick lips, a prominent forehead, and high cheekbones, coarse ears

with large edges discolored by the condition of his blood,in short, he was an ancient satyr in a black satin

waistcoat, brown frockcoat, and white cravat. His strong and vigorous shoulders, which began life by

bearing heavy burdens, were now rather bent; and beneath this torso, unduly developed, came a pair of weak

legs, rather badly affixed to the short thighs. His thin and hairy hands had the crooked fingers of those whose

business it is to handle money. The habit of quick decision could be seen in the way the eyebrows rose into a

point over each arch of the eye. Though the mouth was grave and pinched, its expression was that of inward

kindliness; it told of an excellent nature, sunk in business, smothered possibly, though it might revive by

At this apparition Veronique's heart was violently agitated; blackness came before her eyes; she thought she

Veronique rose, curtsied, dropped back into her chair, and looked at her mother, who was smiling at the

millionaire, seeming, as her father did, so happy,so happy that the poor girl found strength to hide her

surprise and her violent repulsion. During the conversation which then took place something was said of

Graslin's health. The banker looked naively into the mirror, with bevelled edges in an ebony frame.

Thereupon he proceeded to explain the blotches on his face as the result of his overworked life. He related

how he had constantly disobeyed his physician's advice; and remarked that he hoped to change his

appearance altogether when he had a wife to rule his household, and take better care of him than he took of

"Is a man married for his face, compatriot?" said Sauviat, giving the other a hearty slap on the thigh.

Graslin's speech went straight to those natural feelings which, more or less, fill the heart of every woman.

The thought came into Veronique's mind that her face, too, had been destroyed by a horrible disease, and her

Hearing a whistle in the street, Graslin went downstairs, followed by Sauviat. They speedily returned. The

officeboy had brought the first bouquet, which was a little late in coming. When the banker exhibited this

mound of exotic flowers, the fragrance of which completely filled the room, and offered it to his future wife,

Veronique felt a rush of conflicting emotions; she was suddenly plunged into the ideal and fantastic world of

tropical nature. Never before had she seen white camelias, never had she smelt the fragrance of the Alpine

cistus, the Cape jessamine, the cedronella, the volcameria, the mossrose, or any of the divine perfumes

which woo to love, and sing to the heart their hymns of fragrance. Graslin left Veronique that night in the

From this time forth, as soon as all Limoges was sleeping, the banker would slip along the walls to the

Sauviats' house. There he would tap gently on the windowshutter; the dog did not bark; old Sauviat came

down and let him in, and Graslin would then spend an hour or two with Veronique in the brown room, where

Madame Sauviat always served him a true Auvergnat supper. Never did this singular lover arrive without a

bouquet made of the rarest flowers from the greenhouse of his old partner, Monsieur Grossetete, the only

person who as yet knew of the approaching marriage. The manofallwork went every evening to fetch the

Graslin made about fifty such visits in two months; each time, besides the flowers, he brought with him some

rich present,rings, a watch, a gold chain, a workbox, etc. These inconceivable extravagances must be

explained, and a word suffices. Veronique's dowry, promised by her father, consisted of nearly the whole of

old Sauviat's property, namely, seven hundred and fifty thousand francs. The old man retained an income of

eight thousand francs derived from the Funds, bought for him originally for sixty thousand francs in assignats

by his correspondent Brezac, to whom, at the time of his imprisonment, he had confided that sum, and who

kept it for him safely. These sixty thousand francs in assignats were the half of Sauviat's fortune at the time

he came so near being guillotined. Brezac was also, at the same time, the faithful repository of the rest,

namely, seven hundred louis d'or (an enormous sum at that time in gold), with which old Sauviat began his

business once more as soon as he recovered his liberty. In thirty years each of those louis d'or had been

transformed into a banknote for a thousand francs, by means of the income from the Funds, of Madame

Sauviat's inheritance from her father, old Champagnac, and of the profits accruing from the business and the

accumulated interest thereon in the hands of the Brezac firm. Brezac himself had a loyal and honest

So, whenever Sauviat passed the front of the Graslin mansion he had said to himself, "Veronique shall live in

that fine palace." He knew very well that no girl in all the department would have seven hundred and fifty

thousand francs as a marriage portion, besides the expectation of two hundred and fifty thousand more.

Graslin, his chosen soninlaw, would therefore infallibly marry Veronique; and so, as we have seen, it came

Every evening Veronique had her fresh bunch of flowers, which on the morrow decked her little salon and

was carefully concealed from the neighbors. She admired the beautiful jewels, the pearls and diamonds, the

bracelets, the rubies, gifts which assuredly gratify all the daughters of Eve. She thought herself less plain

when she wore them. She saw her mother happy in the marriage, and she had no other point of view from

which to make comparisons. She was, moreover, totally ignorant of the duties or the purpose of marriage. She

heard the solemn voice of the vicar of SaintEtienne praising Graslin to her as a man of honor, with whom

she would lead an honorable life. Thus it was that Veronique consented to receive Monsieur Graslin as her

When it happens that in a life so withdrawn from the world, so solitary as that of Veronique, a single person

enters it every day, that person cannot long remain indifferent; either he is hated, and the aversion, justified

by a deepening knowledge of his character, renders him intolerable, or the habit of seeing bodily defects dims

the eye to them. The mind looks about for compensations; his countenance awakens curiosity; its features

brighten; fleeting beauties appear in it. At last the inner, hidden beneath the outer, shows itself. Then, when

the first impressions are fairly overcome, the attachment felt is all the stronger, because the soul clings to it as

its own creation. That is love. And here lies the reason of those passions conceived by beautiful things for

other beings apparently ugly. The outward aspect, forgotten by affection, is no longer seen in a creature

whose soul is deeply valued. Besides this, beauty, so necessary to a woman, takes many strange aspects in

man; and there is as much diversity of feeling among women about the beauty of men as there is among men

about the beauty of women. So, after deep reflection and much debating with herself, Veronique gave her

From that moment all Limoges rang with this inexplicable affair, inexplicable because no one knew the

secret of it, namely, the immensity of the dowry. Had that dowry been known Veronique could have chosen a

Graslin was thought to be much in love. Upholsterers came from Paris to fit up the house. Nothing was talked

of in Limoges but the profuse expenditures of the banker. The value of the chandeliers was calculated; the

gilding of the walls, the figures on the clocks, all were discussed; the jardinieres, the caloriferes, the objects

of luxury and novelty, nothing was left unnoticed. In the garden of the hotel Graslin, above the icehouse, was

an aviary, and all the inhabitants of the town were presently surprised by the sight of rare birds,Chinese

pheasants, mysterious breeds of ducks. Every one flocked to see them. Monsieur and Madame Grossetete, an

old couple who were highly respected in Limoges, made several visits to the Sauviats, accompanied by

Graslin. Madame Grossetete, a most excellent woman, congratulated Veronique on her happy marriage. Thus

the Church, the family, society, and all material things down to the most trivial, made themselves

In the month of April the formal invitations to the wedding were issued to all Graslin's friends and

acquaintance. On a fine spring morning a caleche and a coupe, drawn by Limousin horses chosen by

Monsieur Grossetete, drew up at eleven o'clock before the shop of the irondealer, bringing, to the great

excitement of the neighborhood, the former partners of the bridegroom and the latter's two clerks. The street

was lined with spectators, all anxious to see the Sauviats' daughter, on whose beautiful hair the most

renowned hairdresser in Limoges had placed the bridal wreath and a costly veil of English lace. Veronique

wore a gown of simple white muslin. A rather imposing assemblage of the most distinguished women in the

society of the town attended the wedding in the cathedral, where the bishop, knowing the religious fervor of

the Sauviats, deigned to marry Veronique himself. The bride was very generally voted plain.

She entered her new house, and went from one surprise to another. A grand dinner was to precede the ball, to

which Graslin had invited nearly all Limoges. The dinner, given to the bishop, the prefect, the judge of the

court, the attorneygeneral, the mayor, the general, and Graslin's former partners with their wives, was a

triumph for the bride, who, like all other persons who are simple and natural, showed charms that were not

expected in her. Neither of the bridal pair could dance; Veronique continued therefore to do the honors to her

guests, and to win the esteem and good graces of nearly all the persons who were presented to her, asking

Grossetete, who took an honest liking to her, for information about the company. She made no mistakes and

committed no blunders. It was during this evening that the two former partners of the banker announced the

amount of the dowry (immense for Limousin) given by the Sauviats to their daughter. At nine o'clock the old

irondealer returned home and went to bed, leaving his wife to preside over the bride's retiring. It was said by

everyone throughout the town that Madame Graslin was very plain, though well made.

Old Sauviat now wound up his business and sold his house in town. He bought a little countryplace on the

left bank of the Vienne between Limoges and Cluzeau, ten minutes' walk from the suburb of Saint Martial,

where he intended to finish his days tranquilly with his wife. The old couple had an apartment in the hotel

Graslin and always dined once or twice a week with their daughter, who, as often, made their house in the

This enforced rest almost killed old Sauviat. Happily, Graslin found a means of occupying his fatherinlaw.

In 1823 the banker was forced to take possession of a porcelain manufactory, to the proprietors of which he

had advanced large sums, which they found themselves unable to repay except by the sale of their factory,

which they made to him. By the help of his business connections and by investing a large amount of property

in the concern, Graslin made it one of the finest manufactories of Limoges ware in the town. Afterwards he

resold it at a fine profit; meantime he placed it under the superintendence of his fatherinlaw, who, in spite

of his seventytwo years, counted for much in the return of prosperity to the establishment, who himself

renewed his youth in the employment. Graslin was then able to attend to his legitimate business of banking

Sauviat died in 1827 from an accident. While taking account of stock he fell into a charasse,a sort of crate

with an open grating in which the china was packed; his leg was slightly injured, so slightly that he paid no

attention to it; gangrene set in; he would not consent to amputation, and therefore died. The widow gave up

about two hundred and fifty thousand francs which came to her from Sauviat's estate, reserving only a stipend

of two hundred francs a month, which amply sufficed for her wants. Graslin bound himself to pay her that

sum duly. She kept her little house in the country, and lived there alone without a servant and against the

remonstrances of her daughter, who could not induce her to alter this determination, to which she clung with

the obstinacy peculiar to old persons. Madame Sauviat came nearly every day into Limoges to see her

daughter, and the latter still continued to make her mother's house, from which was a charming view of the

river, the object of her walks. From the road leading to it could be seen that island long loved by Veronique

In order not to complicate our history of the Graslin household with the foregoing incidents, we have thought

it best to end that of the Sauviats by anticipating events, which are moreover useful as explaining the private

and hidden life which Madame Graslin now led. The old mother, noticing that Graslin's miserliness, which

returned upon him, might hamper her daughter, was for some time unwilling to resign the property left to her

by her husband. But Veronique, unable to imagine a case in which a woman might desire the use of her own

property, urged it upon her mother with reasons of great generosity, and out of gratitude to Graslin for

restoring to her the liberty and freedom of a young girl. But this is anticipating.

The unusual splendor which accompanied Graslin's marriage had disturbed all his habits and constantly

annoyed him. The mind of the great financier was a very small one. Veronique had had no means of judging

the man with whom she was to pass her life. During his fifty five visits he had let her see nothing but the

business man, the indefatigable worker, who conceived and sustained great enterprises, and analyzed public

affairs, bringing them always to the crucial test of the Bank. Fascinated by the million offered to him by

Sauviat, he showed himself generous by calculation. Carried away by the interests of his marriage and by

what he called his "folly," namely, the house which still goes by the name of the hotel Graslin, he did things

on a large scale. Having bought horses, a caleche, and a coupe, he naturally used them to return the wedding

visits and go to those dinners and balls, called the "retours de noces," which the heads of the administration

and the rich families of Limoges gave to the newly married pair. Under this impulsion, which carried him

entirely out of his natural sphere, Graslin sent to Paris for a mancook and took a reception day. For a year he

kept the pace of a man who possesses a fortune of sixteen hundred thousand francs, and he became of course

the most noted personage in Limoges. During this year he generously put into his wife's purse every month

Society concerned itself much about Veronique from the day of her marriage, for she was a boon to its

curiosity, which has little to feed on in the provinces. Veronique was all the more studied because she had

appeared in the social world like a phenomenon; but once there, she remained always simple and modest, in

the attitude of a person who is observing habits, customs, manners, things unknown to her, and endeavoring

to conform to them. Already voted ugly but well shaped, she was now declared kindly but stupid. She was

learning so many things, she had so much to hear and to see that her looks and speech did certainly give some

reason for this judgment. She showed a sort of torpor which resembled lack of mind. Marriage, that hard

calling, as she said, for which the Church, the Code, and her mother exhorted her to resignation and

obedience, under pain of transgressing all human laws and causing irreparable evil, threw her into a dazed

Silent and selfcontained, she listened as much to herself as she did to others. Feeling within her the most

violent "difficulty of existing," to use an expression of Fontenelle's, which was constantly increasing, she

became terrified at herself. Nature resisted the commands of the mind, the body denied the will. The poor

creature, caught in the net, wept on the breast of that great Mother of the poor and the afflicted,she went

for comfort to the Church; her piety redoubled, she confided the assaults of the demon to her confessor; she

prayed to heaven for succor. Never, at any period of her life, did she fulfil her religious duties with such

fervor. The despair of not loving her husband flung her violently at the foot of the altar, where divine and

consolatory voices urged her to patience. She was patient, she was gentle, and she continued to live on,

"Did you notice Madame Graslin this morning?" the women would say to each other. "Marriage doesn't agree

"Yes," some of them would reply; "but would you give your daughter to a man like Graslin? No woman

Now that Graslin was married, all the mothers who had courted him for ten years past pursued him with

Veronique grew visibly thinner and really ugly; her eyes looked weary, her features coarsened, her manner

was shy and awkward; she acquired that air of cold and melancholy rigidity for which the ultrapious are so

often blamed. Her skin took on a grayish tone; she dragged herself languidly about during this first year of

married life, ordinarily so brilliant for a young wife. She tried to divert her mind by reading, profiting by the

liberty of married women to read what they please. She read the novels of Walter Scott, the poems of Lord

Byron, the works of Schiller and of Goethe, and much else of modern and also ancient literature. She learned

to ride a horse, and to dance and to draw. She painted watercolors and made sepia sketches, turning ardently

to all those resources which women employ to bear the weariness of their solitude. She gave herself that

second education which most women derive from a man, but which she derived from herself only.

The natural superiority of a free, sincere spirit, brought up, as it were in a desert and strengthened by religion,

had given her a sort of untrammelled grandeur and certain needs, to which the provincial world she lived in

offered no sustenance. All books pictured Love to her, and she sought for the evidence of its existence, but

nowhere could she see the passion of which she read. Love was in her heart, like seeds in the earth, awaiting

the action of the sun. Her deep melancholy, caused by constant meditation on herself, brought her back by

hidden byways to the brilliant dreams of her girlish days. Many a time she must have lived again that old

romantic poem, making herself both the actor and the subject of it. Again she saw that island bathed in light,

flowery, fragrant, caressing to her soul. Often her pallid eyes wandered around a salon with piercing

curiosity. The men were all like Graslin. She studied them, and then she seemed to question their wives; but

nothing on the faces of those women revealed an inward anguish like to hers, and she returned home sad and

gloomy and distressed about herself. The authors she had read in the morning answered to the feelings in her

soul; their thoughts pleased her; but at night she heard only empty words, not even presented in a lively

way,dull, empty, foolish conversations in petty local matters, or personalities of no interest to her. She was

often surprised at the heat displayed in discussions which concerned no feeling or sentiment to her the

Often she was seen with fixed eyes, mentally absorbed, thinking no doubt of the days of her youthful

ignorance spent in that chamber full of harmonies now forever passed away. She felt a horrible repugnance

against dropping into the gulf of pettiness in which the women among whom she lived were floundering. This

repugnance, stamped on her forehead, on her lips, and illdisguised, was taken for the insolence of a

parvenue. Madame Graslin began to observe on all faces a certain coldness; she felt in all remarks an

acrimony, the causes of which were unknown to her, for she had no intimate friend to enlighten or advise her.

Injustice, which angers little minds, brings loftier souls to question themselves, and communicates a species

of humility to them. Veronique condemned herself, endeavoring to see her own faults. She tried to be affable;

they called her false. She grew more gentle still; they said she was a hypocrite, and her pious devotion helped

on the calumny. She spent money, gave dinners and balls, and they taxed her with pride.

Unsuccessful in all these attempts, unjustly judged, rebuffed by the petty and tormenting pride which

characterizes provincial society, where each individual is armed with pretensions and their attendant

uneasiness, Madame Graslin fell back into utter solitude. She returned with eagerness to the arms of the

Church. Her great soul, clothed with so weak a flesh, showed her the multiplied commandments of

Catholicism as so many stones placed for protection along the precipices of life, so many props brought by

charitable hands to sustain human weakness on its weary way; and she followed, with greater rigor than ever,

On this the liberals of the town classed Madame Graslin among the devotes, the ultras. To the different

animosities Veronique had innocently acquired, the virulence of party feeling now added its periodical

exasperation. But as this ostracism took nothing really from her, she quietly left society and lived in books

which offered her such infinite resources. She meditated on what she read, she compared systems, she

widened immeasurably the horizons of her intellect and the extent of her education; in this way she opened

During this period of resolute study, in which religion supported and maintained her mind, she obtained the

friendship of Monsieur Grossetete, one of those old men whose mental superiority grows rusty in provincial

life, but who, when they come in contact with an eager mind, recover something of their former brilliancy.

The good man took an earnest interest in Veronique, who, to reward him for the flattering warmth of heart

which old men show to those they like, displayed before him, and for the first time in her life, the treasures of

her soul and the acquirements of her mind, cultivated so secretly, and now full of blossom. An extract from a

letter written by her about this time to Monsieur Grossetete will show the condition of the mind of a woman

"The flowers you sent me for the ball were charming, but they suggested harsh reflections. Those pretty

creatures gathered by you, and doomed to wilt upon my bosom to adorn a fete, made me think of others that

live and die unseen in the depths of your woods, their fragrance never inhaled by any one. I asked myself

why I was dancing there, why I was decked with flowers, just as I ask God why he has placed me to live in

"You see, my friend, all is a snare to the unhappy; the smallest matter brings the sick mind back to its woes;

but the greatest evil of certain woes is the persistency which makes them a fixed idea pervading our lives. A

constant sorrow ought rather to be a divine inspiration. You love flowers for themselves, whereas I love them

as I love to listen to fine music. So, as I was saying, the secret of a mass of things escapes me. You, my old

friend, you have a passion,that of the horticulturist. When you return to town inspire me with that taste, so

that I may rush to my greenhouse with eager feet, as you go to yours to watch the development of your plants,

to bud and bloom with them, to admire what you create,the new colors, the unexpected varieties, which

"My greenhouse, the one I watch, is filled with suffering souls. The miseries I try to lessen sadden my heart;

and when I take them upon myself, when, after finding some young woman without clothing for her babe,

some old man wanting bread, I have supplied their needs, the emotions their distress and its relief have

caused me do not suffice my soul. Ah, friend, I feel within me untold powers for evil, possibly,which

nothing can lower, which the sternest commands of our religion are unable to abase! Sometimes, when I go to

see my mother, walking alone among the fields, I want to cry aloud, and I do so. It seems to me that my body

is a prison in which some evil genius is holding a shuddering creature while awaiting the mysterious words

"But that comparison is not a just one. In me it seems to be the body that seeks escape, if I may say so.

Religion fills my soul, books and their riches occupy my mind. Why, then, do I desire some anguish which

"Oh, if some sentiment, some mania that I could cultivate, does not come into my life, I feel I shall sink at

last into the gulf where all ideas are dulled, where character deteriorates, motives slacken, virtues lose their

backbone, and all the forces of the soul are scattered,a gulf in which I shall no longer be the being Nature

"This is what my bitter complainings mean. But do not let them hinder you from sending me those flowers.

Your friendship is so soothing and so full of loving kindness that it has for the last few months almost

reconciled me to myself. Yes, it makes me happy to have you cast a glance upon my soul, at once so barren

and so full of bloom; and I am thankful for every gentle word you say to one who rides the phantom steed of

At the end of the third year of his married life, Graslin, observing that his wife no longer used her horses, and

finding a good market for them, sold them. He also sold the carriages, sent away the coachman, let the bishop

have his mancook, and contented himself with a woman. He no longer gave the monthly sum to his wife,

telling her that he would pay all bills. He thought himself the most fortunate of husbands in meeting no

opposition whatever to these proceedings from the woman who had brought him a million of francs as a

dowry. Madame Graslin, brought up from childhood without ever seeing money, or being made to feel that it

was an indispensable element in life, deserved no praise whatever for this apparent generosity. Graslin even

noticed in a corner of the secretary all the sums he had ever given her, less the money she had bestowed in

charity or spent upon her dress, the cost of which was much lessened by the profusion of her wedding

Graslin boasted of Veronique to all Limoges as being a model wife. He next regretted the money spent on the

house, and he ordered the furniture to be all packed away or covered up. His wife's bedroom, dressingroom,

and boudoir were alone spared from these protective measures; which protect nothing, for furniture is injured

just as much by being covered up as by being left uncovered. Graslin himself lived almost entirely on the

groundfloor of the house, where he had his office, and resumed his old business habits with avidity. He

thought himself an excellent husband because he went upstairs to breakfast and dined with his wife; but his

unpunctuality was so great that it was not more than ten times a month that he began a meal with he; he had

exacted, out of courtesy, that she should never wait for him. Veronique did, however, always remain in the

room while her husband took his meals, serving him herself, that she might at least perform voluntarily some

The banker, to whom the things of marriage were very indifferent, and who had seen nothing in his wife but

seven hundred and fifty thousand francs, had never once perceived Veronique's repugnance to him. Little by

little he now abandoned Madame Graslin for his business. When he wished to put a bed in the room adjoining

his office on the ground floor, Veronique hastened to comply with the request. So that three years after their

marriage these two illassorted beings returned to their original estate, each equally pleased and happy to do

so. The moneyed man, possessing eighteen hundred thousand francs, returned with all the more eagerness to

his old avaricious habits because he had momentarily quitted them. His two clerks and the officeboy were

better lodged and rather better fed, and that was the only difference between the present and the past. His wife

had a cook and maid (two indispensable servants); but except for the actual necessities of life, not a penny

Happy in the turn which things were now taking, Veronique saw in the evident satisfaction of the banker the

absolution for this separation which she would never have asked for herself. She had no conception that she

was as disagreeable to Graslin as Graslin was repulsive to her. This secret divorce made her both sad and

joyful. She had always looked to motherhood for an interest in life; but up to this time (1828) the couple had

So now, in her magnificent house and envied for her wealth by all the town, Madame Graslin recovered the

solitude of her early years in her father's house, less the glow of hope and the youthful joys of ignorance. She

lived among the ruins of her castles in the air, enlightened by sad experience, sustained by religious faith,

occupied by the care of the poor, whom she loaded with benefits. She made clothes for the babies, gave

mattresses and sheets to those who slept on straw; she went among the poor herself, followed by her maid, a

girl from Auvergne whom her mother procured for her, and who attached herself body and soul to her

mistress. Veronique made an honorable spy of her, sending her to discover the places where suffering could

This active benevolence, carried on with strict attention to religious duties, was hidden in the deepest secrecy

and directed by the various rectors in the town, with whom Veronique had a full understanding in all her

charitable deeds, so as not to suffer the money so needed for unmerited misfortunes to fall into the hands of

vice. It was during this period of her life that she won a friendship quite as strong and quite as precious as that

of old Grossetete. She became the beloved lamb of a distinguished priest, who was persecuted for his true

merits, which were wholly misunderstood, one of the two grandvicars of the diocese, named the Abbe

This priest belonged to the portion of the French clergy who incline toward certain concessions, who would

be glad to associate the Church with the people's interests, and so enable it to regain, through the application

of true evangelical doctrine, its former influence over the masses, which it might then draw to closer relations

with the monarchy. Whether it was that the Abbe Dutheil recognized the impossibility of enlightening the

court of Rome and the higher clergy on this point, or that he had consented to sacrifice his own opinions to

those of his superiors, it is certain that he remained within the limits of the strictest orthodoxy, being very

well aware that any manifestation of his principles at the present time would deprive him of all chance of the

This eminent priest united in himself great Christian modesty and a noble character. Without pride or

ambition he remained at his post and did his duty in the midst of perils. The liberals of the town were

ignorant of the motives of his conduct; they claimed him as being of their opinions and considered him a

patriot,a word which meant revolutionist in Catholic minds. Loved by his inferiors, who dared not,

however, proclaim his merits, feared by his equals who kept watch upon him, he was a source of

embarrassment to the bishop. His virtues and his knowledge, envied, no doubt, prevented persecution; it was

impossible to complain of him, though he criticized frankly the political blunders by which both the throne

and the clergy mutually compromised themselves. He often foretold results, but vainly,like poor

Cassandra, who was equally cursed before and after the disaster she predicted. Short of a revolution the Abbe

Dutheil was likely to remain as he was, one of those stones hidden in the foundation wall on which the edifice

rests. His utility was recognized and they left him in his place, like many other solid minds whose rise to

power is the terror of mediocrities. If, like the Abbe de Lamennais, he had taken up his pen he would

The Abbe Dutheil was imposing in appearance. His exterior revealed the underlying of a profound nature

always calm and equable on the surface. His tall figure and its thinness did not detract from the general effect

of his lines, which recalled those by which the genius of Spanish painters delights to represent the great

monastic meditators, and those selected at a later period by Thorwaldsen for the Apostles. The long, almost

rigid folds of the face, in harmony with those of his vestment, had the charm which the middleages bring

into relief in the mystical statues placed beside the portals of their churches. Gravity of thought, word, and

accent, harmonized in this man and became him well. Seeing his dark eyes hollowed by austerities and

surrounded by a brown circle; seeing, too, his forehead, yellow as some old stone, his head and hands almost

fleshless, men desired to hear the voice and the instructions which issued from his lips. This purely physical

grandeur which accords with moral grandeur, gave this priest a somewhat haughty and disdainful air, which

was instantly counteracted to an observer by his modesty and by his speech, though it did not predispose

others in his favor. In some more elevated station these advantages would have obtained that necessary

ascendancy over the masses which the people willingly allow to men who are thus endowed. But superiors

will not forgive their inferiors for possessing the externals of greatness, nor for displaying that majesty so

prized by the ancients but so often lacking to the administrators of modern power.

By one of those strange freaks of circumstance which are never accounted for, the other vicargeneral, the

Abbe de Grancour, a stout little man with a rosy complexion and blue eyes, whose opinions were

diametrically opposed to those of the Abbe Dutheil, liked to be in the latter's company, although he never

testified this liking enough to put himself out of the good graces of the bishop, to whom he would have

sacrificed everything. The Abbe de Grancour believed in the merit of his colleague, recognized his talents,

secretly accepted his doctrines, and condemned them openly; for the little priest was one of those men whom

superiority attracts and intimidates,who dislike it and yet cultivate it. "He would embrace me and condemn

me," the Abbe Dutheil said of him. The Abbe de Grancour had neither friends nor enemies; he was therefore

likely to live and die a vicargeneral. He said he was drawn to visit Madame Graslin by the desire of

counselling so religious and benevolent a person; and the bishop approved of his doing so,Monsieur de

Grancour's real object being to spend a few evenings with the Abbe Dutheil in Veronique's salon.

The two priests now came pretty regularly to see Madame Graslin, and make her a sort of report about her

poor and discuss the best means of succoring and improving them. But Monsieur Graslin had now begun to

tighten his pursestrings, having made the discovery, in spite of the innocent deceptions of his wife and her

maid, that the money he paid did not go solely for household expenses and for dress. He was angry when he

found out how much money his wife's charities cost him; he called the cook to account, inquired into all the

details of the housekeeping, and showed what a grand administrator he was by practically proving that his

house could be splendidly kept for three thousand francs a year. Then he put his wife on an allowance of a

hundred francs a month, and boasted of his liberality in so doing. The officeboy, who liked flowers, was

made to take care of the garden on Sundays. Having dismissed the gardener, Graslin used the greenhouse to

store articles conveyed to him as security for loans. He let the birds in the aviary die for want of care, to avoid

the cost of their food and attendance. And he even took advantage of a winter when there was no ice, to give

By 1828 there was not a single article of luxury in the house which he had not in some way got rid of.

Parsimony reigned unchecked in the hotel Graslin. The master's face, greatly improved during the three years

spent with his wife (who induced him to follow his physician's advice), now became redder, more fiery, more

blotched than before. Business had taken such proportions that it was necessary to promote the

boyofallwork to the position of cashier, and to find some stout Auvergnat for the rougher service of the

Thus, four years after her marriage, this very rich woman could not dispose of a single penny by her own

will. The avarice of her husband succeeded the avarice of her parents. Madame Graslin had never understood

By the beginning of the year 1828 Veronique had entirely recovered the blooming health which had given

such beauty to the innocent young girl sitting at her window in the old house in the rue de la Cite; but by this

time she had acquired a fine literary education, and was fully able to think and to speak. An excellent

judgment gave real depth to her words. Accustomed now to the little things of life, she wore the fashions of

the period with infinite grace. When she chanced about this time to visit a salon she found herselfnot

without a certain inward surprisereceived by all with respectful esteem. These changed feelings and this

welcome were due to the two vicarsgeneral and to old Grossetete. Informed by them of her noble hidden

life, and the good deeds so constantly done in their midst, the bishop and a few influential persons spoke of

Madame Graslin as a flower of true piety, a violet fragrant with virtues; in consequence of which, one of

those strong reactions set in, unknown to Veronique, which are none the less solid and durable because they

are long in coming. This change in public opinion gave additional influence to Veronique's salon, which was

now visited by all the chief persons in the society of the town, in consequence of certain circumstances we

Toward the close of this year the young Vicomte de Grandville was sent as deputy solicitor to the courts of

Limoges. He came preceded by a reputation always given to Parisians in the provinces. A few days after his

arrival, during a soiree at the prefecture, he made answer to a rather foolish question, that the most able,

"Perhaps you think her the handsomest also?" said the wife of the receivergeneral.

"I cannot think so in your presence, madame," he replied, "and therefore I am in doubt. Madame Graslin

possesses a beauty which need inspire no jealousy, for it seldom shows itself: she is only beautiful to those

she loves; you are beautiful to all the world. When Madame Graslin's soul is moved by true enthusiasm, it

sheds an expression upon her face which changes it completely. Her countenance is like a landscape,dull

in winter, glorious in summer; but the world will always see it in winter. When she talks with friends on some

literary or philosophical topic, or on certain religious questions which interest her, she is roused into

This declaration, which was caused by observing the phenomenon that formerly made Veronique so beautiful

on her return from the holy table, made a great noise in Limoges, where for a time the young deputy, to

whom the place of the procureurgeneral was said to be promised, played a leading part. In all provincial

towns a man who rises a trifle above others becomes, for a period more or less protracted, the object of a

liking which resembles enthusiasm, and which usually deceives the object of this ephemeral worship. It is to

this social caprice that we owe so many local geniuses, soon ignored and their false reputations mortified.

The men whom women make the fashion in this way are oftener strangers than compatriots.

In this particular case the admirers of the Vicomte de Grandville were not mistaken; he was in truth a superior

man. Madame Graslin was the only woman he found in Limoges with whom he could exchange ideas and

keep up a varied conversation. A few months after his arrival, attracted by the increasing charm of

Veronique's manners and conversation, he proposed to the Abbe Dutheil, and a few other of the remarkable

men in Limoges, to meet in the evenings at Madame Graslin's house and play whist. At this time Madame

Graslin was at home five evenings in the week to visitors, reserving two free days, as she said, for herself.

When Madame Graslin had thus gathered about her the distinguished men we have mentioned, others were

not sorry to give themselves the reputation of cleverness by seeking to join the same society. Veronique also

received three or four of the distinguished officers of the garrison and staff; but the freedom of mind

displayed by her guests, and the tacit discretion enjoined by the manners of the best society, made her

extremely cautious as to the admission of those who now vied with each other to obtain her invitations.

The other women in this provincial society were not without jealousy in seeing Madame Graslin surrounded

by the most agreeable and distinguished men in the town; but by this time Veronique's social power was all

the stronger because it was exclusive; she accepted the intimacy of four or five women only, and these were

strangers in Limoges who had come from Paris with their husbands, and who held in horror the petty gossip

of provincial life. If any one outside of this little clique of superior persons came in to make a visit, the

conversation immediately changed, and the habitues of the house talked commonplace.

The hotel Graslin thus became an oasis where intelligent minds found relaxation and relief from the dulness

of provincial life; where persons connected with the government could express themselves freely on politics

without fear of having their words taken down and repeated; where all could satirize that which provoked

satire, and where each individual abandoned his professional trammels and yielded himself up to his natural

So, after being the most obscure young girl in all Limoges, considered ugly, dull, and vacant, Madame

Graslin, at the beginning of the year 1828, was regarded as one of the leading personages in the town, and the

most noted woman in society. No one went to see her in the mornings, for all knew her habits of benevolence

and the regularity of her religious observances. She always went to early mass so as not to delay her

husband's breakfast, for which, however, there was no fixed hour, though she never failed to be present and to

serve it herself. Graslin had trained his wife to this little ceremony. He continued to praise her on all

occasions; he thought her perfect; she never asked him for anything; he could pile up louis upon louis, and

spread his investments over a wide field of enterprise through his relations with the Brezacs; he sailed with a

fair wind and well freighted over the ocean of commerce,his intense business interest keeping him in the

still, though halfintoxicated, frenzy of gamblers watching events on the green table of speculation.

During this happy period, and until the beginning of the year 1829, Madame Graslin attained, in the eyes of

her friends, to a degree of beauty that was really extraordinary, the reasons of which they were unable to

explain. The blue of the iris expanded like a flower, diminishing the dark circle of the pupil, and seeming to

float in a liquid and languishing light that was full of love. Her forehead, illumined by thoughts and memories

of happiness, was seen to whiten like the zenith before the dawn, and its lines were purified by an inward fire.

Her face lost those heated brown tones which betoken a disturbance of the liver,that malady of vigorous

constitutions, or of persons whose soul is distressed and whose affections are thwarted. Her temples became

adorably fresh and pure; gleams of the celestial face of a Raffaelle showed themselves now and then in

hers,a face hitherto obscured by the malady of grief, as the canvas of the great master is encrusted by time.

Her hands seemed whiter; her shoulders took on an exquisite fulness; her graceful, animated movements gave

The Limoges women accused her of being in love with Monsieur de Grandville, who certainly paid her

assiduous attention, to which Veronique opposed all the barriers of a conscientious resistance. The viscount

professed for her one of those respectful attachments which did not blind the habitual visitors of her salon.

The priests and men of sense saw plainly that this affection, which was love on the part of the young man, did

not go beyond the permissible line in Madame Graslin. Weary at last of a resistance based on religious

principle, the Vicomte de Grandville consoled himself (to the knowledge of his intimates) with other and

easier friendships; which did not, however, lessen his constant admiration and worship of the beautiful

The most clearsighted among those who surrounded her attributed the change which rendered Veronique

increasingly charming to her friends to the secret delight which all women, even the most religious, feel when

they see themselves courted; and to the satisfaction of living at last in a circle congenial to her mind, where

the pleasure of exchanging ideas and the happiness of being surrounded by intelligent and wellinformed

men and true friends, whose attachment deepened day by day, had dispersed forever the weary dulness of her

Perhaps, however, closer, more perceptive or sceptical observers were needed than those who frequented the

hotel Graslin, to detect the barbaric grandeur, the plebeian force of the People which lay deep hidden in her

soul. If sometimes her friends surprised her in a torpor of meditation either gloomy or merely pensive, they

knew she bore upon her heart the miseries of others, and had doubtless that morning been initiated in some

fresh sorrow, or had penetrated to some haunt where vices terrify the soul with their candor.

The viscount, now promoted to be procureurgeneral, would occasionally blame her for certain unintelligent

acts of charity by which, as he knew from his secret policereports, she had given encouragement to criminal

"If you ever want money for any of your paupers, let me be a sharer in your good deeds," said old Grossetete,

At the beginning of this year an event occurred which was destined to change the whole interior life of this

woman and to transform the splendid expression of her countenance into something far more interesting in

Becoming uneasy about his health, Graslin, to his wife's despair, no longer desired to live on the

groundfloor. He returned to the conjugal chamber and allowed himself to be nursed. The news soon spread

throughout Limoges that Madame Graslin was pregnant. Her sadness, mingled with joy, struck the minds of

her friends, who then for the first time perceived that in spite of her virtues she had been happy in the fact of

living separate from her husband. Perhaps she had hoped for some better fate ever since the time when, as it

was known, the attorneygeneral had declined to marry the richest heiress in the place, in order to keep his

From this suggestion there grew up in the minds of the profound politicians who played their whist at the

hotel Graslin a belief that the viscount and the young wife had based certain hopes on the ill health of the

banker which were now frustrated. The great agitations which marked this period of Veronique's life, the

anxieties which a first childbirth causes in every woman, and which, it is said, threatens special danger when

she is past her first youth, made her friends more attentive than ever to her; they vied with each other in

showing her those little kindnesses which proved how warm and solid their affection really was.

It was in this year that Limoges witnessed a terrible event and the singular drama of the Tascheron trial, in

which the young Vicomte de Grandville displayed the talents which afterwards made him procureur

An old man living in a lonely house in the suburb of SaintEtienne was murdered. A large fruitgarden lay

between the road and the house, which was also separated from the adjoining fields by a pleasure garden, at

the farther end of which were several old and disused greenhouses. In front of the house a rapid slope to the

river bank gave a view of the Vienne. The courtyard, which also sloped downward, ended at a little wall,

from which small columns rose at equal distances united by a railing, more, however, for ornament than

The old man, named Pingret, noted for his avarice, lived with a single womanservant, a countrygirl who

did all the work of the house. He himself took care of his espaliers, trimmed his trees, gathered his fruit, and

sent it to Limoges for sale, together with early vegetables, in the raising of which he excelled.

The niece of this old man, and his sole heiress, married to a gentleman of small means living in Limoges, a

Madame des Vanneaulx, had again and again urged her uncle to hire a man to protect the house, pointing out

to him that he would thus obtain the profits of certain uncultivated ground where he now grew nothing but

clover. But the old man steadily refused. More than once a discussion on the subject had cut into the

whistplaying of Limoges. A few shrewd heads declared that the old miser buried his gold in that

"If I were Madame des Vanneaulx," said a wit, "I shouldn't torment my uncle about it; if somebody murders

Madame des Vanneaulx, however, wanted to keep her uncle, after the manner of the managers of the Italian

Opera, who entreat their popular tenor to wrap up his throat, and give him their cloak if he happens to have

forgotten his own. She had sent old Pingret a fine English mastiff, which Jeanne Malassis, the

The result proved how wellfounded were the niece's fears. Pingret was murdered on a dark night, in the

middle of his cloverfield, where he may have been adding a few coins to a buried pot of gold. The servant

woman, awakened by the struggle, had the courage to go to the assistance of the old miser, and the murderer

was under the necessity of killing her to suppress her testimony. This necessity, which frequently causes

murderers to increase the number of their victims, is an evil produced by the fear of the death penalty.

This double murder was attended by curious circumstances which told as much for the prosecution as for the

defence. After the neighbors had missed seeing the little old Pingret and his maid for a whole morning and

had gazed at his house through the wooden railings as they passed it, and seen that, contrary to custom, the

doors and windows were still closed, an excitement began in the Faubourg SaintEtienne which presently

The niece was always in expectation of some such catastrophe, and she at once notified the officers of the

law, who went to the house and broke in the gate. They soon discovered in a clover patch four holes, and near

two of these holes lay the fragments of earthenware pots, which had doubtless been full of gold the night

before. In the other two holes, scarcely covered up, were the bodies of old Pingret and Jeanne Malassis, who

had been buried with their clothes on. The poor girl had run to her master's assistance in her nightgown,

While the procureurduroi, the commissary of police, and the examining magistrate were gathering all

particulars for the basis of their action, the luckless des Vanneaulx picked up the broken pots and calculated

from their capacity the sum lost. The magistrates admitted the correctness of their calculations and entered

the sum stolen on their records as, in all probability, a thousand gold coins to each pot. But were these coins

fortyeight or forty, twentyfour or twenty francs in value? All expectant heirs in Limoges sympathized with

the des Vanneaulx. The Limousin imagination was greatly stirred by the spectacle of the broken pots. As for

old Pingret, who often sold vegetables himself in the market, lived on bread and onions, never spent more

than three hundred francs a year, obliged and disobliged no one, and had never done one atom of good in the

suburb of Saint Etienne where he lived, his death did not excite the slightest regret. Poor Jeanne Malassis'

heroism, which the old miser, had she saved him, would certainly not have rewarded, was thought rash; the

number of souls who admired it was small in comparison with those who said: "For my part, I should have

The police found neither pen nor ink wherewith to write their report in the bare, dilapidated, cold, and dismal

house. Observing persons and the heir might then have noticed a curious inconsistency which may be seen in

certain misers. The dread the little old man had of the slightest outlay showed itself in the nonrepaired roof

which opened its sides to the light and the rain and snow; in the cracks of the walls; in the rotten doors ready

to fall at the slightest shock; in the windows, where the broken glass was replaced by paper not even oiled.

All the windows were without curtains, the fireplaces without mirrors or andirons; the hearth was garnished

with one log of wood and a few little sticks almost caked with the soot which had fallen down the chimney.

There were two rickety chairs, two thin couches, a few cracked pots and mended plates, a onearmed

armchair, a dilapidated bed, the curtains of which time had embroidered with a bold hand, a wormeaten

secretary where the miser kept his seeds, a pile of linen thickened by many darns, and a heap of ragged

garments, which existed only by the will of their master; he being dead they dropped into shreds, powder,

chemical dissolution, in fact I know not into what form of utter ruin, as soon as the heir or the officers of the

law laid rough hands upon them; they disappeared as if afraid of being publicly sold.

The population at Limoges was much concerned for these worthy des Vanneaulx, who had two children; and

yet, no sooner did the law lay hands upon the reputed doer of the crime than the guilty personage absorbed

attention, became a hero, and the des Vanneaulx were relegated into a corner of the picture.

Toward the end of March Madame Graslin began to feel some of those pains which precede a first

confinement and cannot be concealed. The inquiry as to the murder was then going on, but the murderer had

Veronique now received her friends in her bedroom, where they played whist. For several days past Madame

Graslin had not left the house, and she seemed to be tormented by several of those caprices attributed to

women in her condition. Her mother came to see her almost every day, and the two women remained for

It was nine o'clock, and the card tables were still without players, for every one was talking of the murder.

"A porcelain workman; a man whose character has always been excellent, and who was in a fair way to make

his fortune. He worked in your husband's old factory," added Monsieur de Grandville, turning to Madame

"Unhappy man!" she answered. "Yes, I have often seen him; my poor father recommended him to my care as

"He left the factory before Sauviat's death," said her mother, "and went to that of Messrs. Philippart, who

offered him higher wages But my daughter is scarcely well enough for this exciting conversation," she

added, calling attention to Madame Graslin, whose face was as white as her sheets.

After that evening Mere Sauviat gave up her own home, and came, in spite of her sixtysix years, to stay

with her daughter and nurse her through her confinement. She never left the room; Madame Graslin's friends

found the old woman always at the bed's head busy with her eternal knitting,brooding over Veronique as

she did when the girl had the smallpox, answering questions for her and often refusing to admit visitors. The

maternal and filial love of mother and daughter was so well known in Limoges that these actions of Madame

A few days later, when the viscount, thinking to amuse the invalid, began to relate details which the whole

town were eagerly demanding about JeanFrancois Tascheron, Madame Sauviat again stopped him hastily,

declaring that he would give her daughter bad dreams. Veronique, however, looking fixedly at Monsieur de

Grandville, asked him to finish what he was saying. Thus her friends, and she herself, were the first to know

the results of the preliminary inquiry, which would soon be made public. The following is a brief epitome of

JeanFrancois Tascheron was the son of a small farmer burdened with a family, who lived in the village of

Twenty years before this crime, which was famous throughout the Limousin, the canton of Montegnac was

known for its evil ways. The saying was proverbial in Limoges that out of one hundred criminals in the

department fifty belonged to the arrondissement of Montegnac. Since 1816, however, two years after a priest

named Bonnet was sent there as rector, it had lost its bad reputation, and the inhabitants no longer sent their

heavy contingent to the assizes. This change was widely attributed to the influence acquired by the rector,

Monsieur Bonnet, over a community which had lately been a hotbed for evil minded persons whose actions

dishonored the whole region. The crime of JeanFrancois Tascheron brought back upon Montegnac its

By a curious trick of chance, the Tascherons were almost the only family in this village community who had

retained through its evil period the old rigid morals and religious habits which are noticed by the observers of

today to be rapidly disappearing throughout the country districts. This family had therefore formed a point

of reliance to the rector, who naturally bore it on his heart. The Tascherons, remarkable for their uprightness,

their union, their love of work, had never given other than good examples to JeanFrancois. Induced by the

praiseworthy ambition of earning his living by a trade, the lad had left his native village, to the regret of his

parents and friends, who greatly loved him, and had come to Limoges. During his two years' apprenticeship

in a porcelain factory, his conduct was worthy of all praise; no apparent illconduct had led up to the horrible

crime which was now to end his life. On the contrary, Jean Francois Tascheron had given the time which

other workmen were in the habit of spending in wineshops and debauchery to study and self improvement.

The most searching and minute inquiry on the part of the provincial authorities (who have plenty of time on

their hands) failed to throw any light on the secrets of the young man's life. When the mistress of the humble

lodginghouse in which he lived was questioned she said she had never had a lodger whose moral conduct

was as blameless. He was naturally amiable and gentle, and sometimes gay. About a year before the

commission of the crime, his habits changed: he slept away from home several times a month and often for

consecutive nights; but where she did not know, though she thought, from the state of his shoes when he

returned, that he must have been into the country. She noticed that although he appeared to have left the

town, he never wore his heavy boots, but always a pair of light shoes. He shaved before starting, and put on

clean linen. Hearing this, the police turned their attention to houses of illfame and questionable resorts; but

Jean Francois Tascheron was found to be wholly unknown among them. The authorities then made a search

through the workinggirl and grisette class; but none of these women had had relations with the accused.

A crime without a motive is unheard of, especially in a young man whose desire for education and whose

laudable ambition gave him higher ideas and a superior judgment to that of other workmen. The police and

the examining justice, finding themselves balked in the above directions, attributed the murder to a passion

for gambling; but after the most searching inquiries it was proved that Tascheron never played cards.

At first JeanFrancois entrenched himself in a system of flat denials, which, of course, in presence of a jury,

would fall before proof; they seemed to show the collusion of some person either well versed in law or gifted

with an intelligent mind. The following are the chief proofs the prosecution were prepared to present, and

they are, as is frequently the case in trials for murder, both important and trifling; to wit:

The absence of Tascheron during the night of the crime, and his refusal to say where he was, for the accused

did not offer to set up an alibi; a fragment of his blouse, torn off by the servantwoman in the struggle, found

close by on a tree to which the wind had carried it; his presence that evening near Pingret's house, which was

noticed by passers and by persons living in the neighborhood, though it might not have been remembered

unless for the crime; a false key made by Tascheron which fitted the door opening to the fields; this key was

found carefully buried two feet below one of the miser's holes, where Monsieur des Vanneaulx, digging deep

to make sure there was not another layer of treasurepots, chanced to find it; the police, after many

researches, found the different persons who had furnished Tascheron with the iron, loaned him the vice, and

The key was the first real clue. It put the police on the track of Tascheron, whom they arrested on the

frontiers of the department, in a wood where he was awaiting the passage of a diligence. An hour later he

Besides all this, and in spite of the care with which certain footmarks in the ploughed field and on the mud of

the road had been effaced and covered up, the searchers had found in several places the imprint of shoes,

which they carefully measured and described, and which were afterwards found to correspond with the soles

of Tascheron's shoes taken from his lodgings. This fatal proof confirmed the statement of the landlady. The

authorities now attributed the crime to some foreign influence, and not to the man's personal intention; they

believed he had accomplices, basing this idea on the impossibility of one man carrying away the buried

money; for however strong he might be, no man could carry twentyfive thousand francs in gold to any

distance. If each pot contained, as it was supposed to have done, about that sum, this would have required

four trips to and from the cloverpatch. Now, a singular circumstance went far to prove the hour at which the

crime was committed. In the terror Jeanne Malassis must have felt on hearing her master's cries, she knocked

over, as she rose, the table at her bedside, on which lay her watch, the only present the miser had given her in

five years. The mainspring was broken by the shock, and the hands had stopped at two in the morning. By the

middle of March (the date of the murder) daylight dawns between five and six o'clock. To whatever distance

the gold had been carried, Tascheron could not possibly, under any apparent hypothesis, have transported it

The care with which some of the footsteps were effaced, while others, to which Tascheron's shoes fitted,

remained, certainly pointed to some mysterious assistant. Forced into hypotheses, the authorities once more

attributed the crime to a desperate passion; not finding any trace of the object of such a passion in the lower

classes, they began to look higher. Perhaps some bourgeoise, sure of the discretion of a man who had the face

and bearing of a hero, had been drawn into a romance the outcome of which was crime.

This supposition was to some extent justified by the facts of the murder. The old man had been killed by

blows with a spade; evidently, therefore, the murder was sudden, unpremeditated, fortuitous. The lovers

might have planned the robbery, but not the murder. The lover and the miser, Tascheron and Pingret, each

under the influence of his master passion, must have met by the buried hoards, both drawn thither by the

In order to obtain, if possible, some light on this latter supposition, the authorities arrested and kept in solitary

confinement a sister of JeanFrancois, to whom he was much attached, hoping to obtain through her some

clue to the mystery of her brother's private life. Denise Tascheron took refuge in total denial of any

knowledge whatever, which gave rise to a suspicion that she did know something of the causes of the crime,

The accused himself showed points of character that were rare amongst the peasantry. He baffled the

cleverest policespies employed against him, without knowing their real character. To the leading minds of

the magistracy his guilt seemed caused by the influence of passion, and not by necessity or greed, as in the

case of ordinary murderers, who usually pass through stages of crime and punishment before they commit the

supreme deed. Active and careful search was made in following up this idea; but the uniform discretion of the

prisoner gave no clue whatever to his prosecutors. The plausible theory of his attachment to a woman of the

upper classes having once been admitted, JeanFrancois was subjected to the most insidious examination

upon it; but his caution triumphed over all the moral tortures the examining judge applied to him. When,

making a final effort, that official told him that the person for whom he had committed the crime was

When the public were informed of these circumstances, many persons adopted the suspicions of the

magistrates, which seemed to be confirmed by Tascheron's savage obstinacy in giving no account of himself.

Increased interest was felt in a young man who was now a problem. It is easy to see how these elements kept

public curiosity on the qui vive, and with what eager interest the trial would be followed. But in spite of every

effort on the part of the police, the prosecution stopped short on the threshold of hypothesis; it did not venture

to go farther into the mystery where all was obscurity and danger. In certain judicial cases halfcertainties are

not sufficient for the judges to proceed upon. Nevertheless the case was ordered for trial, in hopes that the

truth would come to the surface when the case was brought into court, an ordeal under which many criminals

Monsieur Graslin was one of the jury; so that either through her husband or through Monsieur de Grandville,

the public prosecutor, Veronique knew all the details of the criminal trial which, for a fortnight, kept the

department, and we may say all France, in a state of excitement. The attitude maintained by the accused

seemed to justify the theory of the prosecution. More than once when the court opened, his eyes turned upon

the brilliant assemblage of women who came to find emotions in a real drama, as though he sought for some

one. Each time that the man's glance, clear, but impenetrable, swept along those elegant ranks, a movement

was perceptible, a sort of shock, as though each woman feared she might appear his accomplice under the

The hitherto useless efforts of the prosecution were now made public, also the precautions taken by the

criminal to ensure the success of his crime. It was shown that JeanFrancois Tascheron had obtained a

passport for North America some months before the crime was committed. Thus the plan of leaving France

was fully formed; the object of his passion must therefore be a married woman; for he would have no reason

to flee the country with a young girl. Possibly the crime had this one object in view, namely, to obtain

The prosecution had found no passport issued to a woman for North America. In case she had obtained one in

Paris, the registers of that city were searched, also those of the towns contingent to Limoges, but without

result. All the shrewdest minds in the community followed the case with deep attention. While the more

virtuous dames of the department attributed the wearing of pumps on a muddy road (an inexplicable

circumstance in the ordinary lives of such shoes) to the necessity of noiselessly watching old Pingret, the men

pointed out that pumps were very useful in silently passing through a houseup stairways and along

So JeanFrancois Tascheron and his mistress (by this time she was young, beautiful, romantic, for every one

made a portrait of her) had evidently intended to escape with only one passport, to which they would forge

the additional words, "and wife." The card tables were deserted at night in the various social salons, and

malicious tongues discussed what women were known in March, 1829, to have gone to Paris, and what others

could be making, openly or secretly, preparations for a journey. Limoges might be said to be enjoying its

Fualdes trial, with an unknown and mysterious Madame Manson for an additional excitement. Never was any

provincial town so stirred to its depths as Limoges after each day's session. Nothing was talked of but the

trial, all the incidents of which increased the interest felt for the accused, whose able answers, learnedly taken

up, turned and twisted and commented upon, gave rise to ample discussions. When one of the jurors asked

Tascheron why he had taken a passport for America, the man replied that he had intended to establish a

porcelain manufactory in that country. Thus, without committing himself to any line of defence, he covered

his accomplice, leaving it to be supposed that the crime was committed, if at all, to obtain funds for this

In the midst of such excitement it was impossible for Veronique's friends to refrain from discussing in her

presence the progress of the case and the reticence of the criminal. Her health was extremely feeble; but the

doctor having advised her going out into the fresh air, she had on one occasion taken her mother's arm and

walked as far as Madame Sauviat's house in the country, where she rested. On her return she endeavored to

keep about until her husband came to his dinner, which she always served him herself. On this occasion

Graslin, being detained in the courtroom, did not come in till eight o'clock. She went into the diningroom

as usual, and was present at a discussion which took place among a number of her friends who had assembled

"If my poor father were still living," she remarked to them, "we should know more about the matter; possibly

this man might never have become a criminal. I think you have all taken a singular idea about the matter. You

insist that love is at the bottom of the crime, and I agree with you there; but why do you think this unknown

person is a married woman? He may have loved some young girl whose father and mother would not let her

"A young girl could, sooner or later, have married him legitimately," replied Monsieur de Grandville.

"Tascheron has no lack of patience; he had time to make sufficient means to support her while awaiting the

time when all girls are at liberty to marry against the wishes of their parents; he need not have committed a

"I did not know that a girl could marry in that way," said Madame Graslin; "but how is it that in a town like

this, where all things are known, and where everybody sees everything that happens to his neighbor, not the

slightest clue to this woman has been obtained? In order to love, persons must see each other and

consequently be seen. What do you really think, you magistrates?" she added, plunging a fixed look into the

"I don't agree with you," said Madame Graslin. "A woman of that class does not have elevated sentiments."

This reply drew all eyes on Veronique, and the whole company waited for an explanation of so paradoxical a

"During the hours I lie awake at night I have not been able to keep my mind from dwelling on this mysterious

affair," she said slowly, "and I think I have fathomed Tascheron's motive. I believe the person he loves is a

young girl, because a married woman has interests, if not feelings, which partly fill her heart and prevent her

from yielding so completely to a great passion as to leave her home. There is such a thing as a love

proceeding from passion which is half maternal, and to me it is evident that this man was loved by a woman

who wished to be his prop, his Providence. She must have put into her passion something of the genius that

inspires the work of artists and poets, the creative force which exists in woman under another form; for it is

her mission to create men, not things. Our works are our children; our children are the pictures, books, and

statues of our lives. Are we not artists in their earliest education? I say that this unknown woman, if she is not

a young girl, has never been a mother but is filled with the maternal instinct; she has loved this man to form

him, to develop him. It needs a feminine element in you men of law to detect these shades of motive, which

too often escape you. If I had been your deputy," she said, looking straight at the procureurgeneral, "I

should have found the guilty woman, if indeed there is any guilt about it. I agree with the Abbe Dutheil that

these lovers meant to fly to America with the money of old Pingret. The theft led to the murder by the fatal

logic which the punishment of death inspires. And so," she added with an appealing look at Monsieur de

Grandville, "I think it would be merciful in you to abandon the theory of premeditation, for in so doing you

would save the man's life. He is evidently a fine man in spite of his crime; he might, perhaps, repair that

crime by a great repentance if you gave him time. The works of repentance ought to count for something in

the judgment of the law. In these days is there nothing better for a human being to do than to give his life, or

"Your ideas are noble, madame," said Monsieur de Grandville, "but, premeditation apart, Tascheron would

still be liable to the penalty of death on account of the other serious and proved circumstances attending the

"Then you think that he will certainly be found guilty?" she said, lowering her eyelids.

The next day Veronique was much worse and kept her bed. When her physician expressed surprise at her

Ever since the opening of the trial Tascheron's demeanor had been equally devoid of hypocrisy or bravado.

Veronique's physician, intending to divert his patient's mind, tried to explain this demeanor, which the man's

defenders were making the most of. The prisoner was misled, said the doctor, by the talents of his lawyer, and

was sure of acquittal; at times his face expressed a hope that was greater than that of merely escaping death.

The antecedents of the man (who was only twentythree years old) were so at variance with the crime now

charged to him that his legal defenders claimed his present bearing to be a proof of innocence; besides, the

overwhelming circumstantial proofs of the theory of the prosecution were made to appear so weak by his

advocate that the man was buoyed up by the lawyer's arguments. To save his client's life the lawyer made the

most of the evident want of premeditation; hypothetically he admitted the premeditation of the robbery but

not of the murders, which were evidently (no matter who was the guilty party) the result of two unexpected

struggles. Success, the doctor said, was really as doubtful for one side as for the other.

After this visit of her physician Veronique received that of the procureurgeneral, who was in the habit of

"I have read the arguments of yesterday," she said to him, "and today, as I suppose, the evidence for the

defence begins. I am so interested in that man that I should like to have him saved. Couldn't you for once in

your life forego a triumph? Let his lawyer beat you. Come, make me a present of the man's life, and perhaps

you shall have mine some day. The able presentation of the defence by Tascheron's lawyer really raises a

"Do you know why?" she answered. "My husband has just remarked a most horrible coincidence, which is

really enough in the present state of my nerves, to cause my death. If you condemn this man to death it will

"Ah! you don't know how to love," she retorted, closing her eyes; then she turned her head on the pillow and

Monsieur Graslin pleaded strongly but in vain with his fellowjurymen for acquittal, giving a reason which

"If we do not condemn this man to death, but allow him to live, the des Vanneaulx will in the end recover

This weighty argument made a division of the jury, into five for condemnation against seven for acquittal,

which necessitated an appeal to the court; but the judge sided with the minority. According to the legal

system of that day this action led to a verdict of guilty. When sentence was passed upon him Tascheron flew

into a fury which was natural enough in a man full of life and strength, but which the court and jury and

lawyers and spectators had rarely witnessed in persons who were thought to be unjustly condemned.

In spite of the verdict, the drama of this crime did not seem over so far as the community was concerned. So

complicated a case gave rise, as usually happens under such circumstances, to two sets of diametrically

opposite opinions as to the guilt of the hero, whom some declared to be an innocent and illused victim, and

The liberals held for Tascheron's innocence, less from conviction than for the satisfaction of opposing the

"What an outrage," they said, "to condemn a man because his footprint is the size of another man's footprint;

or because he will not tell you where he spent the night, as if all young men would not rather die than

compromise a woman. They prove he borrowed tools and bought iron, but have they proved he made that

key? They find a bit of blue linen hanging to the branch of a tree, possibly put there by old Pingret himself to

scare the crows, though it happens to match a tear in Tascheron's blouse. Is a man's life to depend on such

things as these? JeanFrancois denies everything, and the prosecution has not produced a single witness who

They talked over, enlarged upon, and paraphrased the arguments of the defence. "Old Pingret! what was

he?a cracked money box!" said the strongminded. A few of the more determined progressists, denying

the sacred laws of property, which the SaintSimonians were already attacking under their abstract theories

"Pere Pingret," they said, "was the real author of the crime. By hoarding his gold that man robbed the nation.

What enterprises might have been made fruitful by his useless money! He had barred the way of industry, and

They pitied the poor murdered servantwoman, but Denise, Tascheron's sister, who resisted the wiles of

lawyers and did not give a single answer at the trial without long consideration of what she ought to say,

excited the deepest interest. She became in their minds a figure to be compared (though in another sense)

Francois Tascheron continued, therefore, to excite the curiosity of not only all the town but all the

"If there is really in all this a love for some woman high above him," they said, "then he is surely no ordinary

Since the burst of rage with which Tascheron received his sentence, and which was so violent that it might

have been fatal to persons about him in the courtroom if the gendarmes had not been there to master him,

the condemned man threatened all who came near him with the fury of a wild beast; so that the jailers were

obliged to put him into a straightjacket, as much to protect his life as their own from the effects of his anger.

Prevented by that controlling power from doing violence, Tascheron gave vent to his despair by convulsive

jerks which horrified his guardians, and by words and looks which the middleages would have attributed to

demoniacal possession. He was so young that many women thought pitifully of a life so full of passion about

to be cut off forever. "The Last Day of a Condemned Man," that mournful elegy, that useless plea against the

penalty of death (the mainstay of society!), which had lately been published, as if expressly to meet this case,

But, above all, in the mind of every one, stood that invisible unknown woman, her feet in blood, raised aloft

by the trial as it were on a pedestal,torn, no doubt, by horrible inward anguish and condemned to absolute

silence within her home. Who was this Medea whom the public wellnigh admired,the woman with that

impenetrable brow, that white breast covering a heart of steel? Perhaps she was the sister or the cousin or the

daughter or the wife of this one or of that one among them! Alarm seemed to creep into the bosom of

families. As Napoleon finely said, it is especially in the domain of the imagination that the power of the

As for the hundred thousand francs stolen from Monsieur and Madame des Vanneaulx no efforts of the police

could find them; and the obstinate silence of the criminal gave no clue. Monsieur de Grandville tried the

common means of holding out hopes of commutation of the sentence in case of confession; but when he went

to see the prisoner and suggest it the latter received him with such furious cries and epileptic contortions,

such rage at being powerless to take him by the throat, that he could do nothing.

The law could only look to the influence of the Church at the last moment. The des Vanneaulx had frequently

consulted with the Abbe Pascal, chaplain of the prison. This priest was not without the faculty of making

prisoners listen to him, and he religiously braved Tascheron's violence, trying to get in a few words amid the

storms of that powerful nature in convulsion. But this struggle of spiritual fatherhood against the hurricane of

"The man has had his paradise here below," said the old man, in his gentle voice.

Little Madame des Vanneaulx consulted her friends as to whether she ought to try a visit herself to the

criminal. Monsieur des Vanneaulx talked of offering terms. In his anxiety to recover the money he actually

went to Monsieur de Grandville and asked for the pardon of his uncle's murderer if the latter would make

restitution of the hundred thousand francs. The procureurgeneral replied that the majesty of the crown did

The des Vanneaulx then had recourse to the lawyer who had defended Tascheron, and to him they offered ten

per cent of whatever sum he could recover. This lawyer was the only person before whom Tascheron was not

violent. The heirs authorized him to offer the prisoner an additional ten per cent to be paid to his family. In

spite of all these inducements and his own eloquence, the lawyer could obtain nothing whatever from his

"He is not only a murderer, but he has no sense of decency," cried Madame des Vanneaulx (ignorant of

Fualdes' famous complaint), when she received word of the failure of the Abbe Pascal's efforts, and was told

"What good will our money do him in the place he is going to?" said her husband. "Murder can be conceived

of, but useless theft is inconceivable. What days we live in, to be sure! To think that people in good society

"But perhaps the restitution would compromise the woman he loves," said an old maid.

One of Madame Graslin's female friends related to her with much amusement these discussions of the des

Vanneaulx. This lady, who was very intelligent, and one of those persons who form ideals and desire that all

things should attain perfection, regretted the violence and savage temper of the condemned; she would rather

"Do you not see," replied Veronique, "that he is thus avoiding their temptations and foiling their efforts? He

"If he had been a wellbred man," said Madame Graslin, "he would soon have sacrificed that unknown

These events, discussed and turned and twisted in every salon, every household, commented on in a score of

ways, stripped bare by the cleverest tongues in the community, gave, of course, a cruel interest to the

execution of the criminal, whose appeal was rejected after two months' delay by the upper court. What would

probably be his demeanor in his last moments? Would he speak out? Would he contradict himself? How

would the bets be decided? Who would go to see him executed, and who would not go, and how could it be

done? The position of the localities, which in Limoges spares a criminal the anguish of a long distance to the

scaffold, lessens the number of spectators. The law courts which adjoin the prison stand at the corner of the

rue du Palais and the rue du PontHerisson. The rue du Palais is continued in a straight line by the short rue

de MonteaRegret, which leads to the place des Arenes, where the executions take place, and which

probably owes its name to that circumstances. There is therefore but little distance to go, few houses to pass,

and few windows to look from. No person in good society would be willing to mingle in the crowd which

But the expected execution was, to the great astonishment of the whole town, put off from day to day for the

The repentance and resignation of great criminals on their way to death is one of the triumphs which the

Church reserves for itself,a triumph which seldom misses its effect on the popular mind. Repentance is so

strong a proof of the power of religious ideastaken apart from all Christian interest, though that, of course,

is the chief object of the Churchthat the clergy are always distressed by a failure on such occasions. In

July, 1829, such a failure was aggravated by the spirit of party which envenomed every detail in the life of

the body politic. The liberal party rejoiced in the expectation that the priestparty (a term invented by

Montlosier, a royalist who went over to the constitutionals, and was dragged by them far beyond his

wishes),that the priests would fail on so public an occasion before the eyes of the people. Parties en masse

commit infamous actions which would cover a single man with shame and opprobrium; therefore when one

man alone stands in his guilt before the eyes of the masses, he becomes a Robespierre, a Jeffries, a

Laubardemont, a species of expiatory altar on which all secret guilts hang their exvotos.

The authorities, sympathizing with the Church, delayed the execution, partly in the hope of gaining some

conclusive information for themselves, and partly to allow religion an opportunity to prevail.

Nevertheless, their power was not unlimited, and the sentence must sooner or later be carried out. The same

liberals who, out of mere opposition, had declared Tascheron innocent, and who had done their best to break

down the verdict, now clamored because the sentence was not executed. When the opposition is consistent it

invariably falls into such unreasonableness, because its object is not to have right on its own side, but to

Accordingly, about the beginning of August, the government officials felt their hand forced by that clamor, so

often stupid, called "public opinion." The day for the execution was named. In this extremity the Abbe

Dutheil took upon himself to propose to the bishop a last resource, the adoption of which caused the

introduction into this judicial drama of a remarkable personage, who serves as a bond between all the figures

brought upon the scene of it, and who, by ways familiar to Providence, was destined to lead Madame Graslin

along a path where her virtues were to shine with greater brilliancy as a noble benefactress and an angelic

The episcopal palace at Limoges stands on a hill which slopes to the banks of the Vienne; and its gardens,

supported by strong walls topped with a balustrade, descend to the river by terrace after terrace, according to

the natural lay of the land. The rise of this hill is such that the suburb of SaintEtienne on the opposite bank

seems to lie at the foot of the lower terrace. From there, according to the direction in which a person walks,

the Vienne can be seen either in a long stretch or directly across it, in the midst of a fertile panorama. On the

west, after the river leaves the embankment of the episcopal gardens, it turns toward the town in a graceful

curve which winds around the suburb of SaintMartial. At a short distance beyond that suburb is a pretty

country house called Le Cluseau, the walls of which can be seen from the lower terrace of the bishop's

palace, appearing, by an effect of distance, to blend with the steeples of the suburb. Opposite to Le Cluseau is

the sloping island, covered with poplar and other trees, which Veronique in her girlish youth had named the

The magic charm of the site and the rich simplicity of the building make this episcopal palace one of the most

interesting objects in a town where the other edifices do not shine, either through choice of material or

Long familiarized with the aspects which commend these gardens to all lovers of the picturesque, the Abbe

Dutheil, who had induced the Abbe de Grancour to accompany him, descended from terrace to terrace,

paying no attention to the ruddy colors, the orange tones, the violet tints, which the setting sun was casting on

the old walls and balustrades of the gardens, on the river beneath them, and, in the distance, on the houses of

the town. He was in search of the bishop, who was sitting on the lower terrace under a grapevine arbor,

where he often came to take his dessert and enjoy the charm of a tranquil evening. The poplars on the island

seemed at this moment to divide the waters with the lengthening shadow of their yellowing heads, to which

the sun was lending the appearance of a golden foliage. The setting rays, diversely reflected on masses of

different greens, produced a magnificent harmony of melancholy tones. At the farther end of the valley a

sheet of sparkling water ruffled by the breeze brought out the brown stretch of roofs in the suburb of

SaintEtienne. The steeples and roofs of SaintMartial, bathed in light, showed through the tracery of the

grapevine arbor. The soft murmur of the provincial town, half hidden by the bend of the river, the sweetness

of the balmy air, all contributed to plunge the prelate into the condition of quietude prescribed by medical

writers on digestion; seemingly his eyes were resting mechanically on the right bank of the river, just where

the long shadows of the island poplars touched it on the side toward SaintEtienne, near the field where the

twofold murder of old Pingret and his servant had been committed. But when his momentary felicity was

interrupted by the arrival of the two grand vicars, and the difficulties they brought to him to solve, it was seen

his eyes were filled with impenetrable thoughts. The two priests attributed this abstraction to the fact of being

bored, whereas, on the contrary, the prelate was absorbed in seeing in the sands of the Vienne the solution of

the enigma then so anxiously sought for by the officers of justice, the des Vanneaulx, and the community at

"Monsieur," said the Abbe de Grancour, approaching the bishop, "it is all useless; we shall certainly have the

distress of seeing that unhappy Tascheron die an unbeliever. He vociferates the most horrible imprecations

against religion; he insults that poor Abbe Pascal; he spits upon the crucifix; and means to die denying all,

"He will shock the populace on the scaffold," said the Abbe Dutheil. "The great scandal and horror his

conduct will excite may hide our defeat and powerlessness. In fact, as I have just been saying to Monsieur de

Grancour, this very spectacle may drive other sinners into the arms of the Church."

Troubled by these words, the bishop laid down upon a rustic wooden table the bunch of grapes at which he

was picking, and wiped his fingers as he made a sign to the two grand vicars to be seated.

"He is actually ill in his bed from the effects of his last scene with the man," said the Abbe de Grancour. "If it

were not for that we might get him to explain more clearly the difficulties that have defeated all the various

"The condemned man sings obscene songs at the highest pitch of his voice as soon as he sees any one of us,

so as to drown out every word we try to say to him," said a young priest who was sitting beside the bishop.

This young man, who was gifted with a charming personality, had his right arm resting on the table, while his

white hand dropped negligently on the bunches of grapes, seeking the ripest, with the ease and assurance of

an habitual guest or favorite. He was both to the prelate, being the younger brother of Baron Eugene de

Rastignac, to whom ties of family and also of affection had long bound the Bishop of Limoges. Aware of the

want of fortune which devoted this young man to the Church, the bishop took him as his private secretary to

give him time to wait for eventual preferment. The Abbe Gabriel bore a name which would lead him sooner

"Yes, Monseigneur. As soon as I entered his cell the wretched man hurled the most disgusting epithets at you

and at me. He behaved in such a manner that it was impossible for any priest to remain in his presence. Might

"Let us listen to the words of wisdom which God Almighty sometimes puts into the mouths of children," said

"But according to some commentators she did not know what she was saying," replied the bishop, laughing.

The two grand vicars smiled. In the first place, the joke came from Monseigneur; next, it bore gently on the

young abbe, of whom the dignitaries and other ambitious priests grouped around the bishop were somewhat

"My advice would be," resumed the young man, "to ask Monsieur de Grandville to reprieve the man for the

present. When Tascheron knows that he owes an extension of his life to our intercession, he may pretend to

"He will persist in his present conduct, finding that it has won him that advantage," said the bishop,

interrupting his favorite. "Messieurs," he said, after a moment's silence, "does the whole town know of these

"There is not a household in which they are not talked over," said the Abbe de Grancour. "The state in which

our good Abbe Pascal was put by his last efforts is the present topic of conversation throughout the town."

"Messieurs," exclaimed the bishop, "religion must not be overset in this way. The more public attention is

attracted to the matter, the more I am determined to obtain a notable triumph. The Church is now in presence

of a great difficulty. We are called upon to do miracles in this manufacturing town, where the spirit of

sedition against religious and monarchical principles has such deep root, where the system of inquiry born of

protestantism (which in these days calls itself liberalism, prepared at any moment to take another name)

extends into everything. Go at once to Monsieur de Grandville; he is wholly on our side, and say to him from

me that we beg for a few days' reprieve. I will go myself and see that unhappy man."

"You, Monseigneur!" said the Abbe de Rastignac. "If you should fail, wouldn't that complicate matters? You

"If Monseigneur will permit me to express my opinion," said the Abbe Dutheil, "I think I can suggest a

The prelate answered with a sign of assent, so coldly given as to show how little credit he gave to his

"If any one can influence that rebellious soul and bring it back to God," continued the Abbe Dutheil, "it is the

"Monseigneur, Monsieur Bonnet is one of those men who protect themselves, both by their active virtues and

This simple and modest reply was received in a silence which would have embarrassed any other man than

the Abbe Dutheil. The three priests chose to see in it one of those hidden and unanswerable sarcasms which

are characteristic of ecclesiastics, who contrive to express what they want to say while observing the strictest

decorum. In this case there was nothing of the kind. The Abbe Dutheil never thought of himself and had no

"I have heard of Saint Aristides for some time," said the bishop, smiling. "If I have left his light under a

bushel I may have been unjust or prejudiced. Your liberals are always crying up Monsieur Bonnet as though

he belonged to their party. I should like to judge for myself of this rural apostle. Go at once, messieurs, to

Monsieur de Grandville, and ask for the reprieve; I will await his answer before sending our dear Abbe

Gabriel to Montegnac to fetch the saintly man. We will give his Blessedness a chance to do miracles."

As he listened to these words of the prelate the Abbe Dutheil reddened; but he would not allow himself to

take notice of the incivilities of the speech. The two grand vicars bowed in silence and withdrew, leaving the

"The secrets of the confession we are so anxious to obtain from the unhappy man himself are no doubt buried

there," said the bishop to his young abbe, pointing to the shadow of the poplars where it fell on a lonely house

"I have always thought so," replied Gabriel. "I am not a judge and I will not be an informer; but if I were a

magistrate I should have known the name of that woman who trembles at every sound, at every word, while

forced to keep her features calm and serene under pain of going to the scaffold with her lover. She has

nothing to fear, however. I have seen the man; he will carry the secret of that passionate love to the grave

"Ah! you sly fellow!" said the bishop, twisting the ear of his secretary as he motioned to the space between

the island and the suburb of SaintEtienne which the last gleams of the setting sun were illuminating, and on

which the young abbe's eyes were fixed. "That is the place where justice should have searched; don't you

"I went to see the criminal to try the effect of my suspicions upon him," replied the young man. "I could not

"Yes," said the bishop, "we will hold our tongues; we are not the servants of human justice. One head is

The perspicacity which the habit of meditation gives to priests is far superior to that of lawyers or the police.

By dint of contemplating from those terraces the scene of the crime, the prelate and his secretary had ended

by perceiving circumstances unseen by others, in spite of all the investigations before and during the trial of

Monsieur de Grandville was playing whist at Madame Graslin's house; it was necessary to await his return;

the bishop did not therefore receive his answer till nearly midnight. The Abbe Gabriel, to whom the prelate

lent his carriage, started at two in the morning for Montegnac. This region, which begins about twentyfive

miles from the town, is situated in that part of the Limousin which lies at the base of the mountains of the

Correze and follows the line of the Creuze. The young abbe left Limoges all heaving with expectation of the

Priests and religious devotees have a tendency in the matter of payments to keep strictly to the letter of the

law. Is this from poverty, or from the selfishness to which their isolation condemns them, thus encouraging

the natural inclination of all men to avarice; or is it from a conscientious parsimony which saves all it can for

deeds of charity? Each nature will give a different answer to this question. The difficulty of putting the hand

into the pocket, sometimes concealed by a gracious kindliness, oftener unreservedly exhibited, is more

particularly noticeable in travelling. Gabriel de Rastignac, the prettiest youth who had served before the altar

for many a long day, gave only a thirtysous pourboire to the postilion. Consequently he travelled slowly.

Postilions drive bishops and other clergy with the utmost care when they merely double the legal wage, and

they run no risk of damaging the episcopal carriage for any such sum, fearing, they might say, to get

themselves into trouble. The Abbe Gabriel, who was travelling alone for the first time, said, at each relay, in

"We ply the whip," replied an old postilion, "according to how the traveller plies his finger and thumb."

The young abbe flung himself back into a corner of the carriage unable to comprehend that answer. To

occupy the time he began to study the country through which he was passing, making several mental

excursions on foot among the hills through which the road winds between Bordeaux and Lyon.

About fifteen miles from Limoges the landscape, losing the graceful flow of the Vienne through the

undulating meadows of the Limousin, which in certain places remind one of Switzerland, especially about

SaintLeonard, takes on a harsh and melancholy aspect. Here we come upon vast tracts of uncultivated land,

sandy plains without herbage, hemmed in on the horizon by the summits of the Correze. These mountains

have neither the abrupt rise of the Alpine ranges nor their splendid ridges; neither the warm gorges and

desolate peaks of the Appenines, nor the picturesque grandeur of the Pyrenees. Their undulating slopes, due

to the action of water, prove the subsidence of some great natural catastrophe in which the floods retired

slowly. This characteristic, common to most of the earth convulsions in France, has perhaps contributed,

together with the climate, to the epitaph of douce bestowed by all Europe on our sunny France.

Though this abrupt transition from the smiling landscapes of the Limousin to the sterner aspects of La

Marche and Auvergne may offer to the thinker and the poet, as he passes them on his way, an image of the

Infinite, that terror of certain minds; though it incites to revelry the woman of the world, bored as she travels

luxuriously in her carriage,to the inhabitants of this region Nature is cruel, savage, and without resources.

The soil of these great gray plains is thankless. The vicinity of a capital town could alone reproduce the

miracle worked in Brie during the last two centuries. Here, however, not only is a town lacking, but also the

great residences which sometimes give life to these hopeless deserts, where civilization languishes, where the

agriculturist sees only barrenness, and the traveller finds not a single inn, nor that which, perchance, he is

Great minds, however, do not dislike these barren wastes, necessary shadows in Nature's vast picture. Quite

recently Fenimore Cooper has magnificently developed with his melancholy genius the poesy of such

solitudes, in his "Prairie." These regions, unknown to botanists, covered by mineral refuse, round pebbles,

and a sterile soil, cast defiance to civilization. France should adopt the only solution to these difficulties, as

the British have done in Scotland, where patient, heroic agriculture has changed the arid wastes into fertile

farms. Left in their savage and primitive state these uncultivated social and natural wastes give birth to

discouragement, laziness, weakness resulting from poor food, and crime when needs become importunate.

These few words present the past history of Montegnac. What could be done in that great tract of barren land,

neglected by the government, abandoned by the nobility, useless to industry,what but war against society

which disregarded its duty? Consequently, the inhabitants of Montegnac lived to a recent period, as the

Highlands of Scotland lived in former times, by murder and rapine. From the mere aspect of this region a

thinking man would understand how, twenty years earlier, the inhabitants were at war with society. The great

upland plain, flanked on one side by the valley of the Vienne, on the other by the charming valleys of La

Marche, then by Auvergne, and bounded by the mountains of the Correze, is like (agriculture apart) the

plateau of La Beauce, which separates the basin of the Loire from that of the Seine, also like those of

Touraine and Berry, and many other of the great upland plains which are cut like facets on the surface of

France and are numerous enough to claim the attention of the wisest administrators. It is amazing that while

complaint is made of the influx of population to the social centres, the government does not employ the

natural remedy of redeeming a region where, as statistics show, there are many million acres of waste land,

certain parts of which, especially in Berry, have a soil from seven to eight feet deep.

Many of these plains which might be covered by villages and made splendidly productive belong to obstinate

communes, the authorities of which refuse to sell to those who would develop them, merely to keep the right

to pasture cows upon them! On all these useless, unproductive lands is written the word "Incapacity." All

soils have some special fertility of their own. Arms and wills are ready; the thing lacking is a sense of duty

combined with talent on the part of the government. In France, up to the present time, these upland plains

have been sacrificed to the valleys; the government has chosen to give all its help to those regions of country

Most of these luckless uplands are without water, the first essential for production. The mists which ought to

fertilize the gray, dead soil by discharging oxygen upon it, sweep across it rapidly, driven by the wind, for

want of trees which might arrest them and so obtain their nourishment. Merely to plant trees in such a region

would be carrying a gospel to it. Separated from the nearest town or city by a distance as insurmountable to

poor folk as though a desert lay between them, with no means of reaching a market for their products (if they

produced anything), close to an unexplored forest which supplied them with wood and the uncertain

livelihood of poaching, the inhabitants often suffered from hunger during the winters. The soil not being

suitable for wheat, and the unfortunate peasantry having neither cattle of any kind nor farming implements,

Any one who has studied zoological productions in a museum, or become personally aware of the

indescribable depression caused by the brown tones of all European products, will understand how the

constant sight of these gray, arid plains must have affected the moral nature of the inhabitants, through the

desolate sense of utter barrenness which they present to the eye. There, in those dismal regions, is neither

coolness nor brightness, nor shade nor contrast,none of all those ideas and spectacles of Nature which

awaken and rejoice the heart; even a stunted appletree would be hailed as a friend.

A country road, recently made, runs through the centre of this great plain, and meets the highroad. Upon it,

at a distance of some fifteen miles from the highroad, stands Montegnac, at the foot of a hill, as its name

designates, the chief town of a canton or district in the HauteVienne. The hill is part of Montegnac, which

thus unites a mountainous scenery with that of the plains. This district is a miniature Scotland, with its

lowlands and highlands. Behind the hill, at the foot of which lies the village, rises, at a distance of about three

miles, the first peak of the Correze mountains. The space between is covered by the great forest of

Montegnac, which clothes the hill, extends over the valley, and along the slopes of the mountain (though

these are bare in some places), continuing as far as the highway to Aubusson, where it diminishes to a point

near a steep embankment on that road. This embankment commands a ravine through which the postroad

between Bordeaux and Lyon passes. Travellers, either afoot or in carriages, were often stopped in the depths

of this dangerous gorge by highwaymen, whose deeds of violence went unpunished, for the site favored

them; they could instantly disappear, by ways known to them alone, into the inaccessible parts of the forest.

Such a region was naturally out of reach of law. No one now travelled through it. Without circulation, neither

commerce, industry, exchange of ideas, nor any of the means to wealth, can exist; the material triumphs of

civilization are always the result of the application of primitive ideas. Thought is invariably the point of

departure and the goal of all social existence. The history of Montegnac is a proof of that axiom of social

science. When at last the administration was able to concern itself with the needs and the material prosperity

of this region of country, it cut down this strip of forest, and stationed a detachment of gendarmerie near the

ravine, which escorted the mail coaches between the two relays; but, to the shame of the gendarmerie be it

said, it was the gospel, and not the sword, the rector Monsieur Bonnet, and not Corporal Chervin, who won a

civil victory by changing the morals of a population. This priest, filled with Christian tenderness for the poor,

After travelling for about an hour over these plains, alternately stony and dusty, where the partridges flocked

in tranquil coveys, their wings whirring with a dull, heavy sound as the carriage came toward them, the Abbe

Gabriel, like all other travellers on the same road, saw with satisfaction the roofs of Montegnac in the

distance. At the entrance of the village was one of those curious postrelays which are seen only in the

remote parts of France. Its sign was an oak board on which some pretentious postilion had carved the words,

Pauste o chevos, blackening the letters with ink, and then nailing the board by its four corners above the door

of a wretched stable in which there were no horses. The door, which was nearly always open, had a plank laid

on the soil for its threshold, to protect the stable floor, which was lower than the road, from inundation when

it rained. The discouraged traveller could see within wornout, mildewed, and mended harnesses, certain to

break at a plunge of the horses. The horses themselves were hard at work in the fields, or anywhere but in the

stable. If by any chance they happen to be in their stalls, they are eating; if they have finished eating, the

postilion has gone to see his aunt or his cousin, or is getting in the hay, or else he is asleep; no one can say

where he is; the traveller has to wait till he is found, and he never comes till he has finished what he is about.

When he does come he loses an immense amount of time looking for his jacket and his whip, or putting the

collars on his horses. Near by, at the door of the posthouse, a worthy woman is fuming even more than the

traveller, in order to prevent the latter from complaining loudly. This is sure to be the wife of the

The bishop's secretary left his carriage before a posthouse of this kind, the walls of which resembled a

geographical map, while the thatched roof, blooming like a flowergarden, seemed to be giving way beneath

the weight of stonecrop. After begging the postmistress to have everything in readiness for his departure in

an hour's time, the abbe asked the way to the parsonage. The good woman showed him a lane which led to

While the young abbe followed this lane, which was full of stones and closed on either side by hedges, the

postmistress questioned the postilion. Since starting from Limoges each postilion had informed his

successor of the conjectures of the Limoges postilion as to the mission of the bishop's messenger. While the

inhabitants of the town were getting out of bed and talking of the coming execution, a rumor spread among

the country people that the bishop had obtained the pardon of the innocent man; and much was said about the

mistakes to which human justice was liable. If JeanFrancois was executed later, it was certain that he was

After taking a few steps along the lane, reddened by the autumn leaves, and black with mulberries and

damsons, the Abbe Gabriel turned round with the instinctive impulse which leads us all to make acquaintance

with a region which we see for the first time,a sort of instinctive physical curiosity shared by dogs and

The position of Montegnac was explained to him as his eyes rested on various little streams flowing down the

hillsides and on a little river, along the bank of which runs the country road which connects the chief town of

the arrondissement with the prefecture. Like all the villages of this upland plain, Montegnac is built of earth

baked in the sun and moulded into square blocks. After a fire a house looks as if it had been built of brick.

Before the village lay several fields of potatoes, radishes, and rye, redeemed from the barren plain. On the

slope of the hill were irrigated meadows where the inhabitants raised horses, the famous Limousin breed,

which is said to be a legacy of the Arabs when they descended by the Pyrenees into France and were cut to

pieces by the battleaxes of the Franks under Charles Martel. The heights are barren. A hot, baked, reddish

soil shows a region where chestnuts flourish. The springs, carefully applied to irrigation, water the meadows

only, nourishing the sweet, crisp grass, so fine and choice, which produces this race of delicate and

highstrung horses,not overstrong to bear fatigue, but showy, excellent for the country of their birth,

though subject to changes if transplanted. A few mulberry trees lately imported showed an intention of

Like most of the villages in this world Montegnac had but one street, through which the high road passed.

Nevertheless there was an upper and a lower Montegnac, reached by lanes going up or going down from the

main street. A line of houses standing along the brow of the hill presented the cheerful sight of terraced

gardens, which were entered by flights of steps from the main street. Some had their steps of earth, others of

pebbles; here and there old women were sitting on them, knitting or watching children, and keeping up a

conversation from the upper to the lower town across the usually peaceful street of the little village; thus

rumors spread easily and rapidly in Montegnac. All the gardens, which were full of fruittrees, cabbages,

Another line of houses, running down from the main street to the river, the course of which was outlined by

thriving little fields of hemp and the sorts of fruit trees which like moisture, lay parallel with the upper town;

some of the houses, that of the posthouse, for instance, were in a hollow, and were wellsituated for certain

kinds of work, such as weaving. Nearly all of them were shared by walnut trees, the tree par excellence of

On this side of the main street at the end farthest from the great plain was a dwellinghouse, very much

larger and better cared for than those in other parts of the village; around it were other houses equally well

kept. This little hamlet, separated from the village by its gardens, was already called Les Tascherons, a name

The village itself mounted to very little, but thirty or more outlying farms belonged to it. In the valley,

leading down to the river, irrigating channels like those of La Marche and Berry indicated the flow of water

around the village by the green fringe of verdure about them; Montegnac seemed tossed in their midst like a

vessel at sea. When a house, an estate, a village, a region, passes from the wretched condition to a prosperous

one, without becoming either rich or splendid, life seems so easy, so natural to living beings, that the

spectator may not at once suspect the enormous labor, infinite in petty detail, grand in persistency like the toil

buried in a foundation wall, in short, the forgotten labor on which the whole structure rests.

Consequently the scene that lay before him told nothing extraordinary to the young Abbe Gabriel as his eye

took in the charming landscape. He knew nothing of the state of the region before the arrival of the rector,

Monsieur Bonnet. The young man now went on a few steps and again saw, several hundred feet above the

gardens of the upper village, the church and the parsonage, which he had already seen from a distance

confusedly mingled with the imposing ruins clothed with creepers of the old castle of Montegnac, one of the

The parsonage, a house originally built no doubt for the bailiff or gamekeeper, was noticeable for a long

raised terrace planted with lindens from which a fine view extended over the country. The steps leading to

this terrace and the walls which supported it showed their great age by the ravages of time. The flat moss

which clings to stones had laid its dragongreen carpet on each surface. The numerous families of the

pellitories, the chamomiles, the mesembryanthemums, pushed their varied and abundant tufts through the

loopholes in the walls, cracked and fissured in spite of their thickness. Botany had lavished there its most

elegant drapery of ferns of all kinds, snap dragons with their violet mouths and golden pistils, the blue

anchusa, the brown lichens, so that the old worn stones seemed mere accessories peeping out at intervals

from this fresh growth. Along the terrace a box hedge, cut into geometric figures, enclosed a pleasure garden

surrounding the parsonage, above which the rock rose like a white wall surmounted by slender trees that

The ruins of the castle looked down upon the house and church. The house, built of pebbles and mortar, had

but one story surmounted by an enormous sloping roof with gable ends, in which were attics, no doubt

empty, considering the dilapidation of their windows. The groundfloor had two rooms parted by a corridor,

at the farther end of which was a wooden staircase leading to the second floor, which also had two rooms. A

little kitchen was at the back of the building in a yard, where were the stable and coachhouse, both unused,

deserted, and worthless. The kitchen garden lay between the church and the house; a ruined gallery led from

When the young abbe saw the four windows with their leaded panes, the brown and mossy walls, the door in

common pine slit like a bundle of matches, far from being attracted by the adorable naivete of these details,

the grace of the vegetations which draped the roof and the dilapidated wooden frames of the windows, the

wealth of the clambering plants escaping from every cranny, and the clasping tendrils of the grapevine

which looked into every window as if to bring smiling ideas to those within, he congratulated himself heartily

This house, apparently always open, seemed to belong to everybody. The Abbe Gabriel entered a room

communicating with the kitchen, which was poorly furnished with an oak table on four stout legs, a tapestried

armchair, a number of chairs all of wood, and an old chest by way of buffet. No one was in the kitchen except

a cat which revealed the presence of a woman about the house. The other room served as a salon. Casting a

glance about it the young priest noticed armchairs in natural wood covered with tapestry; the woodwork and

the rafters of the ceiling were of chestnut which had turned as black as ebony. A tall clock in a green case

painted with flowers, a table with a faded green cloth, several chairs, two candlesticks on the chimneypiece,

between which was an Infant Jesus in wax under a glass case, completed the furniture of the room. The

chimneypiece of wood with common mouldings was filled by a fireboard covered by a painting

representing the Good Shepherd with a lamb over his shoulder, which was probably the gift of some young

girl,the mayor's daughter, or the judge's daughter,in return for the pastor's care of her education.

The forlorn condition of the house was distressing to behold; the walls, once whitewashed, were now

discolored, and stained to a man's height by constant friction. The staircase with its heavy baluster and

wooden steps, though very clean, looked as if it might easily give way under the feet. On the other side of the

house, opposite to the entrance door, another door opening upon the kitchen garden enabled the Abbe de

Rastignac to judge of the narrowness of that garden, which was closed at the back by a wall cut in the white

and friable stone side of the mountain, against which espaliers were fastened, covered with grapevines and

The abbe returned upon his steps and walked along the paths of the first garden, from which he could see, in

the distance beyond the village, the magnificent stretch of valley, a true oasis at the edge of the vast plains,

which now, veiled by the light mists of morning, lay along the horizon like a tranquil ocean. Behind him

could be seen, on one side, for a foil, the dark masses of the bronzegreen forest; on the other, the church and

the ruins of the castle perched on the rock and vividly detached upon the blue of the ether. The Abbe Gabriel,

his feet creaking on the gravelly paths cut in stars and rounds and lozenges, looked down upon the village,

where some of the inhabitants were already gazing up at him, and then at the fresh, cool valley, with its

tangled paths, its river bordered with willows in delightful contrast to the endless plain, and he was suddenly

seized with sensations which changed the nature of his thoughts; he admired the sweet tranquillity of the

place; he felt the influence of that pure air; he was conscious of the peace inspired by the revelation of a life

brought back to Biblical simplicity; he saw, confusedly, the beauties of this old parsonage, which he now

A little girl, employed, no doubt, to watch the house, though she was picking and eating fruit in the garden,

heard the steps of a man with creaking shoes on the great square flags of the groundfloor rooms. She ran in

to see who it was. Confused at being caught by a priest with a fruit in one hand and another in her mouth, she

made no answer to the questions of the handsome young abbe. She had never imagined such an

abbe,dapper and spruce as hands could make him, in dazzling linen and fine black cloth without spot or

"Monsieur Bonnet?" she said at last. "Monsieur Bonnet is saying mass, and Mademoiselle Ursule is at

The Abbe Gabriel did not notice a covered way from the house to the church; he went back to the road which

led to the front portal, a species of porch with a sloping roof that faced the village. It was reached by a series

of disjointed stone steps, at the side of which lay a ravine washed out by the mountain torrents and covered

with noble elms planted by Sully the Protestant. This church, one of the poorest in France where there are so

many poor churches, was like one of those enormous barns with projecting doors covered by roofs supported

on brick or wooden pillars. Built, like the parsonage, of cobblestones and mortar, flanked by a face of solid

rock, and roofed by the commonest round tiles, this church was decorated on the outside with the richest

creations of sculpture, rich in light and shade and lavishly massed and colored by Nature, who understands

such art as well as any Michael Angelo. Ivy clasped the walls with its nervous tendrils, showing stems amid

its foliage like the veins in a lay figure. This mantle, flung by Time to cover the wounds he made, was starred

by autumn flowers drooping from the crevices, which also gave shelter to numerous singing birds. The

rosewindow above the projecting porch was adorned with blue campanula, like the first page of an

illuminated missal. The side which communicated with the parsonage, toward the north, was not less

decorated; the wall was gray and red with moss and lichen; but the other side and the apse, around which lay

the cemetery, was covered with a wealth of varied blooms. A few trees, among others an almondtreeone

of the emblems of hope had taken root in the broken wall; two enormous pines standing close against the

apsis served as lightningrods. The cemetery, enclosed by a low, halfruined wall, had for ornament an iron

cross, mounted on a pedestal and hung with box, blessed at Easter,one of those affecting Christian

thoughts forgotten in cities. The village rector is the only priest who, in these days, thinks to go among his

dead and say to them each Easter morn, "Thou shalt live again!" Here and there a few rotten wooden crosses

The interior of the church harmonized perfectly with the poetic tangle of the humble exterior, the luxury and

art of which was bestowed by Time, for once in a way charitable. Within, the eye first went to the roof, lined

with chestnut, to which age had given the richest tints of the oldest woods of Europe. This roof was supported

at equal distances by strong shafts resting on transversal beams. The four whitewashed walls had no

ornament whatever. Poverty had made the parish iconoclastic, whether it would or not. The church, paved

and furnished with benches, was lighted by four arched windows with leaded panes. The altar, shaped like a

tomb, was adorned by a large crucifix placed above a tabernacle in walnut with a few gilt mouldings, kept

clean and shining, eight candlesticks economically made of wood painted white, and two china vases filled

with artificial flowers such as the drudge of a moneychanger would have despised, but with which God was

The sanctuary lamp was a nightwick placed in an old holywater basin of plated copper hanging by silken

cords, the spoil of some demolished chateau. The baptismal fonts were of wood; so were the pulpit and a sort

of cage provided for the churchwardens, the patricians of the village. An altar to the Virgin presented to

public admiration two colored lithographs in small gilt frames. The altar was painted white, adorned with

artificial flowers in gilded wooden vases, and covered by a cloth edged with shabby and discolored lace.

At the farther end of the church a long window entirely covered by a red calico curtain produced a magical

effect. This crimson mantle cast a rosy tint upon the whitewashed walls; a thought divine seemed to glow

upon the altar and clasp the poor nave as if to warm it. The passage which led to the sacristy exhibited on one

of its walls the patron saint of the village, a large Saint John the Baptist with his sheep, carved in wood and

But in spite of all this poverty the church was not without some tender harmonies delightful to choice souls,

and set in charming relief by their own colors. The rich dark tones of the wood relieved the white of the walls

and blended with the triumphal crimson cast on the chancel. This trinity of color was a reminder of the grand

If surprise was the first emotion roused by this pitiful house of the Lord, surprise was followed speedily by

admiration mingled with pity. Did it not truly express the poverty of that poor region? Was it not in harmony

with the naive simplicity of the parsonage? The building was perfectly clean and wellkept. The fragrance of

country virtues exhaled within it; nothing showed neglect or abandonment. Though rustic and poor and

simple, prayer dwelt there; those precincts had a soul,a soul which was felt, though we might not fully

The Abbe Gabriel glided softly through the church so as not to disturb the devotions of two groups of persons

on the benches near the high altar, which was separated from the nave at the place where the lamp was hung

by a rather common balustrade, also of chestnut wood, and covered with a cloth intended for the communion.

On either side of the nave a score of peasants, men and women, absorbed in fervent prayer, paid no attention

to the stranger when he passed up the narrow passage between the two rows of seats.

When the young abbe stood beneath the lamp, whence he could see the two little transepts which formed a

cross, one of which led to the sacristy, the other to the cemetery, he noticed on the cemetery side a family

clothed in black kneeling on the pavement, the transepts having no benches. The young priest knelt down on

the step of the balustrade which separated the choir from the nave and began to pray, casting oblique glances

at a scene which was soon explained to him. The gospel had been read. The rector, having removed his

chasuble, came down from the altar and stood before the railing; the young abbe, who foresaw this

movement, leaned back against the wall, so that Monsieur Bonnet did not see him. Ten o'clock was striking.

"Brethren," said the rector, in a voice of emotion, "at this very moment a child of this parish is paying his

debt to human justice by enduring its last penalty, while we are offering the sacrifice of the mass for the

peace of his soul. Let us unite in prayer to God, imploring Him not to turn His face from that child in these

his last moments, and to grant to his repentance the pardon in heaven which is denied to him here below. The

sin of this unhappy man, one of those on whom we most relied for good examples, can only be explained by

Here the rector was interrupted by sobs from the kneeling group in mourning garments, whom the Abbe

Gabriel recognized, by this show of affection, as the Tascheron family, although he did not know them. First

among them was an old couple (septuagenarians) standing by the wall, their faces seamed with deepcut,

rigid wrinkles, and bronzed like a Florentine medal. These persons, stoically erect like statues, in their old

darned clothes, were doubtless the grandfather and the grandmother of the criminal. Their glazed and

reddened eyes seemed to weep blood, their arms trembled so that the sticks on which they leaned tapped

lightly on the pavement. Next, the father and the mother, their faces in their handkerchiefs, sobbed aloud.

Around these four heads of the family knelt the two married sisters accompanied by their husbands, and three

sons, stupefied with grief. Five little children on their knees, the oldest not seven years old, unable, no doubt,

to understand what was happening, gazed and listened with the torpid curiosity that characterizes the

peasantry, and is really the observation of physical things pushed to its highest limit. Lastly, the poor

unmarried sister, imprisoned in the interests of justice, now released, a martyr to fraternal affection, Denise

Tascheron, was listening to the priest's words with a look that was partly bewildered and partly incredulous.

For her, her brother could not die. She well represented that one of the Three Marys who did not believe in

the death of Christ, though she was present at the last agony. Pale, with dry eyes, like all those who have gone

without sleep, her fresh complexion was already faded, less by toil and field labor than by grief; nevertheless,

she had many of the beauties of a country maiden, a plump, full figure, finely shaped arms, rounded

cheeks, and clear, pure eyes, lighted at this instant with flashes of despair. Below the throat, a firm, fair skin,

not tanned by the sun, betrayed the presence of a white and rosy flesh where the form was hidden.

The married daughters wept; their husbands, patient farmers, were grave and serious. The three brothers,

profoundly sad, did not raise their eyes from the ground. In the midst of this dreadful picture of dumb despair

The other inhabitants of the village united in the affliction of this respectable family with a sincere and

Christian pity which gave the same expression to the faces of all,an expression amounting to horror when

the rector's words announced that the knife was then falling on the neck of a young man whom they all knew

well from his very birth, and whom they had doubtless thought incapable of crime.

The sobs which interrupted the short and simple allocution which the pastor made to his flock overcame him

so much that he stopped and said no more, except to invite all present to fervent prayer.

Though this scene was not of a nature to surprise a priest, Gabriel de Rastignac was too young not to be

profoundly touched by it. As yet he had never exercised the priestly virtues; he knew himself called to other

functions; he was not forced to enter the social breaches where the heart bleeds at the sight of woes: his

mission was that of the higher clergy, who maintain the spirit of devotion, represent the highest intellect of

the Church, and on eminent occasions display the priestly virtues on a larger stage,like the illustrious

This little assemblage of country people weeping and praying for him who, as they supposed, was then being

executed on a public square, among a crowd of persons come from all parts to swell the shame of such a

death,this feeble counterpoise of prayer and pity, opposed to the ferocious curiosity and just maledictions

of a multitude, was enough to move any soul, especially when seen in that poor church. The Abbe Gabriel

But he did not like to disturb the mass; and, moreover, he knew that a reprieve was only a delay of execution.

Instead of following the service, he was irresistibly drawn to a study of the pastor from whom the clergy in

Judging by the parsonage, Gabriel de Rastignac had made himself a portrait of Monsieur Bonnet as a stout,

short man with a strong and red face, framed for toil, half a peasant, and tanned by the sun. So far from that,

the young abbe met his equal. Slight and delicate in appearance, Monsieur Bonnet's face struck the eyes at

once as the typical face of passion given to the Apostles. It was almost triangular, beginning with a broad

brow furrowed by wrinkles, and carried down from the temples to the chin in two sharp lines which defined

his hollow cheeks. In this face, sallowed by tones as yellow as those of a church taper, shone two blue eyes

that were luminous with faith, burning with eager hope. It was divided into two equal parts by a long nose,

thin and straight, with wellcut nostrils, beneath which spoke, even when closed and voiceless, a large

mouth, with strongly marked lips, from which issued, whenever he spoke aloud, one of those voices which go

straight to the heart. The chestnut hair, which was thin and fine, and lay flat upon the head, showed a poor

Such were his personal distinctions. His short hands might have indicated in another man a tendency to

coarse pleasures, and perhaps he had, like Socrates, conquered his temptations. His thinness was ungraceful,

his shoulders were too prominent, his knees knocked together. The body, too much developed for the

extremities, gave him the look of a humpbacked man without a hump. In short, his appearance was not

pleasing. None but those to whom the miracles of thought, faith, art are known could adore that flaming gaze

of the martyr, that pallor of constancy, that voice of love,distinctive characteristics of this village rector.

This man, worthy of the primitive Church, which exists no longer except in the pictures of the sixteenth

century and in the pages of Martyrology, was stamped with the die of the human greatness which most nearly

approaches the divine greatness through Conviction,that indefinable something which embellishes the

commonest form, gilds with glowing tints the faces of men vowed to any worship, no matter what, and brings

into the face of a woman glorified by a noble love a sort of light. CONVICTION is human will attaining to its

highest reach. At once both cause and effect, it impresses the coldest natures; it is a species of mute

Coming down from the altar the rector caught the eye of the Abbe Gabriel and recognized him; so that when

the bishop's secretary reached the sacristy Ursule, to whom her master had already given orders, was waiting

"Monsieur," said Ursule, a woman of canonical age, conducting the Abbe de Rastignac by the gallery through

the garden, "Monsieur Bonnet told me to ask if you had breakfasted. You must have left Limoges very early

to get here by ten o'clock. I will soon have breakfast ready for you. Monsieur l'abbe will not find a table like

that of Monseigneur the bishop in this poor village, but we will do the best we can. Monsieur Bonnet will

soon be in; he has gone to comfort those poor people, the Tascherons. Their son has met with a terrible end

"But," said the Abbe Gabriel, when he could get in a word, "where is the house of those worthy persons? I

must take Monsieur Bonnet at once to Limoges by order of the bishop. That unfortunate man will not be

"Ah!" exclaimed Ursule, whose tongue itched to spread the news about the village, "monsieur has plenty of

time to carry them that comfort while I get breakfast ready. The Tascherons' house is beyond the village;

As soon as Ursule lost sight of the abbe she went down into the village to disseminate the news, and also to

The rector had been informed, while in church, of a desperate resolution taken by the Tascherons as soon as

they heard that Jean Francois's appeal was rejected and that he had to die. These worthy souls intended to

leave the country, and their worldly goods were to be sold that very morning. Delays and formalities

unexpected by them had hitherto postponed the sale. They had been forced to remain in their home until the

execution, and drink each day the cup of shame. This determination had not been made public until the

evening before the day appointed for the execution. The Tascherons had expected to leave before that fatal

day; but the proposed purchaser of their property was a stranger in those parts, and was prevented from

clinching the bargain by a delay in obtaining the money. Thus the hapless family were forced to bear their

trouble to its end. The feeling which prompted this expatriation was so violent in these simple souls, little

accustomed to compromise with their consciences, that the grandfather and grandmother, the father and the

mother, the daughters and their husbands and the sons, in short, all who bore and had borne the name of

This emigration grieved the whole community. The mayor entreated the rector to do his best to retain these

worthy people. According to the new Code the father was not responsible for the son, and the crime of the

father was no disgrace to the children. Together with other emancipations which have weakened paternal

power, this system has led to the triumph of individualism, which is now permeating the whole of modern

society. He who thinks on the things of the future sees the spirit of family destroyed, where the makers of the

new Code have introduced freedom of will and equality. The Family must always be the basis of society.

Necessarily temporary, incessantly divided, recomposed to dissolve again, without ties between the future

and the past, it cannot fulfil that mission; the Family of the olden time no longer exists in France. Those who

have proceeded to demolish the ancient edifice have been logical in dividing equally the family property, in

diminishing the authority of the father, in suppressing great responsibilities; but is the reconstructed social

state as solid, with its young laws still untried, as it was under a monarchy, in spite of the old abuses? In

losing the solidarity of families, society has lost that fundamental force which Montesquieu discovered and

named HONOR. It has isolated interests in order to subjugate them; it has sundered all to enfeeble all.

Society reigns over units, over single figures agglomerated like grains of corn in a heap. Can the general

Nevertheless, the old law still exists; its roots have struck so deep that you will find it still living, as we find

perennials in polar regions. Remote places are still to be found in the provinces where what are now called

This sentiment made the place uninhabitable any longer to the Tascherons. Their deep religious feeling took

them to church that morning; for how could they let the mass be offered to God asking Him to inspire their

son with repentance that alone could restore to him life eternal, and not share in it? Besides, they wished to

bid farewell to the village altar. But their minds were made up and their plans already carried out. When the

rector who followed them from church reached the principal house he found their bags and bundles ready for

the journey. The purchaser of the property was there with the money. The notary had drawn up the papers. In

the yard behind the house was a carriole ready harnessed to carry away the older couple with the money, and

the mother of JeanFrancois. The remainder of the family were to go on foot by night.

At the moment when the young abbe entered the low room in which the family were assembled the rector of

Montegnac had exhausted all the resources of his eloquence. The old pair, now insensible to the violence of

grief, were crouching in a corner on their bags and looking round on their old hereditary home, its furniture,

These old people, who had long resigned their authority to their son, the father of the criminal, were, like

kings on their abdication, reduced to the passive role of subjects and children. Tascheron, the father, was

standing up; he listened to the pastor, and replied to him in a low voice and by monosyllables. This man, who

was about forty eight years of age, had the noble face which Titian has given to so many of his Apostles,a

countenance full of faith, of grave and reflective integrity, a stern profile, a nose cut in a straight and

projecting line, blue eyes, a noble brow, regular features, black, crisp, wiry hair, planted on his head with that

symmetry which gives a charm to these brown faces, bronzed by toil in the open air. It was easy to see that

Denise was leaning against the breadbox, looking at the notary, who was using that receptacle as a

writingtable, seated before it in the grandmother's armchair. The purchaser was sitting on a stool beside him.

The married sisters were laying a cloth upon the table, and serving the last meal the family were to take in its

own house before expatriating itself to other lands and other skies. The sons were halfseated on the green

serge bed. The mother, busy beside the fire, was beating an omelet. The grandchildren crowded the doorway,

The old smoky room with its blackened rafters, through the window of which was visible a wellkept garden

planted by the two old people, seemed in harmony with the pentup anguish which could be read on all their

faces in diverse expressions. The meal was chiefly prepared for the notary, the purchaser, the menkind, and

the children. The father and mother, Denise and her sisters, were too unhappy to eat. There was a lofty, stern

resignation in the accomplishment of these last duties of rustic hospitality. The Tascherons, men of the olden

time, ended their days in that house as they had begun them, by doing its honors. This scene, without

pretension, though full of solemnity, met the eyes of the bishop's secretary when he approached the village

At these words, heard by all in the deep silence, the two old people rose to their feet as if the last trump had

sounded. The mother dropped her pan upon the fire; Denise gave a cry of joy; all the others stood by in

"JeanFrancois is pardoned!" cried the whole village, now rushing toward the house, having heard the news

"Will it hinder the purchase?" said the purchaser to the notary, who answered with a satisfying gesture.

The Abbe Gabriel was now the centre of all eyes; his sadness raised a suspicion of mistake. To avoid

correcting it himself, he left the house, followed by the rector, and said to the crowd outside that the

execution was only postponed for some days. The uproar subsided instantly into dreadful silence. When the

Abbe Gabriel and the rector returned, the expression on the faces of the family was full of anguish; the

"My friends, JeanFrancois is not pardoned," said the young abbe, seeing that the blow had fallen; "but the

state of his soul has so distressed Monseigneur that he has obtained a delay in order to save your son in

The young abbe took the rector aside to explain to him the injurious situation in which the impenitence of his

"Monseigneur exacts my death," replied the rector. "I have already refused the entreaties of the family to visit

their unhappy son. Such a conference and the sight of his death would shatter me like glass. Every man must

work as he can. The weakness of my organs, or rather, the too great excitability of my nervous organization,

prevents me from exercising these functions of our ministry. I have remained a simple rector expressly to be

useful to my kind in a sphere in which I can really accomplish my Christian duty. I have carefully considered

how far I could satisfy this virtuous family and do my pastoral duty to this poor son; but the very idea of

mounting the scaffold with him, the mere thought of assisting in those fatal preparations, sends a shudder as

of death through my veins. It would not be asked of a mother; and remember, monsieur, he was born in the

"Monseigneur is ignorant of the state of my health; he does not know that in a constitution like mine nature

"There are times when we ought, like Belzunce at Marseille, to risk certain death," replied the Abbe Gabriel,

At this moment the rector felt a hand pulling at his cassock; he heard sobs, and turning round he saw the

whole family kneeling before him. Young and old, small and great, all were stretching their supplicating

hands to him. One sole cry rose from their lips as he turned his face upon them:

The old grandmother it was who had pulled his cassock and was wetting it with her tears.

That said, the rector was forced to sit down, for his legs trembled under him. The young secretary explained

"Do you think," he said, as he ended his account, "that the sight of his young sister would shake his

"No!" cried the father; "that child no longer exists for us, and you know it. None of us shall see him."

"Do not oppose what may be for his salvation," said the young abbe. "You will be responsible for his soul if

you refuse us the means of softening it. His death may possibly do more injury than his life has done."

"She may go," said the father; "it shall be her punishment for opposing all the discipline I ever wished to give

The Abbe Gabriel and Monsieur Bonnet returned to the parsonage, where Denise and her mother were

As the younger man walked along the path which followed the outskirts of upper Montegnac he was able to

examine the village priest so warmly commended by the vicargeneral less superficially than he did in

church. He felt at once inclined in his favor, by the simple manners, the voice full of magic power, and the

words in harmony with the voice of the village rector. The latter had only visited the bishop's palace once

since the prelate had taken Gabriel de Rastignac as secretary. He had hardly seen this favorite, destined for

the episcopate, though he knew how great his influence was. Nevertheless, he behaved with a dignified

courtesy that plainly showed the sovereign independence which the Church bestows on rectors in their

parishes. But the feelings of the young abbe, far from animating his face, gave it a stern expression; it was

more than cold, it was icy. A man capable of changing the moral condition of a whole population must surely

possess some powers of observation, and be more or less of a physiognomist; and even if the rector had no

other science than that of goodness, he had just given proof of rare sensibility. He was therefore struck by the

coldness with which the bishop's secretary met his courteous advances. Compelled to attribute this manner to

some secret annoyance, the rector sought in his own mind to discover if he had wounded his guest, or in what

An awkward silence ensued, which the Abbe de Rastignac broke by a speech that was full of aristocratic

"It is too small," replied Monsieur Bonnet. "On the great fetedays the old men bring benches to the porch,

and the young men stand outside in a circle; but the silence is so great that all can hear my voice."

"If the inhabitants are so religious how can you let the building remain in such a state of nudity?" he said at

"Alas, monsieur, I have not the courage to spend the money which is needed for the poor on decorating the

church,the poor are the church. I assure I should not be ashamed of my church if Monseigneur should visit

it on the FeteDieu. The poor return on that day what they have received. Did you notice the nails which are

placed at certain distances on the walls? They are used to hold a sort of trellis of iron wire on which the

women fasten bouquets; the church is fairly clothed with flowers, and they keep fresh all day. My poor

church, which you think so bare, is decked like a bride; it is filled with fragrance; even the floor is strewn

with leaves, in the midst of which they make a path of scattered roses for the passage of the holy sacrament.

That's a day on which I do not fear comparison with the pomps of SaintPeter at Rome; the Holy Father has

his gold, and I my flowers,to each his own miracle. Ah! monsieur, the village of Montegnac is poor, but it

is Catholic. In former times the inhabitants robbed travellers; now travellers may leave a sack full of money

"It is not a question of myself," replied the rector, coloring at this labored compliment, "but of God's word, of

"White bread only suits the stomachs of the rich," replied the rector, modestly.

"Forgive me, monsieur," he said, suddenly making amends with a look in his beautiful blue eyes which went

to the depths of the rector's soul. "Monseigneur told me to test your patience and your modesty, but I can't go

any further; I see already how much injustice the praises of the liberals have done you."

Breakfast was ready; fresh eggs, butter, honey, fruits, cream, and coffee were served by Ursule in the midst of

flowers, on a white cloth laid upon the antique table in that old diningroom. The window which looked upon

the terrace was open; clematis, with its white stars relieved in the centre by the yellow bunch of their crisped

stamens, clasped the railing. A jasmine ran up one side, nasturtiums clambered over the other. Above, the

reddening foliage of a vine made a rich border that no sculptor could have rendered, so exquisite was the

"Life is here reduced, you see, to its simplest expression," said the rector, smiling, though his face did not

lose the look which the sadness of his heart conveyed to it. "If we had known of your arrival (but who could

have foreseen your errand?) Ursule would have had some mountain trout for you; there's a brook in the forest

where they are excellent. I forget, however, that this is August and the Gabou is dry. My head is confused

"Yes, monsieur; if God wills, I shall die rector of Montegnac. I could have wished that my example were

followed by certain distinguished men who have thought they did better things in becoming philanthropists.

But modern philanthropy is an evil to society; the principles of the Catholic religion can alone cure the

diseases which permeate social bodies. Instead of describing those diseases and extending their ravages by

complaining elegies, they should put their hand to the work and enter the Lord's vineyard as simple laborers.

My task is far from being accomplished here, monsieur. It is not enough to reform the people, whom I found

in a frightful condition of impiety and wickedness; I wish to die in the midst of a generation of true

"You have only done your duty, monsieur," said the young man, still coldly, for his heart was stirred with

"Yes, monsieur," replied the rector, modestly, giving his companion a glance which seemed to say: Is this a

This remark, full of deep meaning, was still further emphasized by a tone of utterance, which proved that in

1829 this priest, as grand in thought as he was noble in humility of conduct, and who subordinated his

thoughts to those of his superiors, saw clearly into the destinies of both church and monarchy.

When the two afflicted women came the young abbe, very impatient to get back to Limoges, left the

parsonage to see if the horses were harnessed. A few moments later he returned to say that all was ready. All

four then started under the eyes of the whole population of Montegnac, which was gathered in the roadway

before the posthouse. The mother and sister kept silence. The two priests, seeing rocks ahead in many

subjects, could neither talk indifferently nor allow themselves to be cheerful. While seeking for some neutral

subject the carriage crossed the plain, the aspect of which dreary region seemed to influence the duration of

"How came you to adopt the ecclesiastical profession?" asked the Abbe Gabriel, suddenly, with an impulsive

"I did not look upon the priesthood as a profession," replied the rector, simply. "I cannot understand how a

man can become a priest for any other reason than the undefinable power of vocation. I know that many men

have served in the Lord's vineyard who have previously worn out their hearts in the service of passion; some

have loved hopelessly, others have had their love betrayed; men have lost the flower of their lives in burying

a precious wife or an adored mistress; some have been disgusted with social life at a period when uncertainty

hovers over everything, even over feelings, and doubt mocks tender certainties by calling them beliefs; others

abandon politics at a period when power seems to be an expiation and when the governed regard obedience

as fatality. Many leave a society without banners; where opposing forces only unite to overthrow good. I do

not think that any man would give himself to God from a covetous motive. Some men have looked upon the

priesthood as a means of regenerating our country; but, according to my poor lights, a priestpatriot is a

meaningless thing. The priest can only belong to God. I did not wish to offer our Fatherwho nevertheless

accepts allthe wreck of my heart and the fragments of my will; I gave myself to him whole. In one of those

touching theories of pagan religion, the victim sacrificed to the false gods goes to the altar decked with

flowers. The significance of that custom has always deeply touched me. A sacrifice is nothing without grace.

My life is simple and without the very slightest romance. My father, who has made his own way in the world,

is a stern, inflexible man; he treats his wife and his children as he treats himself. I have never seen a smile

upon his lips. His iron hand, his stern face, his gloomy, rough activity, oppressed us allwife, children,

clerks and servantsunder an almost savage despotism. I couldI speak for myself onlyI could have

accommodated myself to this life if the power thus exercised had had an equal repression; but, captious and

vacillating, he treated us all with intolerable alternations. We were always ignorant whether we were doing

right or whether he considered us to blame; and the horrible expectancy which results from that is torture in

domestic life. A street life seems better than a home under such circumstances. Had I been alone in the house

I would have borne all from my father without murmuring; but my heart was torn by the bitter, unceasing

anguish of my dear mother, whom I ardently loved and whose tears put me sometimes into a fury in which I

nearly lost my reason. My school days, when boys are usually so full of misery and hard work, were to me a

golden period. I dreaded holidays. My mother herself preferred to come and see me. When I had finished my

philosophical course and was forced to return home and become my father's clerk, I could not endure it more

than a few months; my mind, bewildered by the fever of adolescence, threatened to give way. On a sad

autumn evening as I was walking alone with my mother along the Boulevard Bourdon, then one of the most

melancholy parts of Paris, I poured my heart into hers, and I told her that I saw no possible life before me

except in the Church. My tastes, my ideas, all that I most loved would be continually thwarted so long as my

father lived. Under the cassock of a priest he would be forced to respect me, and I might thus on certain

occasions become the protector of my family. My mother wept much. Just at this period my eldest brother

(since a general and killed at Leipzig) had entered the army as a private soldier, driven from his home for the

same reasons that made me wish to be a priest. I showed my mother that her best means of protection would

be to marry my sister, as soon as she was old enough, to some man of strong character, and to look for help to

this new family. Under pretence of avoiding the conscription without costing my father a penny to buy me

off, I entered the seminary of SaintSulpice at the age of nineteen. Within those celebrated old buildings I

found a peace and happiness that were troubled only by the thought of my mother and my sister's sufferings.

Their domestic misery, no doubt, went on increasing; for whenever they saw me they sought to strengthen my

resolution. Perhaps I had been initiated into the secrets of charity, such as our great Saint Paul defines it, by

my own trials. At any rate, I longed to stanch the wounds of the poor in some forgotten corner of the earth,

and to prove by my example, if God would deign to bless my efforts, that the Catholic religion, judged by its

actions for humanity, is the only true, the only beneficent and noble civilizing force. During the last days of

my diaconate, grace, no doubt, enlightened me. I have fully forgiven my father, regarding him as the

instrument of my destiny. My mother, though I wrote her a long and tender letter, explaining all things and

proving to her that the finger of God was guiding me, my poor mother wept many tears as she saw my hair

cut off by the scissors of the Church. She knew herself how many pleasures I renounced, but she did not

know the secret glories to which I aspired. Women are so tender! After I once belonged to God I felt a

boundless peace; I felt no needs, no vanities, none of those cares which trouble men so much. I knew that

Providence would take care of me as a thing of its own. I entered a world from which all fear is banished;

where the future is certain; where all things are divine, even the silence. This quietude is one of the

benefactions of grace. My mother could not conceive that a man could espouse a church. Nevertheless, seeing

me happy, with a cloudless brow, she grew happier herself. After I was ordained I came to the Limousin to

visit one of my paternal relations, who chanced to speak to me of the then condition of Montegnac. A thought

darted into my mind with the vividness of lightning, and I said to myself inwardly: 'Here is thy vineyard!' I

came here, and you see, monsieur, that my history is very simple and uneventful."

At this instant Limoges came into sight, bathed in the last rays of the setting sun. When the women saw it

The young man whom these two different loves were now on their way to comfort, who excited so much

artless curiosity, so much spurious sympathy and true solicitude, was lying on his prison pallet in one of the

condemned cells. A spy watched beside the door to catch, if possible, any words that might escape him, either

in sleep or in one of his violent furies; so anxious were the officers of justice to exhaust all human means of

The des Vanneaulx had promised a reward to the police, and the police kept constant watch on the obstinate

silence of the prisoner. When the man on duty looked through a loophole made for the purpose he saw the

convict always in the same position, bound in the straightjacket, his head secured by a leather thong ever

JeanFrancois gazed steadily at the ceiling with a fixed and despairing eye, a burning eye, as if reddened by

the terrible thoughts behind it. He was a living image of the antique Prometheus; the memory of some lost

happiness gnawed at his heart. When the solicitorgeneral himself went to see him that magistrate could not

help testifying his surprise at a character so obstinately persistent. No sooner did any one enter his cell than

JeanFrancois flew into a frenzy which exceeded the limits known to physicians for such attacks. The

moment he heard the key turn in the lock or the bolts of the barred door slide, a light foam whitened his lips.

JeanFrancois Tascheron, then twentyfive years of age, was small but wellmade. His wiry, crinkled hair,

growing low on his forehead, indicated energy. His eyes, of a clear and luminous yellow, were too near the

root of the nose,a defect which gave him some resemblance to birds of prey. The face was round, of the

warm brown coloring which marks the inhabitants of middle France. One feature of his physiognomy

confirmed an assertion of Lavater as to persons who are destined to commit murder; his front teeth lapped

each other. Nevertheless his face bore all the characteristics of integrity and a sweet and artless moral nature;

there was nothing surprising in the fact that a woman had loved him passionately. His fresh mouth with its

dazzling teeth was charming, but the vermilion of the lips was of the redlead tint which indicates repressed

ferocity, and, in many human beings, a free abandonment to pleasure. His demeanor showed none of the low

habits of a workman. In the eyes of the women who were present at the trial it seemed evident that one of

their sex had softened those muscles used to toil, had ennobled the countenance of the rustic, and given grace

to his person. Women can always detect the traces of love in a man, just as men can see in a woman whether,

Toward evening of the day we are now relating JeanFrancois heard the sliding of bolts and the noise of the

key in the lock. He turned his head violently and gave vent to the horrible growl with which his frenzies

began; but he trembled all over when the beloved heads of his sister and his mother stood out against the

Denise, who had lately been confined in a prison, was distrustful of everything; the spy had no doubt hidden

himself merely to return in a few moments. The girl flung herself on her brother, bent her tearful face to his

"Otherwise they would not have let you come here," he replied in a loud voice. "I have long asked the favor

"Oh! how they have bound him!" cried the mother. "My poor child! my poor boy!" and she fell on her knees

beside the pallet, hiding her head in the cassock of the priest, who was standing by her.

"If Jean will promise me to be quiet," said the rector, "and not attempt to injure himself, and to behave

properly while we are with him, I will ask to have him unbound; but the least violation of his promise will

"I do so want to move as I please, dear Monsieur Bonnet," said the criminal, his eyes moistening with tears,

The rector went out, and returned with the jailer, and the jacket was taken off.

"Poor brother!" said Denise, opening a basket which had just passed through a rigorous examination. "Here

are some of the things you like; I dare say they don't feed you for the love of God."

She showed him some fruit, gathered as soon as the rector had told her she could go to the jail, and a galette

his mother had immediately baked for him. This attention, which reminded him of his boyhood, the voice and

gestures of his sister, the presence of his mother and the rector, brought on a reaction and he burst into tears.

"Ah! Denise," he said, "I have not had a good meal for six months. I eat only when driven to it by hunger."

The mother and sister went out and then returned; with the natural housekeeping spirit of such women, who

want to give their men material comfort, they soon had a supper for their poor child. In this the officials

helped them; for an order had been given to do all that could with safety be done for the condemned man.

The des Vanneaulx had contributed, with melancholy hope, toward the comfort of the man from whom they

still expected to recover their inheritance. Thus poor Jean Francois had a last glimpse of family joys, if joys

"Yes, my child; nothing is left for you to do but to make a Christian end. This life is nothing in comparison to

that which awaits you; you must think now of your eternal happiness. You can pay your debt to man with

Denise looked at her brother as if to warn him that even in matters of religion he must be cautious.

"Let us say no more about it," he resumed, eating the fruit with an avidity which told of his inward fire.

"But I should be easier in mind if I knew," he said, in a low voice to the rector.

"Always the same nature," exclaimed Monsieur Bonnet. Then he bent down to the prisoner's ear and

whispered, "If you will reconcile yourself this night with God so that your repentance will enable me to

absolve you, it will be tomorrow. We have already gained much in calming you," he said, aloud.

Hearing these last words, Jean's lips turned pale, his eyes rolled up in a violent spasm, and an angry shudder

"Am I calm?" he asked himself. Happily his eyes encountered the tearful face of Denise, and he recovered his

selfcontrol. "So be it," he said to the rector; "there is no one but you to whom I would listen; they have

"My son," said the mother, weeping, "listen to Monsieur Bonnet; he risks his life, the dear rector, in going to

"Will he, indeed, go with me?" asked Jean, looking at the rector, who bowed his head in assent. "Well, yes, I

"You promise it?" said Denise. "The saving of your soul is what we seek. Besides, you would not have all

Limoges and the village say that a Tascheron knows not how to die a noble death? And then, too, think that

all you lose here you will regain in heaven, where pardoned souls will meet again."

This superhuman effort parched the throat of the heroic girl. She was silent after this, like her mother, but she

had triumphed. The criminal, furious at seeing his happiness torn from him by the law, now quivered at the

sublime Catholic truth so simply expressed by his sister. All women, even young peasantwomen like

Denise, know how to touch these delicate chords; for does not every woman seek to make love eternal?

Denise had touched two chords, each most sensitive. Awakened pride called on the other virtues chilled by

misery and hardened by despair. Jean took his sister's hand and kissed it, and laid it on his heart in a deeply

"Yes," he said, "I must renounce all; this is the last beating of my heart, its last thought. Keep them, Denise."

And he gave her one of those glances by which a man in crucial moments tries to put his soul into the soul of

This thought, this word, was, in truth, a last testament, an unspoken legacy, to be as faithfully transmitted as

it was trustfully given. It was so fully understood by mother, sister, and priest, that they all with one accord

turned their faces from each other, to hide their tears and keep the secret of their thoughts in their own

breasts. Those few words were the dying agony of a passion, the farewell of a soul to the glorious things of

earth, in accordance with true Catholic renunciation. The rector, comprehending the majesty of all great

human things, even criminal things, judged of this mysterious passion by the enormity of the sin. He raised

his eyes to heaven as if to invoke the mercy of God. Thence come the consolations, the infinite tendernesses

of the Catholic religion,so humane, so gentle with the hand that descends to man, showing him the law of

higher spheres; so awful, so divine, with that other hand held out to lead him into heaven.

Denise had now significantly shown the rector the spot by which to strike that rock and make the waters of

repentance flow. But suddenly, as though the memories evoked were dragging him backwards, Jean

"No, no!" he cried, falling on his knees, "I will live! Mother, give me your clothes; I can escape! Mercy,

He stopped, gave a horrible roar, and clung convulsively to the rector's cassock.

Jean heard the words; he raised his head, gazed at his mother and sister, then he stopped and kissed their feet.

"Let us say farewell now; do not come back; leave me alone with Monsieur Bonnet. You need not be uneasy

about me any longer," he said, pressing his mother and his sister to him with a strength in which he seemed to

"How is it we do not die of this?" said Denise to her mother as they passed through the wicket.

It was nearly eight o'clock when this parting took place. At the gate of the prison the two women met the

"He will no doubt be reconciled with God," said Denise. "If repentance has not yet begun, he is very near it."

The bishop was soon after informed that the clergy would triumph on this occasion, and that the criminal

would go to the scaffold with the most edifying religious sentiments. The prelate, with whom was the

attorneygeneral, expressed a wish to see the rector. Monsieur Bonnet did not reach the palace before

midnight. The Abbe Gabriel, who made many trips between the palace and the jail, judged it necessary to

fetch the rector in the episcopal coach; for the poor priest was in a state of exhaustion which almost deprived

him of the use of his legs. The effect of his day, the prospect of the morrow, the sight of the secret struggle he

had witnessed, and the full repentance which had at last overtaken his stubborn lamb when the great

reckoning of eternity was brought home to him,all these things had combined to break down Monsieur

Bonnet, whose nervous, electrical nature entered into the sufferings of others as though they were his own.

Souls that resemble that noble soul espouse so ardently the impressions, miseries, passions, sufferings of

those in whom they are interested, that they actually feel them, and in a horrible manner, too; for they are able

to measure their extent,a knowledge which escapes others who are blinded by selfishness of heart or the

paroxysm of grief. It is here that a priest like Monsieur Bonnet becomes an artist who feels, rather than an

When the rector entered the bishop's salon and found there the two grandvicars, the Abbe de Rastignac,

Monsieur de Grandville, and the procureurgeneral, he felt convinced that something more was expected of

"Monsieur," said the bishop, "have you obtained any facts which you can, without violating your duty,

"Monseigneur, in order to give absolution to that poor, wandering child, I waited not only till his repentance

was as sincere and as complete as the Church could wish, but I have also exacted from him the restitution of

"This restitution," said the procureurgeneral, "brings me here tonight; it will, of course, be made in such a

way as to throw light on the mysterious parts of this affair. The criminal certainly had accomplices."

"The interests of human justice," said the rector, "are not those for which I act. I am ignorant of how the

restitution will be made, but I know it will take place. In sending for me to minister to my parishioner,

Monseigneur placed me under the conditions which give to rectors in their parishes the same powers which

Monseigneur exercises in his diocese,barring, of course, all questions of discipline and ecclesiastical

"That is true," said the bishop. "But the question here is how to obtain from the condemned man voluntary

Monsieur de Grancour shrugged his shoulders slightly, but his colleague, the Abbe Dutheil nodded his head

"Tascheron is no doubt endeavoring to shield some one, whom the restitution will no doubt bring to light,"

"Monsieur," replied the rector, "I know absolutely nothing which would either confute or justify your

"That is enough for me," said the procureurgeneral, who relied on the police to obtain the required

information; as if passions and personal interests were not tenfold more astute than the police.

The next day, this being marketday, JeanFrancois Tascheron was led to execution in a manner to satisfy

both the pious and the political spirits of the town. Exemplary in behavior, pious and humble, he kissed the

crucifix, which Monsieur Bonnet held to his lips with a trembling hand. The unhappy man was watched and

examined; his glance was particularly spied upon; would his eyes rove in search of some one in the crowd or

in a house? His discretion did, as a matter of fact, hold firm to the last. He died as a Christian should,

The poor rector was carried away unconscious from the foot of the scaffold, though he did not even see the

During the following night, on the highroad fifteen miles from Limoges, Denise, though nearly exhausted

by fatigue and grief, begged her father to let her go again to Limoges and take with her Louis Marie

"Father," she said, "not only must we pay the lawyer who defended him, but we must also restore the money

"You are right," said the honest man, pulling out a leathern pouch he carried with him.

"No, no," said Denise, "he is no longer your son. It is not for those who cursed him, but for those who loved

Denise and her brother returned to Limoges before daylight. When the police heard, later, of this return they

Denise and Louis went to the upper town cautiously, about four o'clock that afternoon, gliding along in the

shadow of the houses. The poor girl dared not raise her eyes, fearing to meet the glances of those who had

seen her brother's execution. After calling on Monsieur Bonnet, who in spite of his weakness, consented to

serve as father and guardian to Denise in the matter, they all went to the lawyer's house in the rue de la

"Goodmorning, my poor children," said the lawyer, bowing to Monsieur Bonnet; "how can I be of service to

you? Perhaps you would like me to claim your brother's body and send it to you?"

"No, monsieur," replied Denise, weeping at an idea which had never yet occurred to her. "I come to pay his

"Pray sit down," said the lawyer; noticing that Denise and the rector were still standing.

Denise turned away to take from her corset two notes of five hundred francs each, which were fastened by a

pin to her chemise; then she sat down and offered them to her brother's defender. The rector gave the lawyer

"Keep the money for yourself, my poor girl," said the lawyer. "The rich do not pay so generously for a lost

"You are mistaken," she replied, looking at Monsieur Bonnet as if to know whether God would be angry at

"Well, then," said the lawyer, taking one note of five hundred francs and offering the other to the rector, "I

will share it with the poor. Now, Denise, change this one, which is really mine," he went on, giving her the

note, "for your velvet ribbon and your gold cross. I will hang the cross above my mantel to remind me of the

best and purest young girl's heart I have ever known in my whole experience as a lawyer."

"I will give it to you without selling it," cried Denise, taking off her jeannette and offering it to him.

"Monsieur," said the rector, "I accept the five hundred francs to pay for the exhumation of the poor lad's body

and its transportation to Montegnac. God has no doubt pardoned him, and Jean will rise with my flock on that

last day when the righteous and the repentant will be called together to the right hand of the Father."

He took Denise by the hand and drew her toward him to kiss her forehead; but the action had another motive.

"My child," he whispered, "no one in Montegnac has fivehundredfranc notes; they are rare even at

Limoges, where they are only taken at a discount. This money has been given to you; you will not tell me by

whom, and I don't ask you; but listen to me: if you have anything more to do in this town relating to your

poor brother, take care! You and Monsieur Bonnet and your brother Louis will be followed by police spies.

Your family is known to have left Montegnac, and as soon as you are seen here you will be watched and

"She is cautious," thought the lawyer, as he parted from her. "However, she is warned; and I hope she will get

During this last week in September, when the weather was as warm as in summer, the bishop gave a dinner to

the authorities of the place. Among the guests were the procureurduroi and the attorneygeneral. Some

lively discussions prolonged the party till a late hour. The company played whist and backgammon, a favorite

game with the clergy. Toward eleven o'clock the procureurduroi walked out upon the upper terrace. From

the spot where he stood he saw a light on that island to which, on a certain evening, the attention of the

bishop and the Abbe Gabriel had been drawn,Veronique's "Ile de France,"and the gleam recalled to the

procureur's mind the unexplained mysteries of the Tascheron crime. Then, reflecting that there could be no

legitimate reason for a fire on that lonely island in the river at that time of night, an idea, which had already

struck the bishop and the secretary, darted into his mind with the suddenness and brilliancy of the flame itself

He returned to the salon, sought out Monsieur de Grandville, said a few words in his ear, after which they

both took leave. But the Abbe de Rastignac accompanied them politely to the door; he watched them as they

departed, saw them go to the terrace, noticed the fire on the island, and thought to himself, "She is lost!"

The emissaries of the law got there too late. Denise and Louis, whom Jean had taught to dive, were actually

on the bank of the river at a spot named to them by Jean, but Louis Tascheron had already dived four times,

bringing up each time a bundle containing twenty thousand francs' worth of gold. The first sum was wrapped

in a foulard handkerchief knotted by the four corners. This handkerchief, from which the water was instantly

wrung, was thrown into a great fire of drift wood already lighted. Denise did not leave the fire until she saw

every particle of the handkerchief consumed. The second sum was wrapped in a shawl, the third in a cambric

Just as Denise was throwing the wrapping of the fourth and last package into the fire the gendarmes,

accompanied by the commissary of police, seized that incriminating article, which Denise let them take

without manifesting the least emotion. It was a handkerchief, on which, in spite of its soaking in the river,

traces of blood could still be seen. When questioned as to what she was doing there, Denise said she was

taking the stolen gold from the river according to her brother's instructions. The commissary asked her why

she was burning certain articles; she said she was obeying her brother's last directions. When asked what

those articles were she boldly answered, without attempting to deceive: "A foulard, a shawl, a cambric

handkerchief, and the handkerchief now captured." The latter had belonged to her brother.

This discovery and its attendant circumstances made a great stir in Limoges. The shawl, more especially,

confirmed the belief that Tascheron had committed this crime in the interests of some love affair.

"He protects that woman after his death," said one lady, hearing of these last discoveries, rendered harmless

"There may be some husband in Limoges who will miss his foulard," said the procureurduroi, with a

"These matters of dress are really so compromising," said old Madame Perret, "that I shall make a search

"Whose pretty little footmarks could he have taken such pains to efface while he left his own?" said Monsieur

"Do you know what this affair shows?" cried Monsieur de Grandville. "It shows what women have lost by

the Revolution, which has levelled all social ranks. Passions of this kind are no longer met with except in

men who still feel an enormous distance between themselves and their mistresses."

"What do you expect her to think?" said Monsieur de Grandville. "Her child was born, as she predicted to me,

on the morning of the execution; she has not seen any one since then, for she is dangerously ill."

A scene took place in another salon in Limoges which was almost comical. The friends of the des Vanneaulx

"Yes, but they ought to have pardoned that poor man," said Madame des Vanneaulx. "Love, and not greed,

"He was full of consideration for us," said Monsieur des Vanneaulx; "and if I knew where his family had

gone I would do something for them. They are very worthy people, those Tascherons."

When Madame Graslin recovered from the long illness that followed the birth of her child, which was not till

the close of 1829, an illness which forced her to keep her bed and remain in absolute retirement, she heard

her husband talking of an important piece of business he was anxious to concede. The ducal house of

Navarreins had offered for sale the forest of Montegnac and the uncultivated lands around it.

Graslin had never yet executed the clause in his marriage contract with his wife which obliged him to invest

his wife's fortune in lands; up to this time he had preferred to employ the money in his bank, where he had

fully doubled it. He now began to speak of this investment. Hearing him discuss it Veronique appeared to

remember the name of Montegnac, and asked her husband to fulfil his engagement about her property by

purchasing these lands. Monsieur Graslin then proposed to see the rector, Monsieur Bonnet, and inquire of

him about the estate, which the Duc de Navarreins was desirous of selling because he foresaw the struggle

which the Prince de Polignac was forcing on between liberalism and the house of Bourbon, and he augured ill

The duke had sent his agent to Limoges to negotiate the matter; telling him to accept any good sum of

money, for he remembered the Revolution of 1789 too well not to profit by the lessons it had taught the

aristocracy. This agent had now been a month laying siege to Graslin, the shrewdest and wariest business

head in the Limousin,the only man, he was told by practical persons, who was able to purchase so large a

property and pay for it on the spot. The Abbe Dutheil wrote a line to Monsieur Bonnet, who came to Limoges

Veronique determined to ask the rector to dinner; but the banker would not let him go up to his wife's

apartment until he had talked to him in his office for over an hour and obtained such information as fully

satisfied him, and made him resolve to buy the forest and domains of Montegnac at once for the sum of five

hundred thousand francs. He acquiesced readily in his wife's wish that this purchase and all others connected

with it should be in fulfilment of the clause of the marriage contract relative to the investment of her dowry.

Graslin was all the more ready to do so because this act of justice cost him nothing, he having doubled the

At this time, when Graslin was negotiating the purchase, the Navarreins domains comprised the forest of

Montegnac which contained about thirty thousand acres of unused land, the ruins of the castle, the gardens,

park, and about five thousand acres of uncultivated land on the plain beyond Montegnac. Graslin immediately

bought other lands in order to make himself master of the first peak in the chain of the Correzan mountains

on which the vast forest of Montegnac ended. Since the imposition of taxes the Duc de Navarreins had never

received more than fifteen thousand francs per annum from this manor, once among the richest tenures of the

kingdom, the lands of which had escaped the sale of "public domain" ordered by the Convention, on account

When the rector went at last to Madame Graslin's apartment, and saw the woman noted for her piety and for

her intellect of whom he had heard speak, he could not restrain a gesture of amazement. Veronique had now

reached the third phase of her life, that in which she was to rise into grandeur by the exercise of the highest

virtues,a phase in which she became another woman. To the Little Virgin of Titian, hidden at eleven years

of age beneath a spotted mantle of smallpox, had succeeded a beautiful woman, noble and passionate; and

Her skin bore the yellow tinge which colors the austere faces of abbesses who have been famous for their

macerations. The attenuated temples were almost golden. The lips had paled, the red of an opened

pomegranate was no longer on them, their color had changed to the pale pink of a Bengal rose. At the corners

of the eyes, close to the nose, sorrows had made two shining tracks like motherofpearl, where tears had

flowed; tears which effaced the marks of smallpox and glazed the skin. Curiosity was invincibly attracted to

that pearly spot, where the blue threads of the little veins throbbed precipitately, as though they were swelled

by an influx of blood brought there, as it were, to feed the tears. The circle round the eyes was now a

darkbrown that was almost black above the eyelids, which were horribly wrinkled. The cheeks were hollow;

in their folds lay the sign of solemn thoughts. The chin, which in youth was full and round, the flesh covering

the muscles, was now shrunken, to the injury of its expression, which told of an implacable religious severity

At twentynine years of age Veronique's hair was scanty and already whitening. Her thinness was alarming.

In spite of her doctor's advice she insisted on suckling her son. The doctor triumphed in the result; and as he

"See the effects of childbirth on a woman! She adores that child; I have often noticed that mothers are fondest

Veronique's faded eyes were all that retained even a memory of her youth. The dark blue of the iris still cast

its passionate fires, to which the woman's life seemed to have retreated, deserting the cold, impassible face,

and glowing with an expression of devotion when the welfare of a fellowbeing was concerned.

Thus the surprise, the dread of the rector ceased by degrees as he went on explaining to Madame Graslin all

the good that a large owner of property could do at Montegnac provided he lived there. Veronique's beauty

came back to her for a moment as her eyes glowed with the light of an unhopedfor future.

"I will live there," she said. "It shall be my work. I will ask Monsieur Graslin for money, and I will gladly

share in your religious enterprise. Montegnac shall be fertilized; we will find some means to water those arid

The rector of Montegnac, when questioned by his friends in Limoges about Madame Graslin, spoke of her as

The day after the purchase was concluded Monsieur Graslin sent an architect to Montegnac. The banker

intended to restore the chateau, gardens, terrace, and park, and also to connect the castle grounds with the

forest by a plantation. He set himself to make these improvements with vainglorious activity.

A few months later Madame Graslin met with a great misfortune. In August, 1830, Graslin, overtaken by the

commercial and banking disasters of that period, became involved by no fault of his own. He could not

endure the thought of bankruptcy, nor that of losing a fortune of three millions acquired by forty years of

incessant toil. The moral malady which resulted from this anguish of mind aggravated the inflammatory

disease always ready to break forth in his blood. He took to his bed. Since her confinement Veronique's

regard for her husband had developed, and had overthrown all the hopes of her admirer, Monsieur de

Grandville. She strove to save her husband's life by unremitting care, with no result but that of prolonging for

a few months the poor man's tortures; but the respite was very useful to Grossetete, who, foreseeing the end

of his former clerk and partner, obtained from him all the information necessary for the prompt liquidation of

Graslin died in April, 1831, and the widow's grief yielded only to Christian resignation. Veronique's first

words, when the condition of Monsieur Graslin's affairs were made known to her, were that she abandoned

her own fortune to pay the creditors; but it was found that Graslin's own property was more than sufficient.

Two months later, the liquidation, of which Grossetete took charge, left to Madame Graslin the estate of

Montegnac and six hundred thousand francs, her whole personal fortune. The son's name remained untainted,

for Graslin had injured no one's property, not even that of his wife. Francis Graslin, the son, received about

Monsieur de Grandville, to whom Veronique's grandeur of soul and noble qualities were well known, made

her an offer of marriage; but, to the surprise of all Limoges, Madame Graslin declined, under pretext that the

Church discouraged second marriages. Grossetete, a man of strong commonsense and sure grasp of a

situation, advised Veronique to invest her property and what remained of Monsieur Graslin's in the Funds;

and he made the investment himself in one of the government securities which offered special advantages at

that time, namely, the Threepercents, which were then quoted at fifty. The child Francis received,

therefore, six thousand francs a year, and his mother forty thousand. Veronique's fortune was still the largest

When these affairs were all settled, Madame Graslin announced her intention of leaving Limoges and taking

up her residence at Montegnac, to be near Monsieur Bonnet. She sent for the rector to consult about the

enterprise he was so anxious to carry on at Montegnac, in which she desired to take part. But he endeavored

unselfishly to dissuade her, telling her that her place was in the world and in society.

"I was born of the people and I wish to return to the people," she replied. On which the rector, full of love for

his village, said no more against Madame Graslin's apparent vocation; and the less because she had actually

put it out of her power to continue in Limoges, having sold the hotel Graslin to Grossetete, who, to cover a

The day of her departure, toward the end of August, 1831, Madame Graslin's numerous friends accompanied

her some distance out of the town. A few went as far as the first relay. Veronique was in an open carriage

with her mother. The Abbe Dutheil (just appointed to a bishopric) occupied the front seat of the carriage with

old Grossetete. As they passed through the place d'Aine, Veronique showed signs of a sudden shock; her face

contracted so that the play of the muscles could be seen; she clasped her infant to her breast with a convulsive

motion, which old Madame Sauviat concealed by instantly taking the child, for she seemed to be on the

watch for her daughter's agitation. Chance willed that Madame Graslin should pass through the square in

which stood the house she had formerly occupied with her father and mother in her girlish days; she grasped

her mother's hand while great tears fell from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

After leaving Limoges she turned and looked back, seeming to feel an emotion of happiness which was

noticed by all her friends. When Monsieur de Grandville, then a young man of twentyfive, whom she

declined to take as a husband, kissed her hand with an earnest expression of regret, the new bishop noticed

the strange manner in which the black pupil of Veronique's eyes suddenly spread over the blue of the iris,

reducing it to a narrow circle. The eye betrayed unmistakably some violent inward emotion.

"I shall never see him again," she whispered to her mother, who received this confidence without betraying

Madame Graslin was at that instant under the observation of Grossetete, who was directly in front of her; but,

in spite of his shrewdness, the old banker did not detect the hatred which Veronique felt for the magistrate,

whom she nevertheless received at her house. But churchmen have far more perception than other men, and

"Nothing, now that you are leaving it; and monsieur," she added, smiling at Grossetete, who was bidding her

"I ought to walk this road in sackcloth and ashes," she said in her mother's ear as they went on foot up the

The old woman put her finger on her lips and glanced at the bishop, who was looking at the child with

terrible attention. This gesture, and the luminous look in the prelate's eyes, sent a shudder through

Veronique's body. At the aspect of the vast plains stretching their gray expanse before Montegnac the fire

died out of her eyes, and an infinite sadness overcame her. Presently she saw the village rector coming to

"There is your domain, madame," said Monsieur Bonnet, extending his hand toward the barren plain.

A few moments more, and the village of Montegnac, with its hill, on which the newly erected buildings

struck the eye, came in sight, gilded by the setting sun, and full of the poesy born of the contrast between the

beautiful spot and the surrounding barrenness, in which it lay like an oasis in the desert. Madame Graslin's

eyes filled suddenly with tears. The rector called her attention to a broad white line like a gash on the

"See what my parishioners have done to testify their gratitude to the lady of the manor," he said, pointing to

the line, which was really a road; "we can now drive up to the chateau. This piece of road has been made by

them without costing you a penny, and two months hence we shall plant it with trees. Monseigneur will

understand what trouble and care and devotion were needed to accomplish such a change."

"Without accepting any payment for their work, Monseigneur. The poorest put their hands into it, knowing

At the foot of the hill the travellers saw the whole population of the neighborhood, who were lighting

fireboxes and discharging a few guns; then two of the prettiest of the village girls, dressed in white, came

"To be thus received in this village!" she exclaimed, grasping the rector's hand as if she stood on the brink of

The crowd accompanied the carriage to the iron gates of the avenue. From there Madame Graslin could see

her chateau, of which as yet she had only caught glimpses, and she was thunderstruck at the magnificence of

the building. Stone is rare in those parts, the granite of the mountains being difficult to quarry. The architect

employed by Graslin to restore the house had used brick as the chief substance of this vast construction. This

was rendered less costly by the fact that the forest of Montegnac furnished all the necessary wood and clay

for its fabrication. The framework of wood and the stone for the foundations also came from the forest;

otherwise the cost of the restorations would have been ruinous. The chief expenses had been those of

transportation, labor, and salaries. Thus the money laid out was kept in the village, and greatly benefited it.

At first sight, and from a distance, the chateau presents an enormous red mass, threaded by black lines

produced by the pointing, and edged with gray; for the window and door casings, the entablatures, corner

stones, and courses between the stories, are of granite, cut in facets like a diamond. The courtyard, which

forms a sloping oval like that of the Chateau de Versailles, is surrounded by brick walls divided into panels

by projecting buttresses. At the foot of these walls are groups of rare shrubs, remarkable for the varied color

of their greens. Two fine iron gates placed opposite to each other lead on one side to a terrace which

The grand entrancegate, to which the road just constructed led, is flanked by two pretty lodges in the style

of the sixteenth century. The facade on the courtyard looking east has three towers,one in the centre,

separated from the two others by the main building of the house. The facade on the gardens, which is

absolutely the same as the others, looks westward. The towers have but one window on the facade; the main

building has three on either side of the middle tower. The latter, which is square like a campanile, the corners

being vermiculated, is noticeable for the elegance of a few carvings sparsely distributed. Art is timid in the

provinces, and though, since 1829, ornamentation has made some progress at the instigation of certain

writers, landowners were at that period afraid of expenses which the lack of competition and skilled workmen

The corner towers, which have three stories with a single window in each, looking to the side, are covered

with very highpitched roofs surrounded by granite balustrades, and on each pyramidal slope of these roofs

crowned at the top with the sharp ridge of a platform surrounded with a wrought iron railing, is another

window carved like the rest. On each floor the corbels of the doors and windows are adorned with carvings

copied from those of the Genoese mansions. The corner tower with three windows to the south looks down

on Montegnac; the other, to the north, faces the forest. From the garden front the eye takes in that part of

Montegnac which is still called Les Tascherons, and follows the highroad leading through the village to the

chief town of the department. The facade on the courtyard has a view of the vast plains semicircled by the

mountains of the Correze, on the side toward Montegnac, but ending in the far distance on a low horizon. The

main building has only one floor above the groundfloor, covered with a mansarde roof in the olden style.

The towers at each end are three stories in height. The middle tower has a stunted dome something like that

on the Pavillon de l'Horloge of the palace of the Tuileries, and in it is a single room forming a belvedere and

containing the clock. As a matter of economy the roofs had all been made of guttertiles, the enormous

weight of which was easily supported by the stout beams and uprights of the framework cut in the forest.

Before his death Graslin had laid out the road which the peasantry had just built out of gratitude; for these

restorations (which Graslin called his folly) had distributed several hundred thousand francs among the

people; in consequence of which Montegnac had considerably increased. Graslin had also begun, before his

death, behind the offices on the slope of the hill leading down to the plain, a number of farm buildings,

proving his intention to draw some profit from the hitherto uncultivated soil of the plains. Six

journeymangardeners, who were lodged in the offices, were now at work under orders of a head gardener,

planting and completing certain works which Monsieur Bonnet had considered indispensable.

The groundfloor apartments of the chateau, intended only for receptionrooms, had been sumptuously

furnished; the upper floor was rather bare, Monsieur Graslin having stopped for a time the work of furnishing

"Ah, Monseigneur!" said Madame Graslin to the bishop, after going the rounds of the house, "I who expected

"And you," said the bishop, adding after a pause, as he noticed the shudder than ran through her frame at his

She took the arm of her mother, who was leading Francis by the hand, and went to the long terrace at the foot

of which are the church and the parsonage, and from which the houses of the village can be seen in tiers. The

rector carried off Monseigneur Dutheil to show him the different sides of the landscape. Before long the two

priests came round to the farther end of the terrace, where they found Madame Graslin and her mother

motionless as statues. The old woman was wiping her eyes with a handkerchief, and her daughter stood with

both hands stretched beyond the balustrade as though she were pointing to the church below.

"Nothing," replied Madame Graslin, turning round and advancing a few steps to meet the priests; "I did not

Again the bishop looked fixedly at Veronique. Disturbed by the dark glance with which the priest had

penetrated the veil of flesh that covered her soul, dragging thence a secret hidden in the grave of that

The priest laid his hand over his eyes and was silent for a moment as if stunned.

"The air is so keen, it overcomes me," said Madame Graslin, as she fell unconscious into the arms of the two

When she recovered consciousness she saw the priests on their knees praying for her.

"May the angel you visited you never leave you!" said the bishop, blessing her. "Farewell, my daughter."

"In this world and in the next," said the bishop, turning round as he left the room.

The room to which they had carried Madame Graslin was on the first floor above the groundfloor of the

corner tower, from which the church and cemetery and southern side of Montegnac could be seen. She

determined to remain there, and did so, more or less uncomfortably, with Aline her maid and little Francis.

It was several days before Madame Graslin recovered from the violent emotion which overcame her on that

first evening, and her mother induced her to stay in bed at least during the mornings. At night, Veronique

would come out and sit on a bench of the terrace from which her eyes could rest on the church and cemetery.

In spite of Madame Sauviat's mute but persistent opposition, Madame Graslin formed an almost

monomaniacal habit of sitting in the same place, where she seemed to give way to the blackest melancholy.

Appealed to by Madame Sauviat, the rector, who had wished not to seem intrusive, came henceforth very

frequently to visit Madame Graslin; he needed only to be warned that her soul was sick. This true pastor took

care to pay his visits at the hour when Veronique came out to sit at the corner of the terrace with her child,

It was now the beginning of October, and Nature was growing dull and sad. Monsieur Bonnet, perceiving in

Veronique from the moment of her arrival at Montegnac the existence of an inward wound, thought it wisest

to wait for the voluntary and complete confidence of a woman who would sooner or later become his

One evening Madame Graslin looked at the rector with eyes almost glazed with that fatal indecision often

observable in persons who are cherishing the thought of death. From that moment Monsieur Bonnet hesitated

no longer; he set before him the duty of arresting the progress of this cruel moral malady.

At first there was a brief struggle of empty words between the priest and Veronique, in which they both

sought to veil their real thoughts. In spite of the cold, Veronique was sitting on the granite bench holding

Francis on her knee. Madame Sauviat was standing at the corner of the terrace, purposely so placed as to hide

"I had supposed, madame," said the rector, who was now paying his seventh visit, "that you were only

melancholy; but I see," sinking his voice to a whisper, "that your soul is in despair. That feeling is neither

"But," she replied, looking to heaven with piercing eyes and letting a bitter smile flicker on her lips, "what

As he heard these words the rector realized the vast extent of the ravages in her soul.

"Ah!" he said, "you are making this terrace your hell, when it ought to be your Calvary from which to rise to

"I have no pride left to place me on such a pedestal," she answered, in a tone which revealed the

Here the priest, by one of those inspirations which are both natural and frequent in noble souls, the man of

God lifted the child in his arms and kissed its forehead, saying, in a fatherly voice, "Poor little one!" Then he

Madame Sauviat looked at her daughter, and saw the efficacy of the rector's words; for Veronique's eyes,

long dry, were moist with tears. The old woman made a sign to the priest and disappeared.

"Let us walk," said the rector to Veronique leading her along the terrace to the other end, from which Les

Tascherons could be seen. "You belong to me; I must render account to God for your sick soul."

"Yes," she said, with the simplicity of a grief which has reached the point of making no attempt at

"I see plainly that you have fallen into the gulf of apathy," he cried. "If there is a degree of physical suffering

at which all sense of modesty expires, there is also a degree of moral suffering in which all vigor of soul is

She was surprised to hear that subtle observation and to find such tender pity from this village rector; but, as

we have seen already, the exquisite delicacy which no passion had ever touched gave him the true maternal

spirit for his flock. This mens devinior, this apostolic tenderness, places the priest above all other men and

makes him, in a sense, divine. Madame Graslin had not as yet had enough experience of Monsieur Bonnet to

know this beauty hidden in his soul like a spring, from which flowed grace and purity and true life.

"Ah! monsieur," she cried, giving herself wholly up to him by a gesture, a look, such as the dying give.

They walked in silence the whole length of the balustrade, facing toward the plain. The solemn moment

seemed propitious to the bearer of good tidings, the gospel messenger, and he took it.

"Suppose yourself now in the presence of God," he said, in a low voice, mysteriously; "what would you say

Madame Graslin stopped as though struck by a thunderbolt; she shuddered; then she said simply, in tones that

"Ah! Magdalen, that is the saying I expected of you," cried Monsieur Bonnet, who could not help admiring

her. "You see you are forced to appeal to God's justice; you invoke it! Listen to me, madame. Religion is, by

anticipation, divine justice. The Church claims for herself the right to judge the actions of the soul. Human

justice is a feeble image of divine justice; it is but a pale imitation of it applied to the needs of society."

"You are not the judge of your own case, you are dependent upon God," said the priest; "you have neither the

right to condemn yourself nor the right to absolve yourself. God, my child, is a great reverser of judgments."

"To you," said the brave priest, "to you whose soul is a great one, I owe other words than those I ought to

give to my humble parishioners. You, whose mind and spirit are so cultivated, you can rise to the sense

divine of the Catholic religion, expressed by images and words to the poor and childlike. Listen to me

attentively, for what I am about to say concerns you; no matter how extensive is the point of view at which I

place myself for a moment, the case is yours. Law, invented to protect society, is based on equality. Society,

which is nothing but an assemblage of acts, is based on inequality. There is therefore lack of harmony

between act and law. Ought society to march on favored or repressed by law? In other words, ought law to be

in opposition to the interior social movement for the maintenance of society, or should it be based on that

movement in order to guide it? All legislators have contented themselves with analyzing acts, indicating

those that seemed to them blamable or criminal, and attaching punishments to such or rewards to others. That

is human law; it has neither the means to prevent sin, nor the means to prevent the return to sinfulness of

those it punishes. Philanthropy is a sublime error; it tortures the body uselessly, it produces no balm to heal

the soul. Philanthropy gives birth to projects, emits ideas, confides the execution of them to man, to silence,

to labor, to rules, to things mute and powerless. Religion is above these imperfections, for it extends man's

life beyond this world. Regarding us all as degraded from our high estate, religion has opened to us an

inexhaustible treasure of indulgence. We are all more or less advanced toward our complete regeneration; no

one is sinless; the Church expects wrong doing, even crime. Where society sees a criminal to be expelled

from its bosom, the Church sees a soul to save. More, far more than that! Inspired by God, whom she studies

and contemplates, the Church admits the inequalities of strength, she allows for the disproportion of burdens.

If she finds us unequal in heart, in body, in mind, in aptitude, and value, she makes us all equal by

repentance. Hence equality is no longer a vain word, for we can be, we are, all equal through feeling. From

the formless fetichism of savages to the graceful inventions of Greece, or the profound and metaphysical

doctrines of Egypt and India, whether taught in cheerful or in terrifying worship, there is a conviction in the

soul of manthat of his fall, that of his sinfrom which comes everywhere the idea of sacrifice and

redemption. The death of the Redeemer of the human race is an image of what we have to do for

ourselves,redeem our faults, redeem our errors, redeem our crimes! All is redeemable; Catholicism itself is

in that word; hence its adorable sacraments, which help the triumph of grace and sustain the sinner. To weep,

to moan like Magdalen in the desert, is but the beginning; the end is Action. Monasteries wept and prayed;

they prayed and civilized; they were the active agents of our divine religion. They built, planted, cultivated

Europe; all the while saving the treasures of learning, knowledge, human justice, politics, and art. We shall

ever recognize in Europe the places where those radiant centres once were. Nearly all our modern towns are

the children of monasteries. If you believe that God will judge you, the Church tells you by my voice that sin

can be redeemed by works of repentance. The mighty hand of God weighs both the evil done and the value of

benefits accomplished. Be yourself like those monasteries; work here the same miracles. Your prayers must

be labors. From your labors must come the good of those above whom you are placed by fortune, by

superiority of mind; even this natural position of your dwelling is the image of your social situation."

As he said the last words, the priest and Madame Graslin turned to walk back toward the plains, and the

rector pointed both to the village at the foot of the hill, and to the chateau commanding the whole landscape.

It was then halfpast four o'clock; a glow of yellow sunlight enveloped the balustrade and the gardens,

illuminated the chateau, sparkled on the gilded railings of the roof, lighted the long plain cut in two by the

highroad,a sad, gray ribbon, not bordered there by the fringe of trees which waved above it elsewhere on

When Veronique and Monsieur Bonnet had passed the main body of the chateau, they could seebeyond the

courtyard, the stables, and the officesthe great forest of Montegnac, along which the yellow glow was

gliding like a soft caress. Though this last gleam of the setting sun touched the treetops only, it enabled the

eye to see distinctly the caprices of that marvellous tapestry which nature makes of a forest in autumn. The

oaks were a mass of Florentine bronze, the walnuts and the chestnuts displayed their bluegreen tones, the

early trees were putting on their golden foliage, and all these varied colors were shaded with the gray of

barren spots. The trunks of trees already stripped of leafage showed their lightgray colonnades; the russet,

tawny, grayish colors, artistically blended by the pale reflections of an October sun, harmonized with the vast

A thought came into the rector's mind as he looked at this fine spectacle, mute in other ways,for not a tree

rustled, not a bird chirped, death was on the plain, silence in the forest; here and there a little smoke from the

village chimneys, that was all. The chateau seemed as gloomy as its mistress. By some strange law all things

about a dwelling imitate the one who rules there; the owner's spirit hovers over it. Madame Graslinher

mind grasped by the rector's words, her soul struck by conviction, her heart affected in its tenderest emotions

by the angelic quality of that pure voicestopped short. The rector raised his arm and pointed to the forest.

"Do you not think it has a vague resemblance to social life?" he said. "To each its destiny. How many

inequalities in that mass of trees! Those placed the highest lack earth and moisture; they die first."

"Some there are whom the shears of the woman gathering fagots cut short in their prime," she said bitterly.

"Do not fall back into those thoughts," said the rector sternly, though with indulgence still. "The misfortune

of this forest is that it has never been cut. Do you see the phenomenon these masses present?"

Veronique, to whose mind the singularities of the forest nature suggested little, looked obediently at the forest

"You do not notice," he said, perceiving from that look her total ignorance, "the lines where the trees of all

"In that," replied the rector, "lies the future of Montegnac, and your own fortune, an immense fortune, as I

once explained to Monsieur Graslin. You see the furrows of those three dells, the mountain streams of which

flow into the torrent of the Gabou. That torrent separates the forest of Montegnac from the district which on

this side adjoins ours. In September and October it goes dry, but in November it is full of water, the volume

of which would be greatly increased by a partial clearing of the forest, so as to send all the lesser streams to

join it. As it is, its waters do no good; but if one or two dams were made between the two hills on either side

of it, as they have done at Riquet, and at SaintFerreolwhere they have made immense reservoirs to feed

the Languedoc canalthis barren plain could be fertilized by judicious irrigation through trenches and

culverts managed by watergates; sending the water when needed over these lands, and diverting it at other

times to our little river. You could plant fine poplars along these watercourses and raise the finest cattle on

such pasturage as you would then obtain. What is grass, but sun and water? There is quite soil enough on the

plains to hold the roots; the streams will furnish dew and moisture; the poplars will hold and feed upon the

mists, returning their elements to the herbage; these are the secrets of the fine vegetation of valleys. If you

undertook this work you would soon see life and joy and movement where silence now reigns, where the eye

is saddened by barren fruitlessness. Would not that be a noble prayer to God? Such work would be a better

Veronique pressed the rector's hand, answering with four brief words, but they were grand ones:

"You conceive the possibility of this great work," he went on; "but you cannot execute it. Neither you nor I

have the necessary knowledge to accomplish an idea which might have come to all, but the execution of

which presents immense difficulties; for simple as it may seem, the matter requires the most accurate science

with all its resources. Seek, therefore, at once for the proper human instruments who will enable you within

the next dozen years to get an income of six or seven thousand louis out of the six thousand acres you irrigate

and fertilize. Such an enterprise will make Montegnac at some future day the most prosperous district in the

department. The forest, as yet, yields you no return, but sooner or later commerce will come here in search of

its fine woodsthose treasures amassed by time; the only ones the production of which cannot be hastened

or improved upon by man. The State may some day provide a way of transport from this forest, for many of

the trees would make fine masts for the navy; but it will wait until the increasing population of Montegnac

makes a demand upon its protection; for the State is like fortune, it comes only to the rich. This estate, well

managed, will become, in the course of time, one of the finest in France; it will be the pride of your grandson,

Seeing that she understood him, he attempted to strike another blow on this woman's intellect, judging rightly

that in her the intellect led the heart, whereas in other women the heart is their road to intelligence.

"Your repentance is as yet only a sense of defeat endured,which is horrible, for it is nothing else than the

despair of Satan; such, perhaps, was the repentance of mankind before the coming of Jesus Christ. But our

repentance, the repentance of Christians, is the horror of a soul struck down on an evil path, to whom, by this

very shock, God has revealed Himself. You are like the pagan Orestes; make yourself another Paul."

"The spirit conquers," thought the modest rector, as he joyfully took his leave. He had cast nourishment

before a soul hunted into secret despair by giving to its repentance the form of a good and noble action.

Veronique wrote to Monsieur Grossetete on the morrow. A few days later she received from Limoges three

saddlehorses sent by her old friend. Monsieur Bonnet found at Veronique's request, a young man, son of the

postmaster, who was delighted to serve Veronique and earn good wages. This young fellow, small but active,

with a round face, black eyes and hair, and named Maurice Champion, pleased Veronique very much and was

immediately inducted into his office, which was that of taking care of the horses and accompanying his

The headforester of Montegnac was a former cavalrysergeant in the Royal guard, born at Limoges, whom

the Duc de Navarreins had sent to his estate at Montegnac to study its capabilities and value, in order that he

might derive some profit from it. Jerome Colorat found nothing but waste land utterly barren, woods

unavailable for want of transportation, a ruined chateau, and enormous outlays required to restore the house

and gardens. Alarmed, above all, by the beds of torrents strewn with granite rocks which seamed the forest,

this honest but unintelligent agent was the real cause of the sale of the property.

"Colorat," said Madame Graslin to her forester, for whom she had sent, "I shall probably ride out every

morning, beginning with tomorrow. You know all the different parts of the land that belonged originally to

this estate and those which Monsieur Graslin added to it: I wish you to go with me and point them out; for I

The family within the chateau saw with joy the change that now appeared in Veronique's behavior. Without

being told to do so, Aline got out her mistress's ridinghabit and put it in good order for use. The next day

Madame Sauviat felt unspeakable relief when her daughter left her room dressed to ride out.

Guided by the forester and Champion, who found their way by recollection, for the paths were scarcely

marked on these unfrequented mountains, Madame Graslin started on the first day for the summits, intending

to explore those only, so as to understand the watershed and familiarize herself with the lay of the ravines, the

natural path of the torrents when they tore down the slopes. She wished to measure the task before her,to

study the land and the waterways, and find for herself the essential points of the enterprise which the rector

had suggested to her. She followed Colorat, who rode in advance; Champion was a few steps behind her.

So long as they were making their way through parts that were dense with trees, going up and down

undulations of ground lying near to each other and very characteristic of the mountains of France, Veronique

was lost in contemplation of the marvels of the forest. First came the venerable centennial trees, which

amazed her till she grew accustomed to them; next, the fullgrown younger trees reaching to their natural

height; then, in some more open spot, a solitary pinetree of enormous height; orbut this was rareone of

those flowing shrubs, dwarf elsewhere, but here attaining to gigantic development, and often as old as the soil

itself. She saw, with a sensation quite unspeakable, a cloud rolling along the face of the bare rocks. She

noticed the white furrows made down the mountain sides by the melting snows, which looked at a distance

like scars and gashes. Passing through a gorge stripped of vegetation, she nevertheless admired, in the cleft

The rapidity with which she advanced left her no time to take in all the varied scene, the vast moving sands,

the quagmires boasting a few scattered trees, fallen granite boulders, overhanging rocks, shaded valleys,

broad open spaces with moss and heather still in bloom (though some was dried), utter solitudes overgrown

with juniper and caperbushes; sometimes uplands with short grass, small spaces enriched by an oozing

spring,in short, much sadness, many splendors, things sweet, things strong, and all the singular aspects of

As she watched these many pictures, varied in form but all inspired with the same thought, the awful sadness

of this Nature, so wild, so ruined, abandoned, fruitless, barren, filled her soul and answered to her secret

feelings. And when, through an opening among the trees, she caught a glimpse of the plain below her, when

she crossed some arid ravine over gravel and stones, where a few stunted bushes alone could grow, the spirit

of this austere Nature came to her, suggesting observations new to her mind, derived from the many

There is no spot in a forest which does not have its significance; not a glade, not a thicket but has its analogy

with the labyrinth of human thought. Who is there among those whose minds are cultivated or whose hearts

are wounded who can walk alone in a forest and the forest not speak to him? Insensibly a voice lifts itself,

consoling or terrible, but oftener consoling than terrifying. If we seek the causes of the sensationgrave,

simple, sweet, mysteriousthat grasps us there, perhaps we shall find it in the sublime and artless spectacle

of all these creations obeying their destiny and immutably submissive. Sooner or later the overwhelming

sense of the permanence of Nature fills our hearts and stirs them deeply, and we end by being conscious of

God. So it was with Veronique; in the silence of those summits, from the odor of the woods, the serenity of

the air, she gatheredas she said that evening to Monsieur Bonnetthe certainty of God's mercy. She saw

the possibility of an order of deeds higher than any to which her aspirations had ever reached. She felt a sort

of happiness within her; it was long, indeed since she had known such a sense of peace. Did she owe that

feeling to the resemblance she found between that barren landscape and the arid, exhausted regions of her

soul? Had she seen those troubles of nature with a sort of joy, thinking that Nature was punished though it

had not sinned? At any rate, she was powerfully affected; Colorat and Champion, following her at a little

At a certain sport Veronique was struck with the stern harsh aspect of the steep and rocky beds of the

driedup torrents. She found herself longing to hear the sound of water splashing through those scorched

Ashamed of the words, which seemed to come to her like a voice, she pushed her horse boldly toward the

first peak of the Correze, where, in spite of the forester's advice, she insisted on going. Telling her attendants

to wait for her she went on alone to the summit, which is called the RocheVive, and stayed there for some

time, studying the surrounding country. After hearing the secret voice of the many creations asking to live she

now received within her the touch, the inspiration, which determined her to put into her work that wonderful

perseverance displayed by Nature, of which she had herself already given many proofs.

She fastened her horse to a tree and seated herself on a large rock, letting her eyes rove over the broad

expanse of barren plain, where Nature seemed a stepmother,feeling in her heart the same stirrings of

maternal love with which at times she gazed upon her infant. Prepared by this train of emotion, these half

involuntary meditations (which, to use her own fine expression, winnowed her heart), to receive the sublime

"I understood then," she said afterwards to the rector, "that our souls must be ploughed and cultivated like the

The vast expanse before her was lighted by a pale November sun. Already a few gray clouds chased by a

chilly wind were hurrying from the west. It was then three o'clock. Veronique had taken more than four hours

to reach the summit, but, like all others who are harrowed by an inward misery, she paid no heed to external

circumstances. At this moment her being was actually growing and magnifying with the sublime impetus of

"Do not stay here any longer, madame," said a man, whose voice made her quiver, "or you will soon be

unable to return; you are six miles from any dwelling, and the forest is impassable at night. But that is not

your greatest danger. Before long the cold on this summit will become intense; the reason of this is unknown,

Madame Graslin saw before her a man's face, almost black with sunburn, in which shone eyes that were like

two tongues of flame. On either side of this face hung a mass of brown hair, and below it was a fan shaped

beard. The man was raising respectfully one of those enormous broadbrimmed hats which are worn by the

peasantry of central France, and in so doing displayed a bald but splendid forehead such as we sometimes see

in wayside beggars. Veronique did not feel the slightest fear; the situation was one in which all the lesser

"I earn a little something by watching that part of the forest," he answered, pointing to the other side of the

summit from the one that overlooked Montegnac. Madame Graslin then saw the muzzle of a gun and also a

"No, madame; in order to be a keeper we must take a certain oath; and to take an oath we must have civic

"I am Farrabesche," he said, with deep humility, lowering his eyes to the ground.

Madame Graslin, to whom the name told nothing, looked at the man and noticed in his face, the expression of

which was now very gentle, the signs of underlying ferocity; irregular teeth gave to the mouth, the lips

bloodred, an ironical expression full of evil audacity; the dark and prominent cheekbones had something

animal about them. The man was of middle height, with strong shoulders, a thickset neck, and the large

hairy hands of violent men capable of using their strength in a brutal manner. His last words pointed to some

mystery, to which his bearing, the expression of his countenance, and his whole person, gave a sinister

Farrabesche instantly disappeared, with the rapidity of a wild animal, after casting a glance at his mistress

Veronique hastened to mount her horse and rejoin the servants, who were beginning to be uneasy about her;

for the strange unhealthiness of the RocheVive was well known throughout the neighborhood. Colorat

begged his mistress to go down into the little valley which led to the plain. It would be dangerous, he said, to

return by the hills, or by the tangled paths they had followed in the morning, where, even with his knowledge

"No, madame," replied Colorat, "Farrabesche was tried and condemned to ten years at the galleys; he served

half his time, and then he was released on parole and came here in 1827. He owes his life to the rector, who

persuaded him to give himself up to justice. He had been condemned to death by default, and sooner or later

he must have been taken and executed. Monsieur Bonnet went to find him in the woods, all alone, at the risk

of being killed. No one knows what he said to Farrabesche. They were alone together two days; on the third

day the rector brought Farrabesche to Tulle, where he gave himself up. Monsieur Bonnet went to see a good

lawyer and begged him to do his best for the man. Farrabesche escaped with ten years in irons. The rector

went to visit him in prison, and that dangerous fellow, who used to be the terror of the whole country, became

as gentle as a girl; he even let them take him to the galleys without a struggle. On his return he settled here by

the rector's advice; no one says a word against him; he goes to mass every Sunday and all the feastdays.

Though his place is among us he slips in beside the wall and sits alone. He goes to the altar sometimes and

"One!" exclaimed Colorat; "he killed several! But he is a good man all the same."

"Is that possible?" exclaimed Veronique, letting the bridle fall on the neck of her horse.

"Well, you see, madame," said the forester, who asked no better than to tell the tale, "Farrabesche may have

had good reason for what he did. He was the last of the Farrabesches,an old family of the Correze, don't

you know! His elder brother, Captain Farrabesche, died ten years earlier in Italy, at Montenotte, a captain

when he was only twentytwo years old. Wasn't that illluck? and such a lad, too! knew how to read and

write, and bid fair to be a general. The family grieved terribly, and good reason, too. As for me, I heard all

about his death, for I was serving at that time under L'AUTRE. Oh! he made a fine death, did Captain

Farrabesche; he saved the army and the Little Corporal. I was then in the division of General Steingel, a

German, that is, an Alsacian,a famous good general but rather shortsighted, and that was the reason

why he was killed soon after Captain Farrabesche. The younger brotherthat's this onewas only six years

old when he heard of his brother's death. The second brother served too; but only as a private soldier; he died

a sergeant in the first regiment of the Guard, at the battle of Austerlitz, where, d'ye see, madame, they

manoeuvred just as quietly as they might in the Carrousel. I was there! oh! I had the luck of it! went through

it all without a scratch! Now this Farrabesche of ours, though he's a brave fellow, took it into his head he

wouldn't go to the wars; in fact, the army wasn't a healthy place for one of his family. So when the

conscription caught him in 1811 he ran away,a refractory, that's what they called them. And then it was he

went and joined a party of chauffeurs, or maybe he was forced to; at any rate he chauffed! Nobody but the

rector knows what he really did with those brigandsall due respect to them! Many a fight he had with the

"Who knows how many?he never told," went on Colorat. "At last, madame, they caught nearly all his

comrades, but they never could catch him; hang him! he was so young and active, and knew the country so

well, he always escaped. The chauffeurs he consorted with kept themselves mostly in the neighborhood of

Brives and Tulle; sometimes they came down this way, because Farrabesche knew such good hiding places

about here. In 1814 the conscription took no further notice of him, because it was abolished; but for all that,

he was obliged to live in the woods in 1815; because, don't you see? as he hadn't enough to live on, he helped

to stop a mailcoach over there, down that gorge; and then it was they condemned him. But, as I told you just

now, the rector persuaded him to give himself up. It wasn't easy to convict him, for nobody dared testify

against him; and his lawyer and Monsieur Bonnet worked so hard they got him sentenced for ten years only;

"If you wish it, madame, I will tell you what they did, as far as I know about it from others, for I never was

chauffed myself. It wasn't a good thing to do, but necessity knows no law. Well, this is how it was: seven or

eight would go to some farmer or landowner who was thought to have money; the farmer would build a

good fire and give them a supper, lasting half through the night, and then, when the feast was over, if the

master of the house wouldn't give them the sum demanded, they just fastened his feet to the spit, and didn't

unfasten them till they got it. That's how it was. They always went masked. Among all their expeditions they

sometimes made unlucky ones. Hang it, there'll always be obstinate, miserly old fellows in the world! One of

them, a farmer, old Cochegrue, so mean he'd shave an egg, held out; he let them roast his feet. Well, he died

of it. The wife of Monsieur David, near Brives, died of terror at merely seeing those fellows tie her husband's

feet. She died saying to David: 'Give them all you have.' He wouldn't, and so she just pointed out the

hidingplace. The chauffeurs (that's why they call them chauffeurs,warmers) were the terror of the whole

country for over five years. But you must get it well into your head,oh, excuse me, madame, but you must

know that more than one young man of good family belonged to them, though somehow they were never the

Madame Graslin listened without interrupting or replying. There was silence for a few moments, and then

little Champion, jealous of the right to amuse his mistress, wanted to tell her what he knew of the late

"Madame ought to know more about Farrabesche; he hasn't his equal at running, or at riding a horse. He can

kill an ox with a blow of his fist; nobody can shoot like him; he can carry seven hundred feet as straight as a

die,there! One day they surprised him with three of his comrades; two were wounded, one was

killed,good! Farrabesche was all but taken. Bah! he just sprang on the horse of one of the gendarmes

behind the man, pricked the horse with his knife, made it run with all its might, and so disappeared, holding

the gendarme tight round the body. But he held him so tight that after a time he threw the body on the ground

and rode away alone on the horse and master of the horse; and he had the cheek to go and sell it not thirty

miles from Limoges! After that affair he hid himself for three months and was never seen. The authorities

"Another time," added Colorat, "when the prefect of Tulle offered a hundred louis for him, he made one of

his own cousins, Giriex of Vizay, earn them. His cousin denounced him, and appeared to deliver him up. Oh,

yes, he delivered him sure enough! The gendarmes were delighted, and took him to Tulle; there they put him

in the prison of Lubersac, from which he escaped that very night, profiting by a hole already begun by one of

his accomplices who had been executed. All these adventures gave Farrabesche a fine reputation. The

chauffeurs had lots of outside friends; people really loved them. They were not skinflints like those of

today; they spent their money royally, those fellows! Just fancy, madame, one evening Farrabesche was

chased by gendarmes; well, he escaped them by staying twenty minutes under water in the pond of a

farmyard. He breathed air through a straw which he kept above the surface of the pool, which was half

muck. But, goodness! what was that little disagreeableness to a man who spends his nights in the treetops,

where the sparrows can hardly hold themselves, watching the soldiers going to and fro in search of him

below? Farrabesche was one of the halfdozen chauffeurs whom the officers of justice could never lay hands

on. But as he belonged to the region and was brought up with them, and had, as they said, only fled the

conscription, all the women were on his side,and that's a great deal, you know."

"Is it really certain that Farrabesche did kill several persons?" asked Madame Graslin.

"Yes, certain," replied Colorat; "it is even said that it was he who killed the traveller by the mailcoach in

1812; but the courier and the postilion, the only witnesses who could have identified him, were dead before

"Yes, they took everything; amongst it twentyfive thousand francs belonging to the government."

Madame Graslin rode silently after that for two or three miles. The sun had now set, the moon was lighting

the gray plain, which looked like an open sea. Champion and Colorat began to wonder at Madame Graslin,

whose silence seemed strange to them, and they were greatly astonished to see the shining track of tears upon

her cheeks; her eyes were red and full of tears, which were falling drop by drop as she rode along.

"Oh, madame," said Colorat, "don't pity him! The lad has had his day. He had pretty girls in love with him;

and now, though to be sure he is closely watched by the police, he is protected by the respect and goodwill

of the rector; for he has really repented. His conduct at the galleys was exemplary. Everybody knows he is as

honest as the most honest man among us. Only he is proud; he doesn't choose to expose himself to rebuff; so

he lives quietly by himself and does good in his own way. He has made a nursery of about ten acres for you

on the other side of the RocheVive; he plants in the forests wherever he thinks there's a chance of making a

tree grow; he trims the tree and cuts out the dead wood, and ties it up into bundles for the poor. All the poor

people know they can get their wood from him all cut and ready to burn; so they go and ask him for it,

instead of taking it themselves and injuring your forest. He is another kind of chauffeur now, and warms his

poor neighbors to their comfort and not to their harm. Oh, Farrabesche loves your forest! He takes care of it

"And he livesall alone?" exclaimed Madame Graslin, adding the two last words hastily.

"Excuse me, not quite alone, madame; he takes care of a boy about fifteen years old," said Maurice

"Yes, that's so," said Colorat; "La Curieux gave birth to the child some little time before Farrabesche was

"How could he? They would certainly have arrested him. As it was, when La Curieux heard he was sentenced

"Oh!" said Maurice, "my mother says she was very like another girl who has also left Montegnac for

"Ha, yes! because he chauffed; women do like things that are out of the way. However, nothing ever did

surprise the community more than that love affair. Catherine Curieux lived as virtuous a life as a holy virgin;

she passed for a pearl of purity in her village of Vizay, which is really a small town in the Correze on the line

between the two departments. Her father and mother are farmers to the Messieurs Brezac. Catherine Curieux

was about seventeen when Farrabesche was sent to the galleys. The Farrabesches were an old family from the

same region, who settled in the commune of Montegnac; they hired their farm from the village. The father

and mother Farrabesche are dead, but Catherine's three sisters are married, one in Aubusson, another in

"Do you think Farrabesche knows where Catherine Curieux is?" asked Madame Graslin.

"If he did know he'd break his parole. Oh! he'd go to her. As soon as he came back from the galleys he got

Monsieur Bonnet to ask for the little boy whom the grandfather and grandmother were taking care of; and

"No one," said Colorat. "The girl felt that she was ruined; she was afraid to stay in her own village. She went

to Paris. What is she doing there? Well, that's the question; but you might as well hunt for a marble among

They were now riding up the ascent to the chateau as Colorat pointed to the plain below. Madame Sauviat,

evidently uneasy, Aline and the other servants were waiting at the gate, not knowing what to think of this

"My dear," said Madame Sauviat, helping her daughter to dismount, "you must be very tired."

"No, mother," replied Madame Graslin, in so changed a voice that Madame Sauviat looked closely at her and

Madame Graslin went to her own rooms with Aline, who took her orders for all that concerned her personal

life. She now shut herself up and would not even admit her mother; when Madame Sauviat asked to enter,

The next day Veronique rode out attended by Maurice only. In order to reach the RocheVive as quickly as

possible she took the road by which she had returned the night before. As they rode up the gorge which lies

between the mountain peak and the last hill of the forest (for, seen from the plain, the RocheVive looks

isolated) Veronique requested Maurice to show her the house in which Farrabesche lived and then to hold the

horses and wait for her; she wished to go alone. Maurice took her to a path which led down on the other side

of the RocheVive and showed her the thatched roof of a dwelling half buried in the mountain, below which

lay the nursery grounds. It was then about midday. A light smoke issued from the chimney. Veronique

reached the cottage in a few moments, but she did not make her presence known at once. She stood a few

moments lost in thoughts known only to herself as she gazed on the modest dwelling which stood in the

Beyond the lower end of the garden lay several cares of meadow land surrounded by an evergreen hedge; the

eye looked down on the flattened tops of fruit trees, apple, pear, and plum trees scattered here and there

among these fields. Above the house, toward the crest of the mountain where the soil became sandy, rose the

yellow crowns of a splendid grove of chestnuts. Opening the railed gate made of half rotten boards which

enclosed the premises, Madame Graslin saw a stable, a small poultryyard and all the picturesque and living

accessories of poor homes, which have so much of rural poesy about them. Who could see without emotion

the linen fluttering on the hedges, the bunches of onions hanging from the eaves, the iron saucepans drying in

the sun, the wooden bench overhung with honeysuckle, the stonecrop clinging to the thatch, as it does on

the roofs of nearly all the cottages in France, revealing a humble life that is almost vegetative?

It was impossible for Veronique to come upon her keeper without his receiving due notice; two fine hunting

dogs began to bark as soon as the rustling of her habit was heard on the dried leaves. She took the end of it

over her arm and advanced toward the house. Farrabesche and his boy, who were sitting on a wooden bench

outside the door, rose and uncovered their heads, standing in a respectful attitude, but without the least

"I have heard," said Veronique, looking attentively at the boy, "that you take much care of my interests; I

wished to see your house and the nurseries, and ask you a few questions relating to the improvements I intend

Veronique admired the boy, who had a charming face of a perfect oval, rather sunburned and brown but very

regular in features, the forehead finely modelled, orangecolored eyes of extreme vivacity, black hair cut

straight across the brow and allowed to hang down on either side of the face. Taller than most boys of his age,

the little fellow was nearly five feet high. His trousers, like his shirt, were of coarse gray linen, his waistcoat,

of rough blue cloth with horn buttons much worn and a jacket of the cloth so oddly called Maurienne velvet,

with which the Savoyards like to clothe themselves, stout hobnailed shoes, and no stockings. This costume

was exactly like that of his father, except that Farrabesche had on his head the broadbrimmed felt hat of the

Though intelligent and animated, the child's face was instinct with the gravity peculiar to all human beings of

any age who live in solitude; he seemed to put himself in harmony with the life and the silence of the woods.

Both Farrabesche and his son were specially developed on their physical side, possessing many of the

characteristics of savages,piercing sight, constant observation, absolute selfcontrol, a keen ear, wonderful

agility, and an intelligent manner of speaking. At the first glance the boy gave his father Madame Graslin

recognized one of those unbounded affections in which instinct blends with thought, and a most active

happiness strengthens both the will of the instinct and the reasoning of thought.

"Have you made no attempt to find his mother?" asked Veronique, making a sign to Farrabesche to follow

"Madame may not be aware that I am not allowed to go beyond the district in which I reside."

"At the expiration of my term," he answered, "I received from the Commissioner a thousand francs, sent to

him quarterly for me in little sums which police regulations did not allow me to receive till the day I left the

galleys. I think that Catherine alone would have thought of me, as it was not Monsieur Bonnet who sent this

"They have never inquired for her since she left. Besides they did enough in taking charge of the little one."

"Well, Farrabesche," said Veronique, returning toward the house. "I will make it my business to know if

"Oh! madame, whatever that may be," said the man gently, "it would be happiness for me if I could have her

for my wife. It is for her to object, not me. Our marriage would legitimatize this poor boy, who as yet knows

The look the father threw upon the lad explained the life of these two beings, abandoned, or voluntarily

isolated; they were all in all to each other, like two compatriots adrift upon a desert.

"Even if I did not love her, madame," he replied, "she is to me, in my situation, the only woman there is in the

Madame Graslin turned hurriedly and walked away under the chestnut trees, as if attacked by some sharp

pain; the keeper, thinking she was moved by a sudden caprice, did not venture to follow her.

Veronique remained for some minutes under the chestnut trees, apparently looking at the landscape. Thence

she could see that portion of the forest which clothes the side of the valley down which flows the torrent of

the Gabou, now dry, a mass of stones, looking like a huge ditch cut between the wooded mountains of

Montegnac and another chain of parallel hills beyond,the latter being much steeper and without vegetation,

These hills, desolate of aspect, belong to the neighboring domain and are in the department of the Correze. A

country road, following the undulations of the valley, serves to mark the line between the arrondissement of

Montegnac and the two estates. This barren slope supports, like a wall, a fine piece of woodland which

stretches away in the distance from its rocky summit. Its barrenness forms a complete contrast to the other

slope, on which is the cottage of Farrabesche. On the one side, harsh, disfigured angularities, on the other,

graceful forms and curving outlines; there, the cold, dumb stillness of unfruitful earth held up by horizontal

blocks of stone and naked rock, here, trees of various greens, now stripped for the most part of foliage, but

showing their fine straight manycolored trunks on every slope and terrace of the land; their interlacing

branches swaying to the breeze. A few more persistent trees, oaks, elms, beeches, and chestnuts, still retained

Toward Montegnac, where the valley widened immensely, the two slopes form a horseshoe; and from the

spot where Veronique now stood leaning against a tree she could see the descending valleys lying like the

gradations of an ampitheatre, the treetops rising from each tier like persons in the audience. This fine

landscape was then on the other side of her park, though it afterwards formed part of it. On the side toward

the cottage near which she stood the valley narrows more and more until it becomes a gorge, about a hundred

The beauty of this view, over which Madame Graslin's eyes now roved mechanically, recalled her presently

to herself. She returned to the cottage where the father and son were standing, silently awaiting her and not

She examined the house, which was built with more care than its thatched roof seemed to warrant. It had, no

doubt, been abandoned ever since the Navarreins ceased to care for this domain. No more hunts, no more

gamekeepers. Though the house had been built for over a hundred years, the walls were still good,

notwithstanding the ivy and other sorts of climbingplants which clung to them. When Farrabesche obtained

permission to live there he tiled the room on the lower floor and put in furniture. Veronique saw, as she

entered, two beds, a large walnut wardrobe, a breadbox, dresser, table, three chairs, and on the dresser a few

brown earthenware dishes and other utensils necessary to life. Above the fireplace were two guns and two

gamebags. A number of little things evidently made by the father for the child touched Veronique's

heartthe model of a manofwar, of a sloop, a carved wooden cup, a wooden box of exquisite

workmanship, a coffer inlaid in diaper pattern, a crucifix, and a splendid rosary. The chaplet was made of

plumstones, on each of which was carved a head of marvellous delicacy,of Jesus Christ, of the apostles,

the Madonna, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Joseph, Saint Anne, the two Magdalens, etc.

"I do that to amuse the little one in the long winter evenings," he said, as if excusing himself.

The front of the house was covered with jessamine and roses, trained to the wall and wreathing the windows

of the upper floor, where Farrabesche stored his provisions. He bought little except bread, salt, sugar, and a

few such articles, for he kept chickens, ducks, and two pigs. Neither he nor the boy drank wine.

"All that I have heard of you and all that I now see," said Madame Graslin at last, "make me feel an interest in

"I recognize Monsieur Bonnet's kindness in what you say," cried Farrabesche, in a tone of feeling.

"You are mistaken; the rector has not yet spoken of you to me; chance or Godhas done it."

"If you have been a miserable man," said Madame Graslin, lowering her voice that the child might not hear

her (an act of womanly delicacy which touched his heart), "your repentance, your conduct, and the rector's

esteem have now fitted you to become a happier man. I have given orders to finish the building of the large

farmhouse which Monsieur Graslin intended to establish near the chateau. I shall make you my farmer, and

you will have an opportunity to use all your faculties, and also to employ your son. The procureurgeneral in

Limoges shall be informed about you, and the humiliating police inspection you are now subjected to shall

At these words Farrabesche fell on his knees, as if struck down by the realization of a hope he had long

considered vain. He kissed the hem of Madame Graslin's habit, then her feet. Seeing the tears in his father's

"Rise, Farrabesche," said Madame Graslin, "you do not know how natural it is that I should do for you what I

have promised. You planted those fine trees, did you not?" she went on, pointing to the groups of Northern

pine, firs, and larches at the foot of the dry and rocky hill directly opposite.

"The water in washing down among the rocks brings a certain amount of soil, which it deposits. I have

profited by this; for the whole of the level of the valley belongs to you,the road is your boundary."

"Oh, madame," cried Farrabesche, "before long, when the rains begin, you will hear the torrent roar even at

the chateau; but even that is nothing to what happens in spring when the snows melt. The water then rushes

down from all parts of the forest behind Montegnac, from those great slopes which are back of the hills on

which you have your park. All the water of these mountains pours into this valley and makes a deluge.

Luckily for you, the trees hold the earth; otherwise the land would slide into the valley."

"Where are the springs?" asked Madame Graslin, giving her full attention to what he said.

Farrabesche pointed to a narrow gorge which seemed to end the valley just below his house. "They are

mostly on a clay plateau lying between the Limousin and the Correze; they are mere green pools during the

summer, and lose themselves in the soil. No one lives in that unhealthy region. The cattle will not eat the

grass or reeds that grow near the brackish water. That vast tract, which has more than three thousand acres in

it, is an open common for three districts; but, like the plains of Montegnac, no use can be made of it. This

side on your property, as I showed you, there is a little earth among the stones, but over there is nothing but

Benjamin departed, after Madame Graslin had shown him the direction in which he would find Maurice and

"You who know, so they tell me, every peculiarity of the country thoroughly," continued Madame Graslin,

"explain to me how it is that the streams of my forest which are on the side of the mountain toward

Montegnac, and ought therefore to send their waters down there, do not do so, neither in regular

"Ah, madame," said Farrabesche, "the rector, who thinks all the time about the welfare of Montegnac, has

guessed the reason, but he can't find any proof of it. Since your arrival, he has made me trace the path of the

water from point to point through each ravine and valley. I was returning yesterday, when I had the honor of

meeting you, from the base of the RocheVive, where I carefully examined the lay of the land. Hearing the

horses' feet, I came up to see who was there. Monsieur Bonnet is not only a saint, madame; he is a man of

great knowledge. 'Farrabesche,' he said to me (I was then working on the road the village has just built to the

chateau, and the rector came to me and pointed to that chain of hills from Montegnac to RocheVive),

'Farrabesche,' he said, 'there must be some reason why that watershed does not send any of its water to the

plain; Nature must have made some sluiceway which carries it elsewhere.' Well, madame, that idea is so

simple you would suppose any child might have thought it; yet no one since Montegnac existed, neither the

great lords, nor their bailiffs, nor their foresters, nor the poor, nor the rich, none of those who saw that plain

barren for want of water, ever asked themselves why the streams which now feed the Gabou do not come

there. The three districts above, which have constantly been afflicted with fevers in consequence of stagnant

water, never looked for the remedy; I myself, who live in the wilds, never dreamed of it; it needed a man of

"All that men of genius discover," said Madame Graslin, "seems so simple that every one thinks they might

have discovered it themselves. But," she added, as if to herself, "genius has this fine thing about it,it

"I understood Monsieur Bonnet at once," continued Farrabesche; "it did not take him many words to tell me

what I had to do. Madame, this fact I tell you of is all the more singular because there are, toward the plain,

great rents and fissures in the mountain, gorges and ravines down which the water flows; but, strange to say,

these clefts and ravines and gorges all send their streams into a little valley which is several feet below the

level of your plain. Today I have discovered the reason of this phenomenon: from the RocheVive to

Montegnac, at the foot of the mountains, runs a shelf or barricade of rock, varying in height from twenty to

thirty feet; there is not a break in it from end to end; and it is formed of a species of rock which Monsieur

Bonnet calls schist. The soil above it, which is of course softer than rock, has been hollowed out by the action

of the water, which is turned at right angles by the barricade of rock, and thus flows naturally into the Gabou.

The trees and underbrush of the forest conceal this formation and the hollowing out of the soil. But after

following the course of the water, as I have done by the traces left of its passage, it is easy to convince any

one of the fact. The Gabou thus receives the watershed of both mountains,that which ought to go down

the mountain face on which your park and garden are to the plain, and that which comes down the rocky

slopes before us. According to Monsieur Bonnet the present state of things will crease when the watershed

toward the plain gains a natural outlet, and is dammed toward the Gabou by the earth and rocks which the

mountain torrents bring down with them. It will take a hundred years to do that, however; and besides, it isn't

desirable. If your soil will not take up more water than the great common you are now going to see,

"I suppose that the places Monsieur Bonnet showed me the other day where the foliage of the trees is still

"Yes, madame. Between RocheVive and Montegnac there are three distinct mountains with three hollows

between them, down which the waters, stopped by the schist barrier, turn off into the Gabou. The belt of trees

still green at the foot of the hill above the barrier, which looks, at a distance, like a part of the plain, is really

the watersluice the rector supposed, very justly, that Nature had made for herself."

"Well, what has been to the injury of Montegnac shall soon be its prosperity," said Madame Graslin, in a tone

of deep intention. "And inasmuch as you have been the first instrument employed on the work, you shall

share in it; you shall find me faithful, industrious workmen; lack of money can always be made up by

Benjamin and Maurice came up as Veronique ended these words; she mounted her horse and signed to

"Guide me," she said, "to the place where the waters spread out in pools over that waste land."

"There is all the more reason why madame should go there," said Farrabesche, "because the late Monsieur

Graslin, under the rector's advice, bought three hundred acres at the opening of that gorge, on which the

waters have left sediment enough to make good soil over quite a piece of ground. Madame will also see the

opposite side of the RocheVive, where there are fine woods, among which Monsieur Graslin would no

doubt have put a farm had he lived; there's an excellent place for one, where the spring which rises just by my

Farrabesche rode first to show the way, taking Veronique through a path which led to the spot where the two

slopes drew closely together and then flew apart, one to the east the other to the west, as if repulsed by a

shock. This narrow passage, filled with large rocks and coarse, tall grasses, was only about sixty feet in

The RocheVive, cut perpendicularly on this side looked like a wall of granite in which there was no

foothold; but above this inflexible wall was a crown of trees, the roots of which hung down it, mostly pines

The opposite hill, hollowed by time, had a frowning front, sandy, rocky, and yellow; here were shallow

caverns, dips without depth; the soft and pulverizing rock had ochre tones. A few plants with prickly leaves

above, and burdocks, reeds, and aquatic growths below, were indication enough of the northern exposure and

the poverty of the soil. The bed of the torrent was of stone, quite hard, but yellow. Evidently the two chains,

though parallel and ripped asunder by one of the great catastrophes which have changed the face of the globe,

were, either from some inexplicable caprice or for some unknown reason, the discovery of which awaited

genius, composed of elements that were wholly dissimilar. The contrast of their two natures showed more

Veronique now saw before her an immense dry plateau, without any vegetation, chalky (this explained the

absorption of the water) and strewn with pools of stagnant water and rocky places stripped of soil. To the

right were the mountains of the Correze; to left the RocheVive barred the view covered with its noble trees;

on its further slope was a meadow of some two hundred acres, the verdure of which contrasted with the

"My son and I cut that ditch you see down there marked by the tall grasses," said Farrabesche; "it joins the

one which bounds your forest. On this side the estate is bounded by a desert, for the nearest village is three

Veronique turned rapidly to the dismal plain, followed by her guide. She leaped her horse across the ditch

and rode at full gallop across the drear expanse, seeming to take a savage pleasure in contemplating that vast

image of desolation. Farrabesche was right. No power, no will could put to any use whatever that soil which

resounded under the horses' feet as though it were hollow. This effect was produced by the natural porousness

of the clay; but there were fissures also through which the water flowed away, no doubt to some distant

"There are many souls like this," thought Veronique, stopping her horse after she had ridden at full speed for

fifteen or twenty minutes. She remained motionless and thoughtful in the midst of this desert, where there

was neither animal nor insect life and where the birds never flew. The plain of Montegnac was at least pebbly

or sandy; on it were places where a few inches of soil did give a foothold for the roots of certain plains; but

here the ungrateful chalk, neither stone nor earth, repelled even the eye, which was forced to turn for relief to

After examining the bounds of her forest and the meadows purchased by her husband, Veronique returned

toward the outlet of the Gabou, but slowly. She then saw Farrabesche gazing into a sort of ditch which looked

like one a speculator might have dug into this desolate corner of the earth expecting Nature to give up some

"What is the matter?" asked Veronique, noticing on that manly face an expression of deep sadness.

"Madame, I owe my life to that ditch; or rather, to speak more correctly, I owe to it time for repentance, time

This method of explaining life so affected Madame Graslin that she stopped her horse on the brink of the

"I was hiding there, madame. The ground is so resonant that when my ear was against it I could hear the

horses of the gendarmerie, or even the footsteps of the soldiers, which are always peculiar. That gave me time

to escape up the Gabou to a place where I had a horse, and I always managed to put several miles between

myself and my pursuers. Catherine used to bring me food during the night; if she did not find me I always

This recollection of his wandering and criminal life, which might have injured Farrabesche with some

persons, met with the most indulgent pity from Madame Graslin. She rode hastily on toward the Gabou,

followed by her guide. While she measured with her eye this opening, through which could be seen the long

valley, so smiling on one side, so ruined on the other, and at its lower end, a league away, the terraced

"And next year, on this day, not a drop shall flow there. Both sides belong to me, and I will build a dam solid

enough and high enough to stop the freshet. Instead of a valley yielding nothing, I will have a lake twenty,

thirty, forty feet deep over an extent of three or four miles,an immense reservoir, which shall supply the

"Ah, madame! the rector was right, when he said to us as we finished our road, 'You are working for a

"Say nothing about it, Farrabesche," said Madame Graslin. "The idea was Monsieur Bonnet's."

They returned to the cottage, where Veronique picked up Maurice, with whom she rode hastily back to the

chateau. When Madame Sauviat and Aline saw her they were struck with the change in her countenance; the

hope of doing good in the region she now owned gave her already an appearance of happiness. She wrote at

once to Monsieur Grossetete, begging him to ask Monsieur de Grandville for the complete release of the

returned convict, on whose conduct she gave him assurances which were confirmed by a certificate from the

mayor of Montegnac and by a letter from Monsieur Bonnet. To this request she added information about

Catherine Curieux, begging Grossetete to interest the procureurgeneral in the good work she wished to do,

and persuade him to write to the prefecture of police in Paris to recover traces of the girl. The circumstance of

Catherine's having sent money to Farrabesche at the galleys ought to be clew enough to furnish information.

Veronique was determined to know why it was that the young woman had not returned to her child and to

Farrabesche, now that he was free. She also told her old friend of her discovery about the torrent of the

Gabou, and urged him to select an able engineer, such as she had already asked him to procure for her.

The next day was Sunday, and for the first time since her installation at Montegnac Veronique felt able to

hear mass in church; she accordingly went there and took possession of the bench that belonged to her in the

chapel of the Virgin. Seeing how denuded the poor church was, she resolved to devote a certain sum yearly to

the needs of the building and the decoration of the altars. She listened to the sweet, impressive, angelic voice

of the rector, whose sermon, though couched in simple language suited to the rustic intellects before him, was

sublime in character. Sublimity comes from the heart, intellect has little to do with it; religion is a quenchless

source of this sublimity which has no dross; for Catholicism entering and changing all hearts, is itself all

heart. Monsieur Bonnet took his text from the epistle for the day, which signified that, sooner or later, God

accomplishes all promises, assisting His faithful ones, encouraging the righteous. He made plain to every

mind the great things which might be accomplished by wealth judiciously used for the good of

others,explaining that the duties of the poor to the rich were as widely extended as those of the rich to the

Farrabesche had made known to a few of those who treated him in a friendly manner (the result of the

Christian charity which Monsieur Bonnet had put in practice among his parishioners) the benevolent acts

Madame Graslin had done for him. Her conduct in this matter had been talked over by all the little groups of

persons assembled round the church door before the service, as is the custom in country places. Nothing

could have been better calculated to win the friendship and goodwill of these eminently susceptible minds;

so that when Veronique left the church after service she found nearly all the inhabitants of the parish formed

in two hedges through which she was expected to pass. One and all they bowed respectfully in profound

silence. She was deeply touched by this reception, without knowing the actual cause of it. Seeing Farrabesche

A few days later Veronique went to walk with the rector through the part of the forest that was nearest the

chateau, wishing to descend with him the terraced slopes she had seen from the house of Farrabesche. In

doing this she obtained complete certainty as to the nature of the upper affluents of the Gabou. The rector saw

for himself that the streams which watered certain parts of upper Montegnac came from the mountains of the

Correze. This chain of hills joined the barren slopes we have already described, parallel with the chain of the

On returning from this walk the rector was joyful as a child; he foresaw, with the naivete of a poet, the

prosperity of his dear villagefor a poet is a man, is he not? who realizes hopes before they ripen. Monsieur

Bonnet garnered his hay as he stood overlooking that barren plain from Madame Graslin's upper terrace.

The next day Farrabesche and his son came to the chateau with game. The keeper also brought, for Francis, a

cocoanut cup, elaborately carved, a genuine work of art, representing a battle. Madame Graslin was walking

at the time on the terrace, in the direction which overlooked Les Tascherons. She sat down on a bench, took

the cup in her hand and looked earnestly at the deft piece of work. A few tears came into her eyes.

"You must have suffered very much," she said to Farrabesche, after a few moments' silence.

"How could I help it, madame?" he replied; "for I was there without the hope of escape, which supports the

"An awful life!" she said in a tone of horror, inviting Farrabesche by word and gesture to say more.

Farrabesche took the convulsive trembling and other signs of emotion he saw in Madame Graslin for the

Just then Madame Sauviat appeared, coming down a path as if she meant to join them; but Veronique drew

out her handkerchief and made a negative sign; saying, with an asperity she had never before shown to the

"Madame," said Farrabesche, "for ten years I wore there (holding out his leg) a chain fastened to a great iron

ring which bound me to another man. During my time I had to live thus with three different convicts. I slept

on a wooden bench; I had to work extraordinarily hard to earn a little mattress called a serpentin. Each

dormitory contains eight hundred men. Each bed, called a tolard, holds twenty four men, chained in couples.

Every night the chain of each couple is passed round another great chain which is called the filet de ramas.

This chain holds all the couples by the feet, and runs along the bottom of the tolard. It took me over two years

to get accustomed to that iron clanking, which called out incessantly, 'Thou art a galley slave!' If I slept an

instant some vile companion moved or quarrelled, reminding me of where I was. There is a terrible

apprenticeship to make before a man can learn how to sleep. I myself could not sleep until I had come to the

end of my strength and to utter exhaustion. When at last sleep came I had the nights in which to forget. Oh! to

forget, madame, that was something! Once there, a man must learn to satisfy his needs, even in the smallest

things, according to the ways laid down by pitiless regulations. Imagine, madame, the effect such a life

produced on a lad like me, who had lived in the woods with the birds and the squirrels! If I had not already

lived for six months within prisonwalls, I should, in spite of Monsieur Bonnet's grand wordsfor he, I can

truly say, is the father of my soulI should, ah! I must have flung myself into the sea at the mere sight of my

companions. Outdoors I still could live; but in the building, whether to sleep or to eat,to eat out of

buckets, and each bucket filled for three couples,it was life no longer, it was death; the atrocious faces and

language of my companions were always insufferable to me. Happily, from five o'clock in summer, and from

halfpast seven o'clock in winter we went, in spite of heat or cold and wind or rain, on 'fatigue,' that is,

hardlabor. Thus half this life was spent in the open air; and the air was sweet after the close dormitory

packed with eight hundred convicts. And that air, too, is seaair! We could enjoy the breezes, we could be

friends with the sun, we could watch the clouds as they passed above us, we could hope and pray for fine

"Oh! madame, I have only told you the best side of that life," he continued, taking the expression of her face

as meant for him. "The terrible precautions taken by the government, the constant spying of the keepers, the

blacksmith's inspection of the chains every day, night and morning, the coarse food, the hideous garments

which humiliate a man at all hours, the comfortless sleep, the horrible rattling of eight hundred chains in that

resounding hall, the prospect of being shot or blown to pieces by cannon if ten of those villains took a fancy

to revolt, all those dreadful things are nothing, nothing, I tell you; that is the bright side only. There's

another side, madame, and a decent man, a bourgeois, would die of horror in a week. A convict is forced to

live with another man; obliged to endure the company of five other men at every meal, twentythree in his

bed at night, and to hear their language! The great society of galley slaves, madame, has its secret laws;

disobey them and you are tortured; obey them, and you become a torturer. You must be either victim or

executioner. If they would kill you at once it would at least be the cure of life. But no, they are wiser than that

in doing evil. It is impossible to hold out against the hatred of these men; their power is absolute over any

prisoner who displeases them, and they can make his life a torment far worse than death. The man who

repents and endeavors to behave well is their common enemy; above all, they suspect him of informing; and

an informer is put to death, often on mere suspicion. Every hall and community of eight hundred convicts has

its tribunal, in which are judged the crimes committed against that society. Not to obey the usages is criminal,

and a man is liable to punishment. For instance, every man must cooperate in escapes; every convict has his

time assigned him to escape, and all his fellow convicts must protect and aid him. To reveal what a comrade

is doing with a view to escape is criminal. I will not speak to you of the horrible customs and morals of the

galleys. No man belongs to himself; the government, in order to neutralize the attempts at revolt or escape,

takes pains to chain two contrary natures and interests together; and this makes the torture of the coupling

"Ah! there," replied Farrabesche, "I had luck; I never drew a lot to kill a convict; I never had to vote the death

of any one of them; I never was punished; no man took a dislike to me; and I got on well with the three

different men I was chained to; they all feared me but liked me. One reason was, my name was known and

famous at the galleys before I got there. A chauffeur! they thought me one of those brigands. I have seen

chauffing," continued Farrabesche after a pause, in a low voice, "but I never either did it myself, or took any

of the money obtained by it. I was a refractory, I evaded the conscription, that was all. I helped my comrades,

I kept watch; I was sentinel and brought up the rearguard; but I never shed any man's blood except in

selfdefence. Ah! I told all to Monsieur Bonnet and my lawyer, and the judges knew well enough that I was

no murderer. But, all the same, I am a great criminal; nothing that I ever did was morally right. However,

before I got there, as I was saying, two of my comrades told of me as a man able to do great things. At the

galleys, madame, nothing is so valuable as that reputation, not even money. In that republic of misery murder

is a passport to tranquillity. I did nothing to destroy that opinion of me. I was sad, resigned, and they mistook

the appearance of it. My gloomy manner, my silence, passed for ferocity. All that world, convicts, keepers,

young and old, respected me. I was treated as first in my hall. No one interfered with my sleep; I was never

suspected of informing; I behaved honorably according to their ideas; I never refused to do service; I never

testified the slightest repugnance; I howled with the wolves outside, I prayed to God within. My last

companion in chains was a soldier, twentytwo years of age, who had committed a theft and deserted in

consequence of it. We were chained together for four years, and we were friends; wherever I may be I am

certain to meet him when his time is up. This poor devil, whose name is Guepin, is not a scoundrel, he is

merely heedless; his punishment may reform him. If my comrades had discovered that religion led me to

submit to my trials,that I meant, when my time was up, to live humbly in a corner, letting no one know

where I was, intending to forget their horrible community and never to cross the path of any of them,they

"Then," said Madame Graslin, "if a poor young man, a tender soul, carried away by passion, having

"Oh! madame," said Farrabesche, interrupting her, "there is no sparing in that. The sentence may be

commuted to twenty years at the galleys, but for a decent young man, that is awful! I could not speak to you

of the life that awaits him there; a thousand times better die. Yes, to die upon the scaffold is happiness in

She had turned as white as wax. To hide her face she laid her forehead on the balustrade, and kept it there

Madame Graslin raised her head at last, looked at Farrabesche with an almost majestic air, and said, to his

"Thank you, my friend. But," she added, after a pause, "where did you find courage to live and suffer?"

"Ah! madame, Monsieur Bonnet put a treasure within my soul! and for that I love him better than all else on

"Better than Catherine?" said Madame Graslin, smiling with a sort of bitterness.

"Madame, the words and the voice of that man conquered me. Catherine brought him to that hole in the

ground I showed you on the common; he had come fearlessly alone. He was, he said, the new rector of

Montegnac; I was his parishioner, he loved me; he knew I was only misguided, not lost; he did not intend to

betray me, but to save me; in short, he said many such things that stirred my soul to its depths. That man,

madame, commands you to do right with as much force as those who tell you to do wrong. It was he who told

me, poor dear man, that Catherine was a mother, and that I was dooming two beings to shame and desertion.

'Well,' I said to him, 'they are like me; I have no future.' He answered that I had a future, two bad futures,

before me one in another world, one in this worldif I persisted in not changing my way of life. In this

world, I should die on the scaffold. If I were captured my defence would be impossible. On the contrary, if I

took advantage of the leniency of the new government toward all crimes traceable to the conscription, if I

delivered myself up, he believed he could save my life; he would engage a good lawyer, who would get me

off with ten years at the galleys. Then Monsieur Bonnet talked to me of the other life. Catherine wept like the

MagdalenSee, madame," said Farrabesche, holding out his right arm, "her face was in that hand, and I felt

it wet with tears. She implored me to live. Monsieur Bonnet promised to secure me, when I had served my

sentence, a peaceful life here with my child, and to protect me against affront. He catechised me as he would

a little child. After three such visits at night he made me as supple as a glove. Would you like to know how,

Farrabesche and Madame Graslin looked at each other, not explaining to themselves their mutual curiosity.

"Well," resumed the poor liberated convict, "when he left me the first time, and Catherine had gone with him

to show the way, I was left alone. I then felt within my soul a freshness, a calmness, a sweetness, I had never

known since childhood. It was like the happiness my poor Catherine had given me. The love of this dear man

had come to seek me; that, and his thought for me, for my future, stirred my soul to its depths; it changed me.

A light broke forth in my being. As long as he was there, speaking to me, I resisted. That's not surprising; he

was a priest, and we bandits don't eat of their bread. But when I no longer heard his footsteps nor Catherine's,

oh! I wasas he told me two days laterenlightened by divine grace. God gave me thenceforth strength to

bear all,prison, sentence, irons, parting; even the life of the galleys. I believed in his word as I do in the

Gospel; I looked upon my sufferings as a debt I was bound to pay. When I seemed to suffer too much, I

looked across ten years and saw my home in the woods, my little Benjamin, my Catherine. He kept his word,

that good Monsieur Bonnet. But one thing was lacking. When at last I was released, Catherine was not at the

gate of the galleys; she was not on the common. No doubt she has died of grief. That is why I am always sad.

Now, thanks to you, I shall have useful work to do; I can employ both body and soul,and my boy, too, for

"I begin to understand how it is that the rector has changed the character of this whole community," said

"Yes, yes, I know it!" replied Veronique, hastily, making a gesture of farewell to her keeper.

Farrabesche withdrew. Veronique remained alone on the terrace for a good part of the day, walking up and

down in spite of a fine rain which fell till evening. When her face was thus convulsed, neither her mother nor

Aline dared to interrupt her. She did not notice in the dusk that her mother was talking in the salon to

Monsieur Bonnet; the old woman, anxious to put an end to this fresh attack of dreadful depression, sent little

Francis to fetch her. The child took his mother's hand and led her in. When she saw the rector she gave a start

of surprise in which there seemed to be some fear. Monsieur Bonnet took her back to the terrace, saying:

In order not to speak falsely, Veronique evaded a reply; she questioned Monsieur Bonnet.

"Yes," he answered; "his conversion would, I thought, give me all Montegnacand I was not mistaken."

Veronique pressed Monsieur Bonnet's hand and said, with tears in her voice, "I am your penitent from this

Her last words showed a great internal effort, a terrible victory won over herself. The rector brought her back

to the house without saying another word. After that he remained till dinnertime, talking about the proposed

"Agriculture is a question of time," he said; "the little that I know of it makes me understand what a gain it

would be to get some good out of the winter. The rains are now beginning, and the mountains will soon be

covered with snow; your operations cannot then be begun. Had you not better hasten Monsieur Grossetete?"

Insensibly, Monsieur Bonnet, who at first did all the talking, led Madame Graslin to join in the conversation

and so distract her thoughts; in fact, he left her almost recovered from the emotions of the day. Madame

Sauviat, however, thought her daughter too violently agitated to be left alone, and she spent the night in her

The following day an express, sent from Limoges by Monsieur Grossetete to Madame Graslin, brought her

My dear Child,It was difficult to find horses, but I hope you are satisfied with those I sent you. If you want

work or draft horses, you must look elsewhere. In any case, however, I advise you to do your tilling and

transportation with oxen. All the countries where agriculture is carried on with horses lose capital when the

horse is past work; whereas cattle always return a profit to those who use them.

I approve in every way of your enterprise, my child; you will thus employ the passionate activity of your

Your second request, namely, for a man capable of understanding and seconding your projects, requires me to

find you a rara avis such as we seldom raise in the provinces, where, if we do raise them, we never keep

them. The education of that high product is too slow and too risky a speculation for country folks.

Besides, men of intellect alarm us; we call them "originals." The men belonging to the scientific category

from which you will have to obtain your cooperator do not flourish here, and I was on the point of writing to

you that I despaired of fulfilling your commission. You want a poet, a man of ideas,in short, what we

should here call a fool, and all our fools go to Paris. I have spoken of your plans to the young men employed

in land surveying, to contractors on the canals, and makers of the embankments, and none of them see any

But suddenly, as good luck would have it, chance has thrown in my way the very man you want; a young

man to whom I believe I render a service in naming him to you. You will see by his letter, herewith enclosed,

that deeds of beneficence ought not to be done haphazard. Nothing needs more reflection than a good

action. We never know whether that which seems best at one moment may not prove an evil later. The

exercise of beneficence, as I have lived to discover, is to usurp the role of Destiny.

As she read that sentence Madame Graslin let fall the letter and was thoughtful for several minutes.

"My God!" she said at last, "when wilt thou cease to strike me down on all sides?"

Gerard seems to me to have a cool head and an ardent heart; that's the sort of man you want. Paris is just now

a hotbed of new doctrines; I should be delighted to have the lad removed from the traps which ambitious

minds are setting for the generous youth of France. While I do not altogether approve of the narrow and

stupefying life of the provinces, neither do I like the passionate life of Paris, with its ardor of reformation,

which is driving youth into so many unknown ways. You alone know my opinions; to my mind the moral

world revolves upon its own axis, like the material world. My poor protege demands (as you will see from his

letter) things impossible. No power can resist ambitions so violent, so imperious, so absolute, as those of

today. I am in favor of low levels and slowness in political change; I dislike these social overturns to which

To you I confide these principles of a monarchical and prejudiced old man, because you are discreet. Here I

hold my tongue in the midst of worthy people, who the more they fail the more they believe in progress; but I

I have replied to the enclosed letter, telling my young man that a worthy task awaits him. He will go to see

you, and though his letter will enable you to judge of him, you had better study him still further before

committing yourself,though you women understand many things from the mere look of a man. However,

all the men whom you employ, even the most insignificant, ought to be thoroughly satisfactory to you. If you

don't like him don't take him; but if he suits you, my dear child, I beg you to cure him of his illdisguised

ambition. Make him take to a peaceful, happy, rural life, where true beneficence is perpetually exercised;

where the capacities of great and strong souls find continual exercise, and they themselves discover daily

fresh sources of admiration in the works of Nature, and in real ameliorations, real progress, an occupation

I am not oblivious of the fact that great ideas give birth to great actions; but as those ideas are necessarily few

and far between, I think it may be said that usually things are more useful than ideas. He who fertilizes a

corner of the earth, who brings to perfection a fruittree, who makes a turf on a thankless soil, is far more

useful in his generation than he who seeks new theories for humanity. How, I ask you, has Newton's science

changed the condition of the country districts? Oh! my dear, I have always loved you; but today I, who fully

No one at Limoges forgets you; we all admire your grand resolution to benefit Montegnac. Be a little grateful

to us for having soul enough to admire a noble action, and do not forget that the first of your admirers is also

Monsieur,You have been to me a father when you might have been only a mere protector, and therefore I

venture to make you a rather sad confidence. It is to you alone, you who have made me what I am, that I can

I am afflicted with a terrible malady, a cruel moral malady. In my soul are feelings and in my mind

convictions which make me utterly unfit for what the State and society demand of me. This may seem to you

ingratitude; it is only the statement of a condition. When I was twelve years old you, my generous

godfather, saw in me, the son of a mere workman, an aptitude for the exact sciences and a precocious desire

to rise in life. You favored my impulse toward better things when my natural fate was to stay a carpenter like

my father, who, poor man, did not live long enough to enjoy my advancement. Indeed, monsieur, you did a

good thing, and there is never a day that I do not bless you for it. It may be that I am now to blame; but

whether I am right or wrong it is very certain that I suffer. In making my complaint to you I feel that I take

you as my judge like God Himself. Will you listen to my story and grant me your indulgence?

Between sixteen and eighteen years of age I gave myself to the study of the exact sciences with an ardor, you

remember, that made me ill. My future depended on my admission to the Ecole Polytechnique. At that time

my studies overworked my brain, and I came near dying; I studied night and day; I did more than the nature

of my organs permitted. I wanted to pass such satisfying examinations that my place in the Ecole would be

not only secure, but sufficiently advanced to release me from the cost of my support, which I did not want

I triumphed! I tremble today as I think of the frightful conscription (if I may so call it) of brains delivered

over yearly to the State by family ambition. By insisting on these severe studies at the moment when a youth

attains his various forms of growth, the authorities produce secret evils and kill by midnight study many

precious faculties which later would have developed both strength and grandeur. The laws of nature are

relentless; they do not yield in any particular to the enterprises or the wishes of society. In the moral order as

in the natural order all abuses must be paid for; fruits forced in a hothouse are produced at the tree's expense

and often at the sacrifice of the goodness of its product. La Quintinie killed the orangetrees to give Louis

XIV. a bunch of flowers every day at all seasons. So it is with intellects. The strain upon adolescent brains

That which is chiefly wanting to our epoch is legislative genius. Europe has had no true legislators since

Jesus Christ, who, not having given to the world a political code, left his work incomplete. Before

establishing great schools of specialists and regulating the method of recruiting for them, where were the

great thinkers who could bear in mind the relation of such institutions to human powers, balancing

advantages and injuries, and studying the past for the laws of the future? What inquiry has been made as to

the condition of exceptional men, who, by some fatal chance, knew human sciences before their time? Has

the rarity of such cases been reckonedthe result examined? Has any enquiry been made as to the means by

which such men were enabled to endure the perpetual strain of thought? How many, like Pascal, died

prematurely, wornout by knowledge? Have statistics been gathered as to the age at which those men who

lived the longest began their studies? Who has ever known, does any one know now, the interior construction

of brains which have been able to sustain a premature burden of human knowledge? Who suspects that this

For my part, I now believe the true general law is to remain a long time in the vegetative condition of

adolescence; and that those exceptions where strength of organs is produced during adolescence result

usually in the shortening of life. Thus the man of genius who is able to bear up under the precocious exercise

If I am right, if what I say accords with social facts and medical observations, then the system practised in

France in her technical schools is a fatal impairment and mutilation (in the style of La Quintinie) practised

But it is better to continue my history, and add my doubts as the facts develop themselves.

When I entered the Ecole Polytechnique, I worked harder than ever and with even more ardor, in order to

leave it as triumphantly as I had entered it. From nineteen to twentyone I developed every aptitude and

strengthened every faculty by constant practice. Those two years were the crown and completion of the first

three, during which I had only prepared myself to do well. Therefore my pride was great when I won the right

to choose the career that pleased me most,either military or naval engineering, artillery, or staff duty, or

the civil engineering of mining, and ponts et chaussees.[*] By your advice, I chose the latter.

[*] Department of the government including everything connected with the making and repairing of roads,

But where I triumphed how many others fail! Do you know that from year to year the State increases the

scientific requirements of the Ecole? the studies are more severe, more exacting yearly. The preparatory

studies which tried me so much were nothing to the intense work of the school itself, which has for its object

to put the whole of physical science, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, and all their nomenclatures into the

minds of young men of nineteen to twentyone years of age. The State, which seems in France to wish to

substitute itself in many ways for the paternal authority, has neither bowels of compassion nor fatherhood; it

makes its experiments in anima vili. Never does it inquire into the horrible statistics of the suffering it causes.

Does it know the number of brain fevers among its pupils during the last thirtysix years; or the despair and

the moral destruction which decimate its youth? I am pointing out to you this painful side of the State

You know that scholars whose conceptions are slow, or who are temporarily disabled from excess of mental

work, are allowed to remain at the Ecole three years instead of two; they then become the object of suspicions

little favorable to their capacity. This often compels young men, who might later show superior capacity, to

leave the school without being employed, simply because they could not meet the final examination with the

full scientific knowledge required. They are called "dried fruits"; Napoleon made sublieutenants of them.

Today the "dried fruits" constitute an enormous loss of capital to families and of time to individuals.

However, as I say, I triumphed. At twentyone years of age I knew the mathematical sciences up to the point

to which so many men of genius have brought them, and I was impatient to distinguish myself by carrying

them further. This desire is so natural that almost every pupil leaving the Ecole fixes his eyes on that moral

sun called Fame. The first thought of all is to become another Newton, or Laplace, or Vauban. Such are the

Now let us see the fate of these men culled with so much care from each generation. At oneandtwenty we

dream of life, and expect marvels of it. I entered the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees; I was a pupilengineer. I

studied the science of construction, and how ardently! I am sure you remember that. I left the school in 1827,

being then twentyfour years of age, still only a candidate as engineer, and the government paid me one

hundred and fifty francs a month; the commonest bookkeeper in Paris earns that by the time he is eighteen,

By a most unusual piece of luck, perhaps because of the distinction my devoted studies won for me, I was

made, in 1828, when I was twentyfive years old, engineerinordinary. I was sent, as you know, to a

subprefecture, with a salary of twenty five hundred francs. The question of money is nothing. Certainly my

fate has been more brilliant than the son of a carpenter might expect; but where will you find a grocer's boy,

who, if thrown into a shop at sixteen, will not in ten years be on the highroad to an independent property?

I learned then to what these terrible efforts of mental power, these gigantic exertions demanded by the State

were to lead. The State now employed me to count and measure pavements and heaps of stones on the

roadways; I had to keep in order, repair, and sometimes construct culverts, onearched bridges, regulate

drift ways, clean and sometimes open ditches, lay out bounds, and answer questions about the planting and

felling of trees. Such are the principal and sometimes the only occupations of ordinary engineers, together

with a little levelling which the government obliges us to do ourselves, though any of our chainbearers with

There are nearly four hundred engineersinordinary and pupil engineers; and as there are not more than a

hundred or so of engineersinchief, only a limited number of the subengineers can hope to rise. Besides,

above the grade of engineerinchief, there is no absorbent class; for we cannot count as a means of

absorption the ten or fifteen places of inspectorgenerals or divisionaries,posts that are almost as useless in

our corps as colonels are in the artillery, where the battery is the essential thing. The engineerinordinary,

like the captain of artillery, knows the whole science. He ought not to have any one over him except an

administrative head to whom no more than eightysix engineers should report,for one engineer, with two

The present hierarchy in these bodies results in the subordination of active energetic capacities to the

wornout capacities of old men, who, thinking they know best, alter or nullify the plans submitted by their

subordinates,perhaps with the sole aim of making their existence felt; for that seems to me the only

influence exercised over the public works of France by the Councilgeneral of the Ponts et Chaussees.

Suppose, however, that I become, between thirty and forty years of age, an engineer of the firstclass and an

engineerinchief before I am fifty. Alas! I see my future; it is written before my eyes. Here is a forecast of

My present engineerinchief is sixty years old; he issued with honors, as I did, from the famous Ecole; he

has turned gray doing in two departments what I am doing now, and he has become the most ordinary man it

is possible to imagine; he has fallen from the height to which he had really risen; far worse, he is no longer on

the level of scientific knowledge; science has progressed, he has stayed where he was. The man who came

forth ready for life at twentytwo years of age, with every sign of superiority, has nothing left today but the

reputation of it. In the beginning, with his mind specially turned to the exact sciences and mathematics by his

education, he neglected everything that was not his specialty; and you can hardly imagine his present dulness

in all other branches of human knowledge. I hardly dare confide even to you the secrets of his incapacity

sheltered by the fact that he was educated at the Ecole Polytechnique. With that label attached to him and on

the faith of that prestige, no one dreams of doubting his ability. To you alone do I dare reveal the fact that the

dulling of all his talents has led him to spend a million on a single matter which ought not to have cost the

administration more than two hundred thousand francs. I wished to protest, and was about to inform the

prefect; but an engineer I know very well reminded me of one of our comrades who was hated by the

administration for doing that very thing. "How would you like," he said to me, "when you get to be

engineerinchief to have your errors dragged forth by your subordinate? Before long your

engineerinchief will be made a divisional inspector. As soon as any one of us commits a serious blunder,

as he has done, the administration (which can't allow itself to appear in the wrong) will quietly retire him

That's how the reward of merit devolves on incapacity. All France knew of the disaster which happened in

the heart of Paris to the first suspension bridge built by an engineer, a member of the Academy of Sciences; a

melancholy collapse caused by blunders such as none of the ancient engineersthe man who cut the canal at

Briare in Henri IV.'s time, or the monk who built the Pont Royal would have made; but our administration

consoled its engineer for his blunder by making him a member of the Councilgeneral.

Are the technical schools vast manufactories of incapables? That subject requires careful investigation. If I

am right they need reforming, at any rate in their method of proceeding,for I am not, of course, doubting

the utility of such schools. Only, when we look back into the past we see that France in former days never

wanted for the great talents necessary to the State; but now she prefers to hatch out talent geometrically, after

the theory of Monge. Did Vauban ever go to any other Ecole than that great school we call vocation? Who

was Riquet's tutor? When great geniuses arise above the social mass, impelled by vocation, they are nearly

always rounded into completeness; the man is then not merely a specialist, he has the gift of universality. Do

you think that an engineer from the Ecole Polytechnique could ever create one of those miracles of

architecture such as Leonardo da Vinci knew how to build,mechanician, architect, painter, inventor of

Trained from their earliest years to the baldness of axiom and formula, the youths who leave the Ecole have

lost the sense of elegance and ornament; a column seems to them useless; they return to the point where art

But all this is nothing in comparison to the real malady which is undermining me. I feel an awful

transformation going on within me; I am conscious that my powers and my faculties, formerly unnaturally

taxed, are giving way. I am letting the prosaic influence of my life get hold of me. I who, by the very nature

of my efforts, looked to do some great thing, I am face to face with none but petty ones; I measure stones, I

inspect roads, I have not enough to really occupy me for two hours in my day. I see my colleagues marry, and

fall into a situation contrary to the spirit of modern society. I wanted to be useful to my country. Is my

ambition an unreasonable one? The country asked me to put forth all my powers; it told me to become a

representative of science; yet here I am with folded arms in the depths of the provinces. I am not even

allowed to leave the locality in which I am penned, to exercise my faculties in planning useful enterprises. A

hidden but very real disfavor is the certain reward of any one of us who yields to an inspiration and goes

No, the favor a superior man has to hope for in that case is that his talent and his presumption may not be

noticed, and that his project may be buried in the archives of the administration. What think you will be the

reward of Vicat, the one among us who has brought about the only real progress in the practical science of

construction? The Councilgeneral of the Ponts et Chaussees, composed in part of men wornout by long

and sometimes honorable service, but whose only remaining force is for negation, and who set aside

everything they no longer comprehend, is the extinguisher used to snuff out the projects of audacious spirits.

This Council seems to have been created to paralyze the arm of that glorious youth of France, which asks

Monstrous things are done in Paris. The future of a province depends on the mere signature of men who

(through intrigues I have no time to explain to you) often stop the execution of useful and muchneeded

work; in fact, the best plans are often those which offer most to the cupidity of commercial companies or

Another five years and I shall no longer be myself; my ambition will be quenched, my desire to use the

faculties my country ordered me to exercise gone forever; the faculties themselves are rusting out in the

miserable corner of the world in which I vegetate. Taking my chances at their best, the future seems to me a

poor thing. I have just taken advantage of a furlough to come to Paris; I mean to change my profession and

find some other way to put my energy, my knowledge, and my activity to use. I shall send in my resignation

If I find I cannot do this, then I shall throw myself into the struggle of the new doctrines, which certainly

seem calculated to produce great changes in the present social order by judiciously guiding the

workingclasses. What are we now but workers without work, tools on the shelves of a shop? We are trained

and organized as if to move the world, and nothing is given us to do. I feel within me some great thing, which

is decreasing daily, and will soon vanish; I tell you so with mathematical frankness. Before making the

change I want your advice; I look upon myself as your child, and I will never take any important step without

I know very well that the State, after obtaining a class of trained men, cannot undertake for them alone great

public works; there are not three hundred bridges needed a year in all France; the State can no more build

great buildings for the fame of its engineers than it can declare war merely to win battles and bring to the

front great generals; but, then, as men of genius have never failed to present themselves when the occasion

called for them, springing from the crowd like Vauban, can there be any greater proof of the uselessness of

the present institution? Can't they see that when they have stimulated a man of talent by all those preparations

he will make a fierce struggle before he allows himself to become a nonentity? Is this good policy on the part

of the State? On the contrary, is not the State lighting the fire of ardent ambitions, which must find fuel

Among the six hundred young men whom they put forth every year there are exceptions,men who resist

what may be called their demonetization. I know some myself, and if I could tell you their struggles with men

and things when armed with useful projects and conceptions which might bring life and prosperity to the

halfdead provinces where the State has sent them, you would feel that a man of power, a man of talent, a

man whose nature is a miracle, is a hundredfold more unfortunate and more to be pitied than the man whose

I have made up my mind, therefore, that I would rather direct some commercial or industrial enterprise, and

live on small means while trying to solve some of the great problems still unknown to industry and to society,

You will tell me, perhaps, that nothing hinders me from employing the leisure that I certainly have in using

my intellectual powers and seeking in the stillness of this commonplace life the solution of some problem

useful to humanity. Ah! monsieur, don't you know the influence of the provinces,the relaxing effect of a

life just busy enough to waste time on futile labor, and not enough to use the rich resources our education has

given us? Don't think me, my dear protector, eaten up by the desire to make a fortune, nor even by an

insensate desire for fame. I am too much of a calculator not to know the nothingness of glory. Neither do I

want to marry; seeing the fate now before me, I think my existence a melancholy gift to offer any woman. As

for money, though I regard it as one of the most powerful means given to social man to act with, it is, after

I place my whole desire and happiness on the hope of being useful to my country. My greatest pleasure

would be to work in some situation suited to my faculties. If in your region, or in the circle of your

acquaintances, you should hear of any enterprise that needed the capacities you know me to possess, think of

What I have written here, dear sir and friend, others think. I have seen many of my classmates or older

graduates caught like me in the toils of some specialty,geographical engineers, captain professors,

captains of engineers, who will remain captains all their lives, and now bitterly regret they did not enter

active service with the army. Reflecting on these miserable results, I ask myself the following questions, and

I would like your opinion on them, assuring you that they are the fruit of long meditation, clarified in the fires

What is the real object of the State? Does it truly seek to obtain fine capacities? The system now pursued

directly defeats that end; it has crated the most thorough mediocrities that any government hostile to

superiority could desire. Does it wish to give a career to its choice minds? As a matter of fact, it affords them

the meanest opportunities; there is not a man who has issued from the Ecoles who does not bitterly regret,

when he gets to be fifty or sixty years of age, that he ever fell into the trap set for him by the promises of the

State. Does it seek to obtain men of genius? What man of genius, what great talent have the schools produced

since 1790? If it had not been for Napoleon would Cachin, the man of genius to whom France owes

Cherbourg, have existed? Imperial despotism brought him forward; the constitutional regime would have

smothered him. How many men from the Ecoles are to be found in the Academy of Sciences? Possibly two

or three. The man of genius develops always outside of the technical schools. In the sciences which those

schools teach genius obeys only its own laws; it will not develop except under conditions which man cannot

control; neither the State nor the science of mankind, anthropology, understands them. Riquet, Perronet,

Leonardo da Vinci, Cachin, Palladio, Brunelleschi, MichelAngelo, Bramante, Vauban, Vicat, derive their

genius from causes unobserved and preparatory, which we call chance,the pet word of fools. Never, with

Now comes the question, Does the State gain through these institutions the better doing of its works of public

utility, or the cheaper doing of them? As for that, I answer that private enterprises of a like kind get on very

well without the help of our engineers; and next, the government works are the most extravagant in the world,

and the additional cost of the vast administrative staff of the Ponts et Chaussees is immense. In all other

countries, in Germany, England, Italy, where institutions like ours do not exist, works of this character are

better done and far less costly than in France. Those three nations are remarkable for new and useful

inventions in this line. I know it is the fashion to say, in speaking of our Ecoles, that all Europe envies them;

but for the last fifteen years Europe, which closely observes us, has not established others like them. England,

that clever calculator, has better schools among her working population, from which come practical men who

show their genius the moment they rise from practice to theory. Stephenson and MacAdam did not come

But what is the good of talking? When a few young and able engineers, full of ardor, solve, at the outset of

their career, the problem of maintaining the roads of France, which need some hundred millions spent upon

them every quarter of a century (and which are now in a pitiable state), they gain nothing by making known

in reports and memoranda their intelligent knowledge; it is immediately engulfed in the archives of the

general Direction, that Parisian centre where everything enters and nothing issues; where old men are

jealous of young ones, and all the posts of management are used to shelve old officers or men who have

This is why, with a body of scientific men spread all over the face of France and constituting a part of the

administration,a body which ought to enlighten every region on the subject of its resources,this is why

we are still discussing the practicability of railroads while other countries are making theirs. If ever France

was to show the excellence of her institution of technical schools, it should have been in this magnificent

phase of public works, which is destined to change the face of States and nations, to double human life, and

modify the laws of space and time. Belgium, the United States of America, England, none of whom have an

Ecole Polytechnique, will be honeycombed with railroads when French engineers are still surveying ours, and

Thus I say that as for the State, it derives no benefit from its technical schools; as for the individual pupil of

those schools, his earnings are poor, his ambition crushed, and his life a cruel deception. Most assuredly the

powers he has displayed between sixteen and twentysix years of age would, if he had been cast upon his

own resources, have brought him more fame and more wealth than the government in whom he trusted will

ever give him. As a commercial man, a learned man, a military man, this choice intellect would have worked

in a vast centre where his precious faculties and his ardent ambition would not be idiotically and prematurely

Where, then, is progress? Man and State are both kept backward by this system. Does not the experience of a

whole generation demand a reform in the practical working of these institutions? The duty of culling from all

France during each generation the choice minds destined to become the learned and the scientific of the

nation is a sacred office, the priests of which, the arbiters of so many fates, should be trained by special study.

Mathematical knowledge is perhaps less necessary to them than physiological knowledge. And do you not

think that they need a little of that secondsight which is the witchcraft of great men? As it is, the examiners

are former professors, honorable men grown old in harness, who limit their work to selecting the best themes.

They are unable to do what is really demanded of them; and yet their functions are the noblest in the State

Do not think, dear sir and friend, that I blame only the Ecole itself; no, I blame the system by which it is

recruited. This system is the concours, competition,a modern invention, essentially bad; bad not only in

science, but wherever it is employed, in arts, in all selections of men, of projects, of things. If it is a reproach

to our great Ecoles that they have not produced men superior to other educational establishments, it is still

more shameful that the grand prix of the Institute has not as yet furnished a single great painter, great

musician, great architect, great sculptor; just as the suffrage for the last twenty years has not elected out of its

tide of mediocrities a single great statesman. My observation makes me detect, as I think, an error which

vitiates in France both education and politics. It is a cruel error, and it rests on the following principle, which

Nothing, either in experience or in the nature of things, can give a certainty that the intellectual qualities of

At this moment I am intimate with a number of distinguished men who concern themselves with all the moral

maladies which are now afflicting France. They see, as I do, that our highest education is manufacturing

temporary capacities,temporary because they are without exercise and without future; that such education

is without profit to the State because it is devoid of the vigor of belief and feeling. Our whole system of

public education needs overhauling, and the work should be presided over by some man of great knowledge,

powerful will, and gifted with that legislative genius which has never been met with among moderns, except

Possibly our superfluous numbers might be employed in giving elementary instruction so much needed by

the people. The deplorable amount of crime and misdemeanors shows a social disease directly arising from

the halfeducation given the masses, which tends to the destruction of social ties by making the people reflect

just enough to desert the religious beliefs which are favorable to social order, and not enough to lift them to

the theory of obedience and duty, which is the highest reach of the new transcendental philosophy. But as it is

impossible to make a whole nation study Kant, therefore I say fixed beliefs and habits are safer for the masses

If I had my life to begin over again, perhaps I would enter a seminary and become a simple village priest, or

the teacher of a country district. But I am too far advanced in my profession now to be a mere primary

instructor; I can, if I leave my present post, act in a wider range than that of a school or a country parish. The

SaintSimonians, to whom I have been tempted to ally myself, want now to take a course in which I cannot

follow them. Nevertheless, in spite of their mistakes, they have touched on many of the sore spots which are

the fruits of our present legislation, and which the State will only doctor by insufficient palliatives,merely

Adieu, dear Monsieur Grossetete; accept the assurance of my respectful attachment, which, notwithstanding

According to his old habit as a banker, Grossetete had jotted down his reply on the back of the letter itself,

It is useless, my dear Gerard, to discuss the observations made in your letter, because by a trick of chance (I

use the term which is, as you say, the pet word of fools) I have a proposal to make to you which may result in

withdrawing you from the situation you find so bad. Madame Graslin, the owner of the forests of Montegnac

and of a barren plateau extending from the base of a chain of mountains on which are the forests, wishes to

improve this vast domain, to clear her timber properly, and cultivate the stony plain.

To put this project into execution she needs a man of your scientific knowledge and ardor, and one who has

also your disinterested devotion and your ideas of practical utility. It will be little money and much work! a

great result from small means! a whole region to be changed fundamentally! barren places to be made to gush

with plenty! Isn't that precisely what you want,you who are dreaming of constructing a poem? From the

tone of sincerity which pervades your letter, I do not hesitate to bid you come and see me at Limoges. But,

my good friend, don't send in your resignation yet; get leave of absence only, and tell your administration that

you are going to study questions connected with your profession outside of the government works. In this

way, you will not lose your rights, and you will have time to judge for yourself whether the project conceived

I will explain to you by word of mouth the advantages you will find in case this great scheme can be carried

Madame Graslin replied to Grossetete in few words: "Thank you, my friend; I shall expect your protege." She

The rector read the letter, reread it, made two or three turns on the terrace silently; then he gave it back to

"A fine soul, and a superior man. He says the schools invented by the genius of the Revolution manufacture

incapacities. For my part, I say they manufacture unbelievers; for if Monsieur Gerard is not an atheist, he is a

A fortnight later, in December, and in spite of the cold, Monsieur Grossetete came to the chateau de

Montegnac, to "present his protege," whom Veronique and Monsieur Bonnet were impatiently awaiting.

"I must love you very much, my dear child," said the old man, taking Veronique's two hands in his, and

kissing them with that gallantry of old men which never displeases women, "yes, I must love you well, to

come from Limoges in such weather. But I wanted to present to you myself the gift of Monsieur Gregoire

Gerard here present. You'll find him a man after your own heart, Monsieur Bonnet," added the banker,

Gerard's external appearance was not prepossessing. He was of middle height, stocky in shape, the neck sunk

in the shoulders, as they say vulgarly; he had yellow hair, and the pink eyes of an albino, with lashes and

eyebrows almost white. Though his skin, like that of all persons of that description, was amazingly white,

marks of the small box and other very visible scars had destroyed its original brilliancy. Study had probably

When he removed the great cloak of a gendarme in which he was wrapped, it was seen that his clothing did

not improve his general appearance. The manner in which his garments were put on and buttoned, his untidy

cravat, his rumpled shirt, were signs of the want of personal care with which men of science, all more or less

absentminded, are charged. As in the case of most thinkers, his countenance and his attitude, the

development of his bust and the thinness of his legs, betrayed a sort of bodily debility produced by habits of

meditation. Nevertheless, the ardor of his heart and the vigor of his mind, proofs of which were given in this

letter, gleamed from his forehead, which was white as Carrara marble. Nature seemed to have reserved to

herself that spot in order to place there visible signs of the grandeur, constancy, and goodness of the man. The

nose, like that of most men of the true Gallic race, was flattened. His mouth, firm and straight, showed

absolute discretion and the instinct of economy. But the whole mask, worn by study, looked prematurely old.

"We must begin by thanking you, monsieur," said Madame Graslin, addressing the engineer, "for being

willing to direct an enterprise in a part of the country which can offer you no other pleasure than the

"Madame," he replied, "Monsieur Grossetete has told me enough about your enterprise as we came along to

make me already glad that I can in any way be useful to you; the prospect of living in close relations with you

and Monsieur Bonnet seems to me charming. Unless I am dismissed from this region, I expect to end my

"Here," said Grossetete, addressing Veronique, whom he took aside, "are the papers which the

procureurgeneral gave to me. He was quite surprised that you did not address your inquiry about Catherine

Curieux to him. All that you wished has been done immediately, with the utmost promptitude and devotion.

"She is now in the hospital SaintLouis," replied the old man; "they are awaiting her recovery before sending

"You will find all necessary information in these papers," said Grossetete, giving Veronique a packet.

Madame Graslin returned to her guests to conduct them into the magnificent diningroom on the

groundfloor. She sat at table, but did not herself take part in the dinner; since her arrival at Montegnac she

had made it a rule to take her meals alone, and Aline, who knew the reason of this withdrawal, faithfully kept

The doctor, a young man twentyseven years of age, named Roubaud, was extremely desirous of knowing a

woman so celebrated in Limoges. The rector was all the more pleased to present him at the chateau because

he wanted to gather a little society around Veronique to distract her mind and give it food. Roubaud was one

of those thoroughly well trained young physicians whom the Ecole de Medecine in Paris sends forth to the

profession. He would undoubtedly have shone on the vast stage of the capital; but frightened by the clash of

ambitions in Paris, and knowing himself more capable than pushing, more learned than intriguing, his gentle

disposition led him to choose the narrow career of the provinces, where he hoped to be sooner appreciated

At Limoges, Roubaud came in contact with the settled practice of the regular physicians and the habits of the

people; he therefore let himself be persuaded by Monsieur Bonnet, who, judging by the gentle and winning

expression of his face, thought him wellsuited to cooperate in his own work at Montegnac. Roubaud was

small and fair; his general appearance was rather insipid, but his gray eyes betrayed the depths of the

physiologist and the patient tenacity of a studious man. There was no physician in Montegnac except an old

armysurgeon, more devoted to his cellar than to his patients, and too old to continue with any vigor the hard

Roubaud had been in Montegnac about eighteen months, and was much liked there. But this young pupil of

Desplein and the successors of Cabanis did not believe in Catholicism. He lived in a state of profound

indifference as to religion, and did not desire to come out of it. The rector was in despair. Not that Roubaud

did any wrong; he never spoke against religion, and his duties were excuse enough for his absence from

church; besides, he was incapable of trying to undermine the faith of others, and indeed behaved outwardly as

the best of Catholics; he simply prohibited himself from thinking of a problem which he considered above the

range of human thought. When the rector heard him say that pantheism had been the religion of all great

minds he set him down as inclining to the doctrine of Pythagoras on reincarnation.

Roubaud, who saw Madame Graslin for the first time, experienced a violent sensation when he met her.

Science revealed to him in her expression, her attitude, in the ravages of her face, untold sufferings both

moral and physical, a nature of almost superhuman force, great faculties which would support her under the

most conflicting trials; he detected all,even the darkest corners of that nature so carefully hidden. He felt

that some evil, some malady, was devouring the heart of that fine creature; for just as the color of a fruit

shows the presence of a worm within it, so certain tints in the human face enable physicians to detect a

From this moment Monsieur Roubaud attached himself so deeply to Madame Graslin that he became afraid

of loving her beyond the permitted line of simple friendship. The brow, the bearing, above all, the glance of

Veronique's eye had a sort of eloquence that men invariably understand; it said as plainly that she was dead to

love as other women say the contrary by a reversal of the same eloquence. The doctor suddenly vowed to her,

He exchanged a rapid glance with the rector, who thought to himself, "Here's the thunderbolt which will

The mayor, an old countryman, amazed at the luxury of this diningroom and surprised to find himself

dining with one of the richest men in the department, had put on his best clothes, which rather hampered him,

and this increased his mental awkwardness. Moreover, Madame Graslin in her mourning garments seemed to

him very imposing; he was therefore mute. After living all his life as a farmer at Saint Leonard, he had

bought the only habitable house in Montegnac and cultivated with his own hands the land belonging to it.

Though he knew how to read and write, he would have been incapable of fulfilling his functions were it not

for the help of his clerk and the juge de paix, who prepared his work for him. He was very anxious to have a

notary established in Montegnac, in order that he might shift the burden of his responsibility on to that

officer's shoulders. But the poverty of the village and its outlying districts made such a functionary almost

useless, and the inhabitants had recourse when necessary to the notaries of the chief town of the

The juge de paix, named Clousier, was formerly a lawyer in Limoges, where cases had deserted him because

he insisted on putting into practice that fine axiom that the lawyer is the best judge of the client and the case.

In 1809 he obtained his present post, the meagre salary of which just enabled him to live. He had now

reached a stage of honorable but absolute poverty. After a residence of twentyone years in this poor village

the worthy man, thoroughly countrified, looked, topcoat and all, exactly like the farmers about him.

Under this coarse exterior Clousier hid a clearsighted mind, given to lofty meditation on public policy,

though he himself had fallen into a state of complete indifference, derived from his intimate knowledge of

men and their interests. This man, who baffled for a long time the rector's perspicacity and who might in a

higher sphere have proved another l'Hopital, incapable of intrigue like all really profound persons, was by

this time living in the contemplative state of an ancient hermit. Independent through privation, no personal

consideration acted on his mind; he knew the laws and judged impartially. His life, reduced to the merest

necessaries, was pure and regular. The peasants loved Monsieur Clousier and respected him for the

disinterested fatherly care with which he settled their differences and gave them advice in their daily affairs.

The "goodman Clousier" as all Montegnac called him, had a nephew with him as clerk, an intelligent young

Old Clousier's personal appearance was remarkable for a broad, high forehead and two bushes of white hair

which stood out from his head on either side of it. His highly colored complexion and welldeveloped

corpulence might have made persons think, in spite of his actual sobriety, that he cultivated Bacchus as well

as Troplong and Toullier. His halfextinct voice was the sign of an oppressive asthma. Perhaps the dry air of

Montegnac had contributed to fix him there. He lived in a house arranged for him by a welltodo cobbler to

whom it belonged. Clousier had already seen Veronique at church, and he had formed his opinion of her

without communicating it to any one, not even to Monsieur Bonnet, with whom he was beginning to be

intimate. For the first time in his life the juge de paix was to be thrown in with persons able to appreciate him.

When the company were seated round a table handsomely appointed (for Veronique had sent all her

household belongings from Limoges to Montegnac) the six guests felt a momentary embarrassment. The

doctor, the mayor and the juge de paix knew nothing of Grossetete and Gerard. But during the first course,

old Grossetete's hearty good humor broke the ice of a first meeting. In addition to this, Madame Graslin's

cordiality led on Gerard, and encouraged Roubaud. Under her touch these souls full of fine qualities

recognized their relation, and felt they had entered a sympathetic circle. So, by the time the dessert appeared

on the table, when the glass and china with gilded edges sparkled, and the choicer wines were served by

Aline and Champion and Grossetete's valet, the conversation became sufficiently confidential to allow these

four choice minds, thus meeting by chance, to express their real thoughts on matters of importance, such as

men like to discuss when they can do so and be sure of the discretion of their companions.

"Your furlough came just in time to let you witness the revolution of July," said Grossetete to Gerard, with an

"Yes," replied the engineer. "I was in Paris during the three famous days. I saw all; and I came to sad

"There is no longer any patriotism except under dirty shirts," replied Gerard. "In that lies the ruin of France!

July was the voluntary defeat of all superiorities,name, fortune, talent. The ardent, devoted masses carried

the day against the rich and the intelligent, to whom ardor and devotion are repugnant."

"To judge by what has happened during the past year," said Monsieur Clousier, "this change of government is

simply a premium given to an evil that is sapping us,individualism. Fifteen years hence all questions of a

generous nature will be met by, What is that to me? the great cry of Freedom of Will descending from the

religious heights where Luther, Calvin, Zwinglius, and Knox introduced it, into even political economy.

Every one for himself; every man his own master,those two terrible axioms form, with the What is that to

me? a trinity of wisdom to the burgher and the small landowner. This egotism results from the vices of our

present civil legislation (too hastily made), to which the revolution of July has just given a terrible

The juge de paix fell back into his usual silence after thus expressing himself; but the topics he suggested

must have occupied the minds of those present. Emboldened by Clousier's words, and moved by the look

"The good King Charles X.," he said, "has just failed in the most far sighted and salutary enterprise a

monarch ever planned for the welfare of the people confided to him; and the Church ought to feel proud of

the part she took in his councils. But the upper classes deserted him in heart and mind, just as they had

already deserted him on the great question of the law of primogeniture,the lasting honor of the only bold

statesman the Restoration has produced, namely, the Comte de Peyronnet. To reconstitute the nation through

the family; to take from the press its venomous action and confine it to its real usefulness; to recall the

elective Chamber to its true functions; and to restore to religion its power over the people,such were the

four cardinal points of the internal policy of the house of Bourbon. Well, twenty years from now all France

will have recognized the necessity of that grand and sound policy. Charles X. was in greater peril in the

situation he chose to leave than in that in which his paternal power has been defeated. The future of our noble

countrywhere all things will henceforth be brought periodically into question, where our rulers will discuss

incessantly instead of acting, where the press, become a sovereign power, will be the instrument of base

ambitions this future will only prove the wisdom of the king who has just carried away with him the true

principles of government; and history will bear in mind the courage with which he resisted his best friends

after having probed the wound and seen the necessity of curative measures, which were not sustained by

"Ah! monsieur," cried Gerard, "you are frank; you go straight to your thought without disguise, and I won't

contradict you. Napoleon in his Russian campaign was forty years in advance of the spirit of his age; he was

never understood. The Russia and England of 1830 explains the campaign of 1812. Charles X. has been

misunderstood in the same way. It is quite possible that in twentyfive years from now his ordinances may

"France, too eloquent not to gabble, too full of vanity to bow down before real talent, is, in spite of the

sublime good sense of its language and the mass of its people, the very last nation in which two deliberative

chambers should have been attempted," said the juge de paix. "Or, at any rate, the weaknesses of our national

character should have been guarded against by the admirable restrictions which Napoleon's experience laid

upon them. Our present system may succeed in a country whose action is circumscribed by the nature of its

soil, like England; but the law of primogeniture applied to the transmission of land is absolutely necessary;

when that law is suppressed the system of legislative representation becomes absurd. England owes her

existence to the quasifeudal law which entails landed property and family mansions on the eldest son.

Russia is based on the feudal right of autocracy. Consequently those two nations are today on the high

road of startling progress. Austria could only resist our invasions and renew the way against Napoleon by

virtue of that law of primogeniture which preserves in the family the active forces of a nation, and supplies

the great productions necessary to the State. The house of Bourbon, feeling that it was slipping to the third

rank in Europe, by reason of liberalism, wanted to regain its rightful place and there maintain itself, and the

nation has thrown it over at the very time it was about to save the nation. I am sure I don't know how low

"If we have a war, France will be without horses, as Napoleon was in 1813, when, being reduced to those of

France only, he could not profit by his two victories of Lutzen and Botzen, and so was crushed at Leipzig,"

cried Grossetete. "If peace continues, the evil will only increase. Twentyfive years from now the race of

"Monsieur Grossetete is right," remarked Gerard. "So that the work you are undertaking here, madame," he

"Yes," said the juge de paix, "because Madame has but one son, and the inheritance will not be divided up;

but how long will that condition last? For a certain length of time the magnificent culture which you are

about to introduce will, let us hope, belong to only one proprietor, who will continue to breed horned beasts

and horses; but sooner or later the day must come when these forests and fields will be divided up and sold in

small parcels. Divided and redivided, the six thousand acres of that plain will have a thousand or twelve

"There! don't you hear the What is that to me? Monsieur Clousier talked of?" cried Monsieur Grossetete.

"Taken in the act! But, monsieur," resumed the banker, gravely addressing the dumfounded mayor, "those

days have really come. In a radius of thirty miles round Paris the land is so divided up into small holdings

that milch cows are no longer seen. The Commune of Argenteuil contains thirtyeight thousand eight

hundred and eightyfive parcels of land, many of which do not return a farthing of revenue. If it were not for

the rich refuse of Paris, which produces a fodder of strong quality, I don't know how dairymen would get

along. As it is, this overstimulating food and confinement in close stables produce inflammatory diseases, of

which the cows often die. They use cows in the neighborhood of Paris as they do horses in the street. Crops

more profitable than hay vegetables, fruit, apple orchards, vineyardsare taking the place of

meadowlands. In a few years we shall see milk sent to Paris by the mailcoaches as they now send fish.

What is going on around Paris is also going on round all the large cities of France; the land will thus be used

up before many years are gone. Chaptel states that in 1800 there were barely two million acres of vineyard in

France; a careful estimate would give ten million today. Divided ad infinitum by our present system of

inheritance, Normandy will lose half her production of horses and cattle; but she will have a monopoly of

milk in Paris, for her climate, happily, forbids grape culture. We shall soon see a curious phenomenon in the

progressive rise in the cost of meat. In twenty years from now, in 1850, Paris, which paid seven to eleven

sous for a pound of beef in 1814, will be paying twentyunless there comes a man of genius who can carry

"You have laid your finger on the mortal wound of France," said the juge de paix. "The root of our evils lies

in the section relating to inheritance in the Civil Code, in which the equal division of property among heirs is

ordained. That's the pestle that pounds territory into crumbs, individualizes fortunes, and takes from them

their needful stability; decomposing ever and never recomposing,a state of things which must end in the

ruin of France. The French Revolution emitted a destructive virus to which the July days have given fresh

activity. This vitiating element is the accession of the peasantry to the ownership of land. In the section 'On

Inheritance' is the principle of the evil, the peasant is the means through which it works. No sooner does that

class get a parcel of land into its maw than it begins to subdivide it, till there are scarcely three furrows left in

each lot. And even then the peasant does not stop! He divides the three furrows across their length, as

Monsieur Grossetete has just shown us at Argenteuil. The unreasonable price which the peasant attaches to

the smallest scrap of his land makes it impossible to repurchase and restore a fine estate. Monsieur," he went

on, indicating Grossetete, "has just mentioned the diminution in the raising of horses and cattle; well, the

Code has much to do with that. The peasant proprietor owns cows; he looks to them for his means of living;

he sells the calves, he sells his butter; he never dreams of raising cattle, still less of raising horses; but as he

cannot raise enough fodder to support his cows through a dry season, he sends them to market when he can

feed them no longer. If by some fatal chance the hay were to fail for two years running, you would see a

startling change the third year in the price of beef, but especially in that of veal."

"Oh!" exclaimed Madame Graslin, looking at Roubaud, "can't politics get on without the wit of journalism,

"In this lamentable business, the bourgeoisie plays the same role as the pioneers of America," continued

Clousier. "It buys up great estates, which the peasantry could not otherwise acquire. It cuts them up and then

sells, either at auction or in small lots at private sale, to the peasants. Everything is judged by figures in these

days, and I know none more eloquent than these. France has ninetynine million acres, which, subtracting

highways, roads, dunes, canals, and barren, uncultivated regions deserted by capital, may be reduced to

eighty millions. Now out of eighty millions of acres to thirtytwo millions of inhabitants we find one hundred

and twentyfive millions of small lots registered on the taxlist (I don't give fractions). Thus, you will

observe, we have gone to the utmost limit of agrarian law, and yet we have not seen the last of poverty or

dissatisfaction. Those who divide territory into fragments and lessen production have, of course, plenty of

organs to cry out that true social justice consists in giving every man a life interest, and no more, in a parcel

of land; perpetual ownership, they say, is robbery. The SaintSimonians are already proclaiming that

"The magistrate has spoken," said Grossetete, "and here's what the banker adds to those bold considerations.

The fact that the peasantry and the lesser bourgeoisie can now acquire land does France an injury which the

government seems not even to suspect. We may estimate the number of peasant families, omitting paupers, at

three millions. These families subsist on wages. Wages are paid in money, and not in kind"

"Yes, that's another blunder of our laws!" cried Clousier, interrupting the banker. "The right to pay in kind

might have been granted in 1790; now, if we attempted to carry such a law, we should risk a revolution."

"Therefore, as I was about to say, the proletary draws to himself the money of the country," resumed

Grossetete. "Now the peasant has no other passion, desire, or will, than to die a landowner. This desire, as

Monsieur Clousier has well shown, was born of the Revolution, and is the direct result of the sale of the

National domain. A man must be ignorant indeed of what is going on all over France in the country regions if

he is not aware that these three million families are yearly hoarding at least fifty francs, thus subtracting a

hundred and fifty millions from current use. The science of political economy has made it an axiom that a

fivefranc piece, passing through a hundred hands in one day, is equivalent to five hundred francs. Now, it is

perfectly plain to all of us who live in the country and observe the state of affairs, that every peasant has his

eye on the land he covets; he is watching and waiting for it, and he never invests his savings elsewhere; he

buries them. In seven years the savings thus rendered inert and unproductive amount to eleven hundred

million francs. But since the lesser bourgeoisie bury as much more, with the same purpose, France loses

every seven years the interest of at least two thousand millions,that is to say, about one hundred millions; a

loss which in fortytwo years amounts to six hundred million francs. But she not only loses six hundred

millions, she fails to create with that money manufacturing or agricultural products, which represent a loss of

twelve hundred millions; for, if the manufactured product were not double in value to its cost price,

commerce could not exist. The proletariat actually deprives itself of six hundred millions in wages. These six

hundred millions of dead loss (representing to a stern economist a loss of twelve hundred millions, through

lack of the benefits of circulation) explain the condition of inferiority in which our commerce, our merchant

service, and our agriculture stand, as compared with England. In spite of the difference of the two territories,

which is more than two thirds in our favor, England could remount the cavalry of two French armies, and she

has meat for every man. But there, as the system of landed property makes it almost impossible for the lower

classes to obtain it, money is not hoarded; it becomes commercial, and is turned over. Thus, besides the evil

of parcelling the land, involving that of the diminution of horses, cattle, and sheep, the section of the Code on

inheritance costs us six hundred millions of interest, lost by the hoarding of the money of the peasantry and

bourgeoisie, and twelve hundred millions, at least, of products; or, including the loss from noncirculation,

"The moral effect is worse than the material effect," cried the rector. "We are making beggarproprietors

among the people and half taught communities of the lesser bourgeoisie; and the fatal maxim 'Each for

himself,' which had its effect upon the upper classes in July of this year, will soon have gangrened the middle

classes. A proletariat devoid of sentiment, with no other god than envy, no other fanaticism than the despair

of hunger, without faith, without belief, will come forward before long and put its foot on the heart of the

nation. Foreigners, who have thriven under monarchical rule, will find that, having royalty, we have no king;

having legality, we have no laws; having property, no owners; no government with our elections, no force

with freedom, no happiness with equality. Let us hope that before that day comes God may raise up in France

a providential man, one of those Elect who give a new mind to nations, and like Sylla or like Marius, whether

"He would be sent to the assizes," said Gerard. "The sentence pronounced against Socrates and Jesus Christ

would be rendered against them in 1831. In these days as in the old days, envious mediocrity lets thinkers die

of poverty, and so gets rid of the great political physicians who have studied the wounds of France, and who

oppose the tendencies of their epoch. If they bear up under poverty, common minds ridicule them or call

them dreamers. In France, men revolt in the moral world against the great man of the future, just as they

"In the olden time sophists talked to a limited number of men; today the periodical press enables them to

lead astray a nation," cried the juge de paix; "and that portion of the press which pleads for right ideas finds

The mayor looked at Monsieur Clousier in amazement. Madame Graslin, glad to find in a simple juge de paix

a man whose mind was occupied with serious questions, said to Monsieur Roubaud, her neighbor, "Do you

"Not rightly until today, madame. You are doing miracles," he answered in a whisper. "And yet, look at his

brow, how noble in shape! Isn't it like the classic or traditional brow given by sculptors to Lycurgus and the

Greek sages? The revolution of July has an evidently retrograde tendency," said the doctor (who might in his

student days have made a barricade himself), after carefully considering Grossetete's calculation.

"These ideas are threefold," continued Clousier. "You have talked of law and finance, but how is it with the

government itself? The royal power, weakened by the doctrine of national sovereignty, in virtue of which the

election of August 9, 1830, has just been made, will endeavor to counteract that rival principle which gives to

the people the right to saddle the nation with a new dynasty every time it does not fully comprehend the ideas

of its king. You will see that we shall then have internal struggles which will arrest for long periods together

"All these reefs have been wisely evaded by England," remarked Gerard. "I have been there; I admire that

beehive, which sends its swarms over the universe and civilizes mankind,a people among whom

discussion is a political comedy, which satisfies the masses and hides the action of power, which then works

freely in its upper sphere; a country where elections are not in the hands of a stupid bourgeoisie, as they are in

France. If England were parcelled out into small holdings the nation would no longer exist. The landowning

class, the lords, guide the social mechanism. Their merchantservice, under the nose of Europe, takes

possession of whole regions of the globe to meet the needs of their commerce and to get rid of their paupers

and malcontents. Instead of fighting capacities, as we do, thwarting them, nullifying them, the English

aristocratic class seeks out young talent, rewards it, and is constantly assimilating it. Everything which

concerns the action of the government, in the choice of men and things, is prompt in England, whereas with

us all is slow; and yet the English are slow by nature, while we are impatient. With them money is bold and

actively employed; with us it is timid and suspicious. What Monsieur Grossetete has said of the industrial

losses which the hoarding peasantry inflict on France has its proof in a fact I will show to you in two words:

English capital, by its perpetual turning over, has created ten thousand millions of manufacturing and

interestbearing property; whereas French capital, which is far more abundant, has not created one tenth of

"And that is all the more extraordinary," said Roubaud, "because they are lymphatic, and we, as a general

"Ah! monsieur," said Clousier, "there you touch a great question, which ought to be studied: How to find

institutions properly adapted to repress the temperament of a people! Assuredly Cromwell was a great

legislator. He alone made the England of today, by inventing the 'Navigation Act,' which has made the

English enemies of all the world, and infused into them a ferocious pride and selfconceit, which is their

mainstay. But, in spite of their Malta citadel, if France and Russia will only comprehend the part the

Mediterranean and the Black Sea ought to be made to play in the future, the road to Asia through Egypt or by

the Euphrates, made feasible by recent discoveries, will kill England, as in former times the discovery of the

"Not one word of God's providence in all this!" cried the rector. "Monsieur Clousier and Monsieur Roubaud

are oblivious of religion. How is it with you, monsieur?" he added, turning to Gerard.

"You guessed it," cried Veronique, looking at the rector as she took Clousier's arm to return to the salon.

The prejudice Gerard's appearance excited against him had been quickly dispelled, and the three notables

"Unfortunately," said Monsieur Bonnet, "there is a cause of antagonism between Russia and the Catholic

countries which border the Mediterranean, in the very unimportant schism which separates the Greek religion

"We all preach our own saint," said Madame Graslin. "Monsieur Grossetete thinks of the lost millions;

Monsieur Clousier, of the overthrow of rights; the doctor here regards legislation as a question of

temperaments; and the rector sees an obstacle to the good understanding of France and Russia in religion."

"Add to that, madame," said Gerard, "that I see, in the hoarding of capital by the peasant and the small

"We want the wise State councillors who, under the Emperor, reflected on the laws, and a legislative body

elected by the intelligence of the country as well as by the landowners, whose only function would be to

oppose bad legislation and capricious wars. The Chamber, as constituted today, will proceed, as you will

"Good God!" cried the rector, in a flush of sacred patriotism, "how can such enlightened minds as these," and

he motioned to Clousier, Roubaud, and Gerard, "how can they see evil so clearly and suggest remedies

without first looking within and applying a remedy to themselves? All of you, who represent the attacked

classes, recognize the necessity of the passive obedience of the masses of the State, like that of soldiers

during a war; you want the unity of power, and you desire that it shall never be brought into question. What

England has obtained by the development of her pride and selfinterest (a part of her creed) cannot be

obtained in France but through sentiments due to Catholicism, and none of you are Catholics! Here am I, a

priest, obliged to leave my own ground and argue with arguers. How can you expect the masses to become

religious and obedient when they see irreligion and want of discipline above them? All peoples united by any

faith whatever will inevitably get the better of peoples without any faith at all. The law of public interest,

which gives birth to patriotism, is destroyed by the law of private interest, which it sanctions, but which gives

birth to selfishness. There is nothing solid and durable but that which is natural; and the natural thing in

human policy is the Family. The family must be the point of departure for all institutions. A universal effect

proves a universal cause; and what you have just been setting forth as evident on all sides comes from the

social principle itself; which is now without force because it has taken for its basis independence of thought

and will, and such freedom is the parent of individualism. To make happiness depend on the stability,

intelligence, and capacity of all is not as wise as to make happiness depend on the stability and intelligence of

institutions and the capacity of a single head. It is easier to find wisdom in one man than in a whole nation.

Peoples have heart and no eyes; they feel, and see not. Governments ought to see, and not determine anything

through sentiment. There is, therefore, an evident contradiction between the impulses of the multitude and the

action of power whose function it is to direct and unify those impulses. To meet with a great prince is

certainly a rare chance (to use your term), but to trust to a whole assembly, even though it is composed of

honest men only, is folly. France is committing that folly at this moment. Alas! you are just as much

convinced of that as I am. If all rightminded men, like yourselves, would only set an example around them,

if all intelligent hands would raise, in the great republic of souls, the altars of the one Church which has set

the interests of humanity before her, we might again behold in France the miracles our fathers did here."

"But the difficulty is, monsieur," said Gerard,"if I may speak to you with the freedom of the

confessional,I look upon faith as a lie we tell to ourselves, on hope as a lie we tell about the future, and on

charity as a trick for children to keep them good by the promise of sugarplums."

"Still, we sleep better for being rocked by hope, monsieur," said Madame Graslin.

This speech stopped Roubaud, who was about to reply; its effect was strengthened by a look from Grossetete

"Is it our fault," said Clousier, "that Jesus Christ had not the time to formulate a government in accordance

with his moral teaching, as did Moses and Confucius, the two greatest human lawgivers?witness the

existence, as a nation, of the Jews and Chinese, the former in spite of their dispersion over the whole earth,

"Ah! dear me! what work you are cutting out for me!" cried the rector naively. "But I shall triumph, I shall

convert you all! You are much nearer to the true faith than you think you are. Truth always lurks behind

This little outburst of the good rector had the effect of changing the conversation.

Before taking his departure the next day, Monsieur Grossetete promised Veronique to associate himself in all

her plans, as soon as the realization of them was a practicable thing. Madame Graslin and Gerard

accompanied his carriage on horseback, and did not leave him till they reached the junction of the highroad

of Montegnac with that from Bordeaux to Lyon. The engineer was so impatient to see the land he was to

reclaim, and Veronique was so impatient to show it to him, that they had planned this expedition the evening

After bidding adieu to the kind old man, they turned off the road across the vast plain, and skirted the

mountain chain from the foot of the rise which led to the chateau to the steep face of the RocheVive. The

engineer then saw plainly the shelf or barricade of rock mentioned by Farrabesche; which forms, as it were,

the lowest foundation of the hills. By so directing the water that it should not overflow the indestructible

canal which Nature had built, and by clearing out the accumulation of earth which choked it up, irrigation

would be helped rather than hindered by this natural sluiceway, which was raised, on an average, ten feet

above the plain. The first important point was to estimate the amount of water flowing through the Gabou,

and to make sure whether or not the slopes of the valley allowed any to escape in other directions.

Veronique gave Farrabesche a horse, and directed him to accompany the engineer and to explain to him

everything he had himself noticed. After several days' careful exploration, Gerard found that the base of the

two parallel slopes was sufficiently solid, though different in composition, to hold the water, allowing none to

escape. During the month of January, which was rainy, he estimated the quantity of water flowing through

the Gabou. This quantity, added to that of three streams which could easily be led into it, would supply water

enough to irrigate a tract of land three times as extensive as the plain of Montegnac. The damming of the

Gabou and the works necessary to direct the water of the three valleys to the plain, ought not to cost more

than sixty thousand francs; for the engineer discovered on the commons a quantity of calcareous soil which

would furnish the lime cheaply, the forest was close at hand, the wood and stone cost nothing, and the

transportation was trifling. While awaiting the season when the Gabou would be dry (the only time suitable

for the work) all the necessary preparations could be made so as to push the enterprise through rapidly when

But the preparation of the plain was another thing; that according to Gerard, would cost not less than two

hundred thousand francs, without including the sowing and planting. The plain was to be divided into square

compartments of two hundred and fifty acres each, where the ground had to be cleared, not only of its stunted

growths, but of rocks. Laborers would have to dig innumerable trenches, and stone them up so as to let no

water run to waste, also to direct its flow at will. This part of the enterprise needed the active and faithful

arms of conscientious workers. Chance provided them with a tract of land without natural obstacles, a long

even stretch of plain, where the waters, having a fall of ten feet, could be distributed at will. Nothing hindered

the finest agricultural results, while at the same time, the eye would be gratified by one of those magnificent

sheets of verdure which are the pride and the wealth of Lombardy. Gerard sent for an old and experienced

foreman, who had already been employed by him elsewhere in this capacity, named Fresquin.

Madame Graslin wrote to Grossetete, requesting him to negotiate for her a loan of two hundred and fifty

thousand francs, secured on her income from the Funds, which, if relinquished for six years, would be enough

to pay both capital and interest. This loan was obtained in March. By this time the preliminary preparations

carried on by Gerard and his foreman, Fresquin, were fully completed; also, the surveying, estimating,

levelling, and sounding. The news of this great enterprise spreading about the country, stimulated the

laboring population. The indefatigable Farrabesche, Colorat, Clousier, the mayor of Montegnac, Roubaud,

and others, interested either in the welfare of the neighborhood or in Madame Graslin, selected such of these

laborers as seemed the poorest, or were most deserving of employment. Gerard bought for himself and for

Monsieur Grossetete a thousand acres on the other side of the highroad to Montegnac. Fresquin, the

Early in April, 1832, Monsieur Grossetete came to see the land bought for him by Gerard, though his journey

was chiefly occasioned by the advent of Catherine Curieux, who had come from Paris to Limoges by the

diligence. Grossetete now brought her with him to Montegnac. He found Madame Graslin just starting for

church. Monsieur Bonnet was to say a mass to implore the blessing of heaven on the works that were then

"Here is your protegee," said the old gentleman, presenting to Veronique a feeble, suffering woman,

Veronique looked at Catherine for a moment. She was rather tall, well made, and fair; her features wore an

expression of extreme gentleness which the beautiful gray tones of the eyes did not contradict. The outline of

the face, the shape of the brow had a nobility both simple and august, such as we sometimes meet with in

country regions among very young girls,a sort of flower of beauty, which field labors, the constant cares of

the household, the burning of the sun, and want of personal care, remove with terrible rapidity. Her

movements had that ease of motion characteristic of country girls, to which certain habits unconsciously

contracted in Paris gave additional grace. If Catherine had remained in the Correze she would by this time

have looked like an old woman, wrinkled and withered; her complexion, once rosy, would have coarsened;

but Paris, though it paled her, had preserved her beauty. Illness, toil, and grief had endowed her with the

mysterious gifts of melancholy, the inward vitalizing thought, which is lacking to poor countryfolk whose

lives are almost animal. Her dress, full of that Parisian taste which all women, even the least coquettish,

contract so readily, distinguished her still further from an ordinary peasantwoman. In her ignorance as to

what was before her, and having no means of judging Madame Graslin, she appeared very shy and

"Do you still love Farrabesche?" asked Veronique, when Grossetete left them for a moment.

"Why, then, having sent him a thousand francs during his imprisonment, did you not join him after his

release? Have you any repugnance to him? Speak to me as though I were your mother. Are you afraid he has

"Neither, madame; but I do not know how to read or write, and I was serving a very exacting old lady; she

fell ill and I had to nurse her. Though I knew the time when Jacques would be released, I could not get away

from Paris until after the lady's death. She did not leave me anything, notwithstanding my devotion to her

interests and to her personally. After that I wanted to be cured of an ailment caused by nightwatching and

hard work, and as I had used up my savings, I resolved to go to the hospital of SaintLouis, which I have just

"Very good, my child," said Madame Graslin, touched by this simple explanation. "But tell me now why you

abandoned your parents so abruptly, why you left your child behind you, and why you did not send any news

"Madame," she said at last, reassured by the pressure of Madame Graslin's hand, "I may have done wrong,

but I hadn't the strength to stay here. I did not fear myself, but others; I feared gossip, scandal. So long as

Jacques was in danger, I was necessary to him and I stayed; but after he had gone I had no strength left,a

girl with a child and no husband! The worst of creatures was better than I. I don't know what would have

become of me had I stayed to hear a word against my boy or his father; I should have gone mad; I might have

killed myself. My father or my mother in a moment of anger might have reproached me. I am too sensitive to

bear a quarrel or an insult, gentle as I am. I have had my punishment in not seeing my child, I who have never

passed a day without thinking of him in all these years! I wished to be forgotten, and I have been. No one

thought of me,they believed me dead; and yet, many a time, I thought of leaving all just to come here for a

"My mother!" cried Benjamin, surprised. He jumped into Catherine's arms and she pressed him to her breast

with almost savage force. But the boy escaped her and ran off crying out: "I'll go and fetch him."

Madame Graslin made Catherine, who was almost fainting, sit down. At this moment she saw Monsieur

Bonnet and could not help blushing as she met a piercing look from her confessor, which read her heart.

"I hope," she said, trembling, "that you will consent to marry Farrabesche and Catherine at once. Don't you

recognize Monsieur Bonnet, my dear? He will tell you that Farrabesche, since his liberation has behaved as

an honest man; the whole neighborhood thinks well of him, and if there is a place in the world where you

may live happy and respected it is at Montegnac. You can make, by God's help, a good living as my farmers;

Just then Farrabesche appeared, pulled along by his son. He was pale and speechless in presence of Catherine

and Madame Graslin. His heart told him actively benevolent the one had been, and how deeply the other had

suffered in his absence. Veronique led away the rector, who, on his side, was anxious to talk with her alone.

As soon as they were far enough away not to be overheard, Monsieur Bonnet looked fixedly at Veronique;

"Welldoing," he replied, "is a passion as superior to that of love as humanity is superior to the individual

creature. Now, you have not done this thing from the sole impulse and simplicity of virtue. You have fallen

from the heights of humanity to the indulgence of the individual creature. Your benevolence to Farrabesche

and Catherine carries with it so many memories and forbidden thoughts that it has lost all merit in the eyes of

God. Tear from your heart the remains of the javelin evil planted there. Do not take from your actions their

true value. Come at last to that saintly ignorance of the good you do which is the grace supreme of human

Madame Graslin had turned away to wipe the tears that told the rector his words had touched the bleeding

Farrabesche, Catherine, and Benjamin now came up to thank their benefactress, but she made them a sign to

"See how that grieves them," she said to him as they sadly walked away. The rector, whose heart was tender,

"You shall be completely happy," she then said, giving to Farrabesche a paper which she was holding in her

hand. "Here is the ordinance which gives you back your rights of citizenship and exempts you from

Farrabesche respectfully kissed the hand held toward him and looked at Veronique with an eye both tender

and submissive, calm and devoted, the expression of a devotion which nothing could ever change, the look of

"If Jacques has suffered, madame," said Catherine, her fine eyes lighting with pleasure, "I hope I can give

him enough happiness to make up for his pain, for, no matter what he has done, he is not bad."

Madame Graslin turned away her head; she seemed overcome by the sight of that happy family. The rector

now left her to enter the church, whither she dragged herself presently on the arm of Monsieur Grossetete.

After breakfast every one, even the aged people of the village, assembled to see the beginning of the great

work. From the slope leading up to the chateau, Monsieur Grossetete and Monsieur Bonnet, between whom

was Veronique, could see the direction of the four first cuttings marked out by piles of gathered stones. At

each cutting five laborers were digging out and piling up the good loam along the edges; clearing a space

about eighteen feet wide, the width of each road. On either side, four other men were digging the ditches and

also piling up the loam at the sides to make a bank. Behind them, as the banks were made, two men were

digging holes in which others planted trees. In each of these divisions, thirty old paupers, a score of women,

and forty or more girls and children were picking up stones, which special laborers piled in heaps along the

roadside so as to keep a record of the quantity gathered by each group. Thus the work went on rapidly, with

picked workmen full of ardor. Grossetete promised Madame Graslin to send her some trees and to ask her

other friends to do the same; for the nurseries of the chateau would evidently not suffice to supply such an

extensive plantation. Toward the close of the day, which was to end in a grand dinner at the chateau,

Farrabesche requested Madame Graslin to grant him an audience for a few moments.

"Madame," he said, presenting himself with Catherine, "you were so good as to offer me the farm at the

chateau. By granting me so great a favor I know you intended to put me in the way of making my fortune.

But Catherine has ideas about our future which we desire to submit to you. If I were to succeed and make

money there would certainly be persons envious of my good fortune; a word is soon said; I might have

quarrels,I fear them; besides, Catherine would always be uneasy. In short, too close intercourse with the

world will not suit us. I have come therefore to ask you to give us only the land at the opening of the Gabou

on the commons, with a small piece of the woodland behind the RocheVive. In July you will have a great

many workmen here, and it would be very easy then to build a farmhouse in a good position on the slope of

the hill. We should be happy there. I will send for Guepin. My poor comrade will work like a horse; perhaps I

could marry him here. My son is not a donothing either. No one would put us out of countenance; we could

colonize this corner of the estate, and I should make it my ambition to turn it into a fine farm for you.

Moreover, I want to propose as farmer of your great farm near the chateau a cousin of Catherine, who has

money and would therefore be more capable than I could be of managing such a large affair as that farm. If it

please God to bless your enterprise, in five years from now you will have five or six thousand horned beasts

or horses on that plain below, and it wants a better head than mine to manage them."

From the time the work on the plain began, Veronique's life assumed the regularity of country existence. In

the morning she heard mass, took care of her son, whom she idolized, and went to see her laborers. After

dinner she received her friends from Montegnac in the little salon to the right of the clocktower. She taught

Roubaud, Clousier, and the rector to play whist, which Gerard knew already. The rubbers usually ended at

nine o'clock, after which the company withdrew. This peaceful life had no other events to mark it than the

In June the torrent of the Gabou went dry, and Gerard established his headquarters in the keeper's house.

Farrabesche had already built his farmhouse, which he called Le Gabou. Fifty masons, brought from Paris,

joined the two mountains by a wall twenty feet thick, with a foundation twelve feet deep and heavily

cemented. The wall, or dam, rose nearly sixty feet and tapered in until it was not more than ten feet thick at

the summit. Gerard backed this wall on the valley side with a cemented slope, about twelve feet wide at its

base. On the side toward the commons a similar slope, covered with several feet of arable earth, still further

supported this great work, which no rush of water could possibly damage. The engineer provided in case of

unusual rains an overflow at a proper height. The masonry was inserted into the flank of each mountain until

the granite or the hardpan was reached, so that the water had absolutely no outlet at the sides.

This dam was finished by the middle of August. At the same time Gerard was preparing three canals in the

principal valleys, and none of these works came up to his estimated costs. The chateau farm could now be

finished. The irrigation channels through the plain, superintended by Fresquin, started from the canal made

by nature along the base of the mountains on the plain side, through which culverts were cut to the irrigating

channels. Watergates were fitted into those channels, the sides of which the abundance of rock had enabled

them to stone up, so as to keep the flow of water at an even height along the plain.

Every Sunday after mass, Veronique, the engineer, the rector, the doctor, and the mayor walked down

through the park to see the course of the waters. The winter of 1832 and 1833 was extremely rainy. The water

of the three streams which had been directed to the torrent, swollen by the water of the rains, now formed

three ponds in the valley of the Gabou, carefully placed at different levels so as to create a steady reserve in

case of a severe drought. At certain places where the valley widened Gerard had taken advantage of a few

hillocks to make islands and plant them with trees of varied foliage. These vast operations completely

changed the face of the country; but five or six years were of course needed to bring out their full character.

Since these great undertakings were begun, Veronique had been called "Madame" throughout the whole

neighborhood. When the rains ceased in June, 1833, they tried the irrigating channels through the planted

fields, and the young verdure thus nourished soon showed the superior qualities of the marciti of Italy and the

meadows of Switzerland. The system of irrigation, modelled on that of the farms in Lombardy, watered the

earth evenly, and kept the surface as smooth as a carpet. The nitre of the snow dissolving in these channels no

doubt added much to the quality of the herbage. The engineer hoped to find in the products of succeeding

years some analogy with those of Switzerland, to which this nitrous substance is, as we know, a source of

The plantations along the roads, sufficiently moistened by the water allowed to run through the ditches, made

rapid growth. So that in 1838, six years after Madame Graslin had begun her enterprise, the stony plain,

regarded as hopelessly barren by twenty generations, was verdant, productive, and well planted throughout.

Gerard had built five farmhouses with their dependencies upon it, with a thousand acres to each. Gerard's

own farm and those of Grossetete and Fresquin, which received the overflow from Madame's domains, were

built on the same plan and managed by the same methods. The engineer also built a charming little house for

himself on his own property. When all was completely finished, the inhabitants of Montegnac, instigated by

the present mayor, who was anxious to retire, elected Gerard to the mayoralty of the district.

In 1840 the departure of the first herd of cattle sent from Montegnac to the Paris markets was made the

occasion of a rural fete. The farms of the plain raised fine beasts and horses; for it was found, after the land

was cleaned up, that there were seven inches of good soil which the annual fall of leaves, the manure left by

the pasturage of animals, and, above all, the melting of the snows contained in the valley of the Gabou,

It was in this year that Madame Graslin found it necessary to obtain a tutor for her son, who was now eleven

years of age. She did not wish to part with him, and yet she was anxious to make him a thoroughly

welleducated man. Monsieur Bonnet wrote to the Seminary. Madame Graslin, on her side, said a few words

as to her wishes and the difficulty of obtaining the right person to Monsieur Dutheil, recently appointed

archbishop. The choice of such a man, who would live nine years familiarly in the chateau, was a serious

matter. Gerard had already offered to teach mathematics to his friend Francis; but he could not, of course,

take the place of a regular tutor. This question agitated Madame Graslin's mind, and all the more because she

The more prosperous grew her dear Montegnac, the more she increased the secret austerities of her life.

Monseigneur Dutheil, with whom she corresponded regularly, found at last the man she wanted. He sent her

from his late diocese a young professor, twentyfive years of age, named Ruffin, whose mind had a special

vocation for the art of teaching. This young man's knowledge was great, and his nature was one of deep

feeling, which, however, did not preclude the sternness necessary in the management of youth. In him

religion did not in any way hamper knowledge; he was also patient, and extremely agreeable in appearance

and manner. "I make you a fine present, my dear daughter," wrote the prelate; "this young man is fit to

educate a prince; therefore I think you will be glad to arrange the future with him, for he can undoubtedly be

Monsieur Ruffin proved so satisfactory to Madame Graslin's faithful friends that his arrival made no change

in the various intimacies that grouped themselves around this beloved idol, whose hours and moments were

By the year 1843 the prosperity of Montegnac had increased beyond all expectation. The farm of the Gabou

rivalled the farms of the plain, and that of the chateau set an example of constant improvement to all. The five

other farms, increasing in value, obtained higher rent, reaching the sum of thirty thousand francs for each at

the end of twelve years. The farmers, who were beginning to gather in the fruits of their sacrifices and those

of Madame Graslin, now began to improve the grass of the plains, sowing seed of better quality, there being

During this year a man from Montegnac started a diligence between the chief town of the arrondissement and

Limoges, leaving both places each day. Monsieur Clousier's nephew sold his office and obtained a license as

notary in Montegnac. The government appointed Fresquin collector of the district. The new notary built

himself a pretty house in the upper part of Montegnac, planted mulberries in the grounds, and became after a

The engineer, encouraged by so much success, now conceived a scheme of a nature to render Madame

Graslin's fortune colossal,she herself having by this time recovered possession of the income which had

been mortgaged for the repayment of the loan. Gerard's new scheme was to make a canal of the little river,

and turn into it the superabundant waters of the Gabou. This canal, which he intended to carry into the

Vienne, would form a waterway by which to send down timber from the twenty thousand acres of forest land

belonging to Madame Graslin in Montegnac, now admirably managed by Colorat, but which, for want of

transportation, returned no profit. A thousand acres could be cut over each year without detriment to the

forest, and if sent in this way to Limoges, would find a ready market for building purposes.

This was the original plan of Monsieur Graslin himself, who had paid very little attention to the rector's

scheme relating to the plain, being much more attracted by that of turning the little river into a canal.

At the beginning of the following year, in spite of Madame Graslin's assumption of strength, her friends

began to notice symptoms which foreshadowed her coming death. To all the doctor's remarks, and to the

inquiries of the most clearsighted of her friends, Veronique made the invariable answer that she was

perfectly well. But when the spring opened she went round to visit her forests, farms, and beautiful meadows

with a childlike joy and delight which betrayed to those who knew her best a sad foreboding.

Finding himself obliged to build a small cemented wall between the dam of the Gabou and the park of

Montegnac along the base of the hill called especially La Correze, Gerard took up the idea of enclosing the

whole forest and thus uniting it with the park. Madame Graslin agreed to this, and appointed thirty thousand

francs a year to this work, which would take seven years to accomplish and would then withdraw that fine

forest from the rights exercised by government over the non enclosed forests of private individuals. The

three ponds of the Gabou would thus become a part of the park. These ponds, ambitiously called lakes, had

This year, Gerard had prepared, in collusion with Grossetete, a surprise for Madame Graslin's birthday. He

had built a little hermitage on the largest of the islands, rustic on the outside and elegantly arranged within.

The old banker took part in the conspiracy, in which Farrabesche, Fresquin, Clousier's nephew, and nearly all

the welltodo people in Montegnac cooperated. Grossetete sent down some beautiful furniture. The clock

tower, copied from that at Vevay, made a charming effect in the landscape. Six boats, two for each pond,

were secretly built, painted, and rigged during the winter by Farrabesche and Guepin, assisted by the

When the day arrived (about the middle of May) after a breakfast Madame Graslin gave to her friends, she

was taken by them across the parkwhich was finely laid out by Gerard, who, for the last five years, had

improved it like a landscape architect and naturalistto the pretty meadow of the valley of the Gabou,

where, at the shore of the first lake, two of the boats were floating. This meadow, watered by several clear

streamlets, lay at the foot of the fine ampitheatre where the valley of the Gabou begins. The woods, cleared in

a scientific manner, so as to produce noble masses and vistas that were charming to the eye, enclosed the

meadow and gave it a solitude that was grateful to the soul. Gerard had reproduced on an eminence that

chalet in the valley of Sion above the road to Brieg which travellers admire so much; here were to be the

dairy and the cowsheds of the chateau. From its gallery the eye roved over the landscape created by the

engineer which the three lakes made worthy of comparison with the beauties of Switzerland.

The day was beautiful. In the blue sky, not a cloud; on earth, all the charming, graceful things the soil offers

in the month of May. The trees planted ten years earlier on the banksweeping willows, osier, alder, ash, the

aspen of Holland, the poplars of Italy and Virginia, hawthorns and roses, acacias, birches, all choice growths

arranged as their nature and the lay of the land made suitableheld amid their foliage a few fleecy vapors,

born of the waters, which rose like a slender smoke. The surface of the lakelet, clear as a mirror and calm as

the sky, reflected the tall green masses of the forest, the tops of which, distinctly defined in the limpid

atmosphere, contrasted with the groves below wrapped in their pretty veils. The lakes, separated by broad

causeways, were three mirrors showing different reflections, the waters of which flowed from one to another

in melodious cascades. These causeways were used to go from lake to lake without passing round the shores.

From the chalet could be seen, through a vista among the trees, the thankless waste of the chalk commons,

resembling an open sea and contrasting with the fresh beauty of the lakes and their verdure.

When Veronique saw the joyousness of her friends as they held out their hands to help her into the largest of

the boats, tears came into her eyes and she kept silence till they touched the bank of the first causeway. As

she stepped into the second boat she saw the hermitage with Grossetete sitting on a bench before it with all

"Let me take care of your health," said Roubaud, in a gentle, persuasive voice. "I am sure I can save to this

Veronique bowed her head, and Gerard rowed slowly toward the island in the middle of the lake, the largest

of the three, into which the overflowing water of the first was rippling with a sound that gave a voice to that

"You have done well to make me bid farewell to this ravishing nature on such a day," she said, looking at the

beauty of the trees, all so full of foliage that they hid the shore. The only disapprobation her friends allowed

themselves was to show a gloomy silence; and Veronique, receiving another glance from Monsieur Bonnet,

sprang lightly ashore, assuming a lively air, which she did not relinquish. Once more the hostess, she was

charming, and the Grossetete family felt she was again the beautiful Madame Graslin of former days.

At this gay festival, amid these glorious creations produced by the resources of nature only, nothing seemed

likely to wound Veronique, and yet it was here and now that she received her deathblow.

The party were to return about nine o'clock by way of the meadows, the road through which, as lovely as an

English or an Italian road, was the pride of its engineer. The abundance of small stones, laid aside when the

plain was cleared, enabled him to keep it in good order; in fact, for the last five years it was, in a way,

macadamized. Carriages were awaiting the company at the opening of the last valley toward the plain, almost

at the base of the RocheVive. The horses, raised at Montegnac, were among the first that were ready for the

market. The manager of the stud had selected a dozen for the stables of the chateau, and their present fine

appearance was part of the programme of the fete. Madame Graslin's own carriage, a gift from Grossetete,

After dinner the happy party went to take coffee in a little wooden kiosk, made like those on the Bosphorus,

and placed on a point of the island from which the eye could reach to the farther lake beyond. From this spot

Madame Graslin thought she saw her son Francis near the nurseryground formerly planted by Farrabesche.

She looked again, but did not see him; and Monsieur Ruffin pointed him out to her, playing on the bank with

Grossetete's children. Veronique became alarmed lest he should meet with some accident. Not listening to

remonstrance, she ran down from the kiosk, and jumping into a boat, began to row toward her son. This little

incident caused a general departure. Monsieur Grossetete proposed that they should all follow her and walk

on the beautiful shore of the lake, along the curves of the mountainous bluffs. On landing there Madame

Graslin saw her son in the arms of a woman in deep mourning. Judging by the shape of her bonnet and the

style of her clothes, the woman was a foreigner. Veronique was startled, and called to her son, who presently

"Who is that woman?" she asked the children round about her; "and why did Francis leave you to go to her?"

At that instant Madame Sauviat and Gerard, who had outstripped the rest of the company, came up.

"Who is that woman, my dear child?" asked Madame Graslin as soon as Francis reached her.

"I don't know," he answered; "but she kissed me as you and grandmamma kissed meshe cried," whispered

With a delicacy for which Veronique was grateful, Gerard led away the children and went back to detain the

"No; but she kept saying over and over,and that's why I remember it, My dear brother!"

Veronique took her mother's arm and led her son by the hand, but she had scarcely gone a dozen steps before

"What is the matter? what has happened?" said the others, who now came up, to Madame Sauviat.

It was necessary to carry Madame Graslin to her carriage. She signed to Aline to get into it with Francis, and

"You have been in England," she said to the latter as soon as she recovered herself, "and therefore no doubt

On being told, Veronique exchanged a look with Aline and her mother which made them shudder; but they

The shouts and joyous cries of those who were assisting in the departure of the carriages, the splendor of the

setting sun as it lay upon the meadows, the perfect gait of the beautiful horses, the laughter of her friends as

they followed her on horseback at a gallop, none of these things roused Madame Graslin from her torpor.

Her mother ordered the coachman to hasten his horses, and their carriage reached the chateau some time

before the others. When the company were again assembled, they were told that Veronique had gone to her

"I fear," said Gerard to his friends, "that Madame Graslin has had some fatal shock."

The following day Roubaud started for Paris. He had seen Madame Graslin, and found her so seriously ill

that he wished for the assistance and advice of the ablest physician of the day. But Veronique had only

received Roubaud to put a stop to her mother and Aline's entreaties that she would do something to benefit

her; she herself knew that death had stricken her. She refused to see Monsieur Bonnet, sending word to him

that the time had not yet come. Though all her friends who had come from Limoges to celebrate her birthday

wished to be with her, she begged them to excuse her from fulfilling the duties of hospitality, saying that she

desired to remain in the deepest solitude. After Roubaud's departure the other guests returned to Limoges,

less disappointed than distressed; for all those whom Grossetete had brought with him adored Veronique.

They were lost in conjecture as to what might have caused this mysterious disaster.

One evening, two days after the departure of the company, Aline brought Catherine to Madame Graslin's

apartment. La Farrabesche stopped short, horrified at the change so suddenly wrought in her mistress, whose

"Good God, madame!" she cried, "what harm that girl has done! If we had only foreseen it, Farrabesche and

I, we would never have taken her in. She has just heard that madame is ill, and sends me to tell Madame

"Very good," said Madame Graslin; "tell Farrabesche to go elsewhere. Inform that lady that my mother will

As soon as it was dark Veronique, leaning on her mother's arm, walked slowly through the park to the chalet.

The moon was shining with all its brilliancy, the air was soft, and the two women, visibly affected, found

encouragement, of a sort, in the things of nature. The mother stopped now and then, to rest her daughter,

whose sufferings were poignant, so that it was wellnigh midnight before they reached the path that goes

down from the woods to the sloping meadow where the silvery roof of the chalet shone. The moonlight gave

to the surface of the quiet water, the tint of pearls. The little noises of the night, echoing in the silence, made

softest harmony. Veronique sat down on the bench of the chalet, amid this beauteous scene of the starry

night. The murmur of two voices and the footfall of two persons still at a distance on the sandy shore were

brought by the water, which sometimes, when all is still, reproduces sounds as faithfully as it reflects objects

on the surface. Veronique recognized at once the exquisite voice of the rector, and the rustle of his cassock,

also the movement of some silken stuff that was probably the material of a woman's gown.

Madame Sauviat and her daughter sat down on a crib in the lower room, which was intended for a stable.

"My child," they heard the rector saying, "I do not blame you,you are quite excusable; but your return may

"Ah! monsieur, then I had better go away tonight," replied the stranger. "ThoughI must tell youto

leave my country once more is death to me. If I had stayed a day longer in that horrible New York, where

there is neither hope, nor faith, nor charity, I should have died without being ill. The air I breathed oppressed

my chest, food did not nourish me, I was dying while full of life and vigor. My sufferings ceased the moment

I set foot upon the vessel to return. I seemed to be already in France. Oh! monsieur, I saw my mother and one

of my sistersinlaw die of grief. My grandfather and grandmother Tascheron are dead; dead, my dear

Monsieur Bonnet, in spite of the prosperity of Tascheronville,for my father founded a village in Ohio and

gave it that name. That village is now almost a town, and a third of all the land is cultivated by members of

our family, whom God has constantly protected. Our tillage succeeded, our crops have been enormous, and

we are rich. The town is Catholic, and we have managed to build a Catholic church; we do not allow any

other form of worship, and we hope to convert by our example the many sects which surround us. True

religion is in a minority in that land of money and selfish interests, where the soul is cold. Nevertheless, I will

return to die there, sooner than do harm or cause distress to the mother of our Francis. Only, Monsieur

Bonnet, take me tonight to the parsonage that I may pray upon his tomb, the thought of which has brought

me here; the nearer I have come to where he is, the more I felt myself another being. No, I never expected to

"Well, then," said the rector, "come with me now. If there should come a time when you might return without

doing injury, I will write to you, Denise; but perhaps this visit to your birthplace will stop the homesickness,

"Oh! to leave this country, now so beautiful! What wonders Madame Graslin has done for it!" she exclaimed,

pointing to the lake as it lay in the moonlight. "All this fine domain will belong to our dear Francis."

"You shall not go away, Denise," said Madame Graslin, who was standing at the stable door.

JeanFrancois Tascheron's sister clasped her hands on seeing the spectre which addressed her. At that

moment the pale Veronique, standing in the moonlight, was like a shade defined upon the darkness of the

"No, my child, you shall not leave the country you have come so far to see again; you shall be happy here, or

She took the astonished Denise by the hand, and led her away by a path toward the other shore of the lake,

A few moments later Veronique returned alone, and was taken back to the chateau by her mother and

Monsieur Bonnet. Doubtless she had formed some plan which required secrecy, for no one in the

Madame Graslin took to her bed that day and never but once left it again; she went from bad to worse daily,

and seemed annoyed and thwarted that she could not rise,trying to do so on several occasions, and

expressing a desire to walk out into the park. A few days, however, after the scene we have just related, about

the beginning of June, she made a violent effort, rose, dressed as if for a gala day, and begged Gerard to give

her his arm, declaring that she was resolved to take a walk. She gathered up all her strength and expended it

on this expedition, accomplishing her intention in a paroxysm of will which had, necessarily, a fatal reaction.

"Take me to the chalet, and alone," she said to Gerard in a soft voice, looking at him with a sort of coquetry.

"This is my last excursion; I dreamed last night the doctors arrived and captured me."

"For the last time, yes," she answered. "But what I really want," she added, in a coaxing voice, "is to make

She asked Gerard to embark with her in one of the boats on the second lake, to which she went on foot. When

the young man, surprised at her intention, began to move the oars, she pointed to the hermitage as the object

"My friend," she said, after a long pause, during which she had been contemplating the sky and water, the

hills and shores, "I have a strange request to make of you; but I think you are a man who would obey my

"I wish to marry you," she answered; "if you consent you will accomplish the wish of a dying woman, which

"The person to whom I refer is pretty; she is young, and wishes to live at Montegnac. If you will marry her

you will help to soften my last hours. I will not dwell upon her virtues now; I only say her nature is a rare

one; in the matter of grace and youth and beauty, one look will suffice; you are now about to see her at the

Hearing this confidence, Gerard unconsciously quickened his oars, which made Madame Graslin smile.

Denise, who was living alone, away from all eyes, at the hermitage, recognized Madame Graslin and

immediately opened the door. Veronique and Gerard entered. The poor girl could not help a blush as she met

"This is Monsieur Gerard, of whom I spoke to you," went on Veronique. "He is to be my son's guardian, and

"My dear child, look at me!" replied Veronique, addressing Denise, in whose eyes the tears rose instantly.

"She has just arrived from New York," she added, by way of introduction to Gerard.

The engineer put several questions about the new world to the young woman, while Veronique, leaving them

alone, went to look at the third and more distant lake of the Gabou. It was six o'clock as Veronique and

"Though you are, I know, without prejudices," she went on, "I must not leave you ignorant of the reason why

"Oh, no!" said Veronique. "Should I offer her to you if that were so? She is the sister of a workman who died

"Yes, she is the sister of a murderer," said Madame Graslin, in a bitter tone; "you are at liberty to take back

She did not finish, and Gerard was obliged to carry her to the bench before the chalet, where she remained

unconscious for some little time. When she opened her eyes Gerard was on his knees before her and he said

Madame Graslin took his head in both hands and kissed him on the forehead; then, seeing his surprise at so

"Before long you will know the secret of all this. Let us go back to the terrace, for it is late; I am very tired,

Though the day had been insupportably hot, the storms which during this year devastated parts of Europe and

of France but respected the Limousin, had run their course in the basin of the Loire, and the atmosphere was

singularly clear. The sky was so pure that the eye could seize the slightest details on the horizon. What

language can render the delightful concert of busy sounds produced in the village by the return of the workers

from the fields? Such a scene, to be rightly given, needs a great landscape artist and also a great painter of the

human face. Is there not, by the bye, in the lassitude of Nature and that of man a curious affinity which is

difficult to grasp? The depressing heat of a dogday and the rarification of the air give to the least sound

made by human beings all its signification. The women seated on their doorsteps and waiting for their

husbands (who often bring back the children) gossip with each other while still at work. The roofs are casting

up the lines of smoke which tell of the evening meal, the gayest among the peasantry; after which, they sleep.

All actions express the tranquil cheerful thoughts of those whose day's work is over. Songs are heard very

different in character from those of the morning; in this the peasants imitate the birds, whose warbling at

night is totally unlike their notes at dawn. All nature sings a hymn to rest, as it sang a hymn of joy to the

coming sun. The slightest movements of living beings seem tinted then with the soft, harmonious colors of

the sunset cast upon the landscape and lending even to the dusty roadways a placid air. If any dared deny the

influence of this hour, the loveliest of the day, the flowers would protest and intoxicate his senses with their

penetrating perfumes, which then exhale and mingle with the tender hum of insects and the amorous note of

The brooks which threaded the plain beyond the village were veiled in fleecy vapor. In the great meadows

through which the highroad ran, bordered with poplars, acacias, and ailanthus, wisely intermingled and

already giving shade,enormous and justly celebrated herds of cattle were scattered here and there, some

still grazing, others ruminating. Men, women, and children were ending their day's work in the hay field, the

most picturesque of all the country toils. The night air, freshened by distant storms, brought on its wings the

satisfying odors of the newly cut grass or the finished hay. Every feature of this beautiful panorama could be

seen perfectly; those who feared a coming storm were finishing in haste the haystacks, while others

followed with their pitchforks to fill the carts as they were driven along the rows. Others in the distance were

still mowing, or turning the long lines of fallen grass to dry it, or hastening to pile it into cocks. The joyous

laugh of the merry workers mingling with the shouts of the children tumbling each other in the hay, rose on

the air. The eye could distinguish the pink, red, or blue petticoats, the kerchiefs, and the bare legs and arms of

the women, all wearing broadbrimmed hats of a coarse straw, and the shirts and trousers of the men, the

latter almost invariably white. The last rays of the sun were filtering through the long lines of poplars planted

beside the trenches which divided the plain into meadows of unequal size, and caressing the groups of horses

and carts, men, women, children, and cattle. The cattlemen and the shepherdgirls were beginning to collect

The scene was noisy, yet silent,a paradoxical statement, which will surprise only those to whom the

character of country life is still unknown. From all sides came the carts, laden with fragrant fodder. There was

something, I know not what, of torpor in the scene. Veronique walked slowly and silently between Gerard

Through the openings made by the rural lanes running down below the terrace to the main street of

Montegnac Gerard and Monsieur Bonnet could see the faces of men, women, and children turned toward

them; watching more particularly, no doubt, for Madame Graslin. How much of tenderness and gratitude was

expressed on those faces! How many benedictions followed Veronique's footsteps! With what reverent

attention were the three benefactors of a whole community regarded! Man was adding a hymn of gratitude to

While Madame Graslin walked on with her eyes fastened on the long, magnificent green pastures, her most

cherished creation, the priest and the mayor did not take their eyes from the groups below, whose expression

it was impossible to misinterpret; pain, sadness, and regret, mingled with hope, were plainly on all those

faces. No one in Montegnac or its neighborhood was ignorant that Monsieur Roubaud had gone to Paris to

bring the best physician science afforded, or that the benefactress of the whole district was in the last stages

of a fatal illness. In all the markets through a circumference of thirty miles the peasants asked those of

The great vision of death hovered over the land, and dominated that rural picture. Afar, in the fields, more

than one reaper sharpening his scythe, more than one young girl, her arms resting on her fork, more than one

farmer stacking his hay, seeing Madame Graslin, stood mute and thoughtful, examining that noble woman,

the blessing of the Correze, seeking some favorable sign or merely looking to admire her, impelled by a

Madame Graslin's mother, seated on the iron bench which Veronique had formerly placed at the end of the

terrace, studied every movement of her daughter; she watched her step in walking, and a few tears rolled

from her eyes. Aware of the secret efforts of that superhuman courage, she knew that Veronique at that

moment was suffering the tortures of a horrible agony, and only maintained herself erect by the exercise of

her heroic will. The tearsthey seemed almost redwhich forced their way from those aged eyes, and

furrowed that wrinkled face, the parchment of which seemed incapable of softening under any emotion,

Monsieur Ruffin, whose eyes were on Madame Graslin as she came toward them, now looked at Madame

Sauviat, and was powerfully struck by the aspect of that old head, like that of a Roman matron, petrified with

"Madame, why did you not prevent her from coming out?" said the tutor to the old mother, august and sacred

As Veronique advanced majestically with her naturally fine and graceful step, Madame Sauviat, driven by

despair at the thought of surviving her daughter, allowed the secret of many things that awakened curiosity to

"How can she walk like that," she cried, "wearing a horrible horsehair shirt, which pricks into her skin

The words horrified the young man, who was not insensible to the exquisite grace of Veronique's

movements; he shuddered as he thought of the constant and terrific struggle of the soul to maintain its empire

"She has worn it thirteen years,ever since she ceased to nurse the boy," said the old woman. "She has done

miracles here, but if her whole life were known they ought to canonize her. Since she came to Montegnac no

one has ever seen her eat, and do you know why? Aline serves her three times a day a piece of dry bread, and

vegetables boiled in water, without salt, on a common plate of red earth like those they feed the dogs on. Yes,

that's how the woman lives who has given new life to this whole canton. She kneels to say her prayers on the

edge of that hairshirt. She says she could not have that smiling air you know she always has unless she

practised these austerities. I tell you this," added the old woman, sinking her voice, "so that you may repeat it

to the doctor that Monsieur Roubaud has gone to fetch. If they could prevent my daughter from continuing

these penances, perhaps they might still save her, though death has laid its hand upon her head. See for

yourself! Ah! I must be strong indeed to have borne so many things these fifteen years."

The old woman took her grandson's hand and passed it over her forehead and cheeks as if the child's touch

shed a healing balm there; then she kissed it with an affection the secret of which belongs to grandmothers as

Veronique was now only a few feet from the bench, in company with Clousier, the rector, and Gerard.

Illuminated by the glow of the setting sun, she shone with a dreadful beauty. Her yellow forehead, furrowed

with long wrinkles massed one above the other like layers of clouds, revealed a fixed thought in the midst of

inward troubles. Her face, devoid of all color, entirely white with the dead, greenish whiteness of plants

without light, was thin, though not withered, and bore the signs of terrible physical sufferings produced by

mental anguish. She fought her soul with her body, and vice versa. She was so completely destroyed that she

no more resembled herself than an old woman resembles her portrait as a girl. The ardent expression of her

eyes declared the despotic empire exercised by a devout will over a body reduced to what religion requires it

to be. In this woman the soul dragged the flesh as the Achilles of profane story dragged Hector; for fifteen

years she dragged it victoriously along the stony paths of life around the celestial Jerusalem she hoped to

enter, not by a vile deception, but with acclamation. No solitary that ever lived in the dry and arid deserts of

Africa was ever more master of his senses than was Veronique in her magnificent chateau, among the soft,

voluptuous scenery of that opulent land, beneath the protecting mantle of that rich forest, whence science, the

heir of Moses' wand, had called forth plenty, prosperity, and happiness for a whole region. She contemplated

the results of twelve years' patience, a work which might have made the fame of many a superior man, with a

gentle modesty such as Pontorno has painted in the sublime face of his "Christian Chastity caressing the

Celestial Unicorn." The mistress of the manor, whose silence was respected by her companions when they

saw that her eyes were roving over those vast plains, once arid, and now fertile by her will, walked on, her

Suddenly she stopped, a few feet from her mother, who looked at her as the mother of Christ must have

looked at her son upon the cross. She raised her hand, and pointing to the spot where the road to Montegnac

"See that carriage with the posthorses; Monsieur Roubaud is returning to us. We shall now know how many

"Did I not tell you I was taking my last walk?" she replied. "I have come here to see for the last time this

glorious scene in all its splendor!" She pointed first to the village where the whole population seemed to be

collected in the church square, and then to the beautiful meadows glowing in the last rays of the setting sun.

"Ah!" she said, "let me see the benediction of God in the strange atmospheric condition to which we owe the

safety of our harvest. Around us, on all sides, tempests, hail, lightning, have struck incessantly and pitilessly.

The common people think thus, why not I? I do so need to see in this a happy augury for what awaits me after

The child stood up and took his mother's hand and laid it on his head. Veronique, deeply affected by the

action, so full of eloquence, took up her son with supernatural strength, seating him on her left arm as though

"Do you see that land, my son? When you are a man, continue there your mother's work."

"Madame," said the rector, in a grave voice, "a few strong and privileged beings are able to contemplate their

coming death face to face, to fight, as it were, a duel with it, and to display a courage and an ability which

challenge admiration. You show us this terrible spectacle; but perhaps you have too little pity for us; leave us

at least the hope that you may be mistaken, and that God will allow you to finish that which you have begun."

"All I have done is through you, my friends," she said. "I have been useful, I can be so no longer. All is

fruitful around us now; nothing is barren and desolated here except my heart. You well know, my dear rector,

She stretched her hand toward the cemetery. Never had she said as much since the day of her arrival, when

she was taken with sudden illness at the same spot. The rector looked attentively at his penitent, and the habit

of penetration he had long acquired made him see that in those simple words he had won another triumph.

Veronique must have made a mighty effort over herself to break her twelve years' silence with a speech that

said so much. The rector clasped his hands with a fervent gesture that was natural to him as he looked with

deep emotion at the members of this family whose secrets had passed into his heart.

Gerard, to whom the words "peace and pardon" must have seemed strange, was bewildered. Monsieur Ruffin,

with his eyes fixed on Veronique, was stupefied. At this instant the carriage came rapidly up the avenue.

"There are five of them!" cried the rector, who could see and count the travellers.

"Ah," cried Madame Graslin suddenly, grasping the rector's arm, "the procureurgeneral is among them!

"Madame," said the rector, supporting Veronique, and leading her apart a few steps, "show courage; be

"But what can he want?" she replied, leaning on the balustrade. "Mother!" (the old woman ran to her daughter

"As he comes with Monsieur Grossetete," said the rector, "he can have none but good intentions."

"Ah! monsieur, my child will die!" cried Madame Sauviat, seeing the effect of the rector's words on her

daughter's face. "How can her heart survive such emotions? Monsieur Grossetete has always hitherto

"She left Limoges to escape the sight of him, and to escape letting the whole town into her secrets," said

"Do you not see that he will poison my few remaining hours? When I ought to be thinking of heaven he will

The rector took her arm and constrained her to walk aside with him. When they were alone he stopped and

gave her one of those angelic looks with which he was able to calm the violent convulsions of the soul.

"If it is really so," he said, "as your confessor, I order you to receive him, to be kind and affectionate to him,

to quit that garment of wrath, and forgive him as God will forgive you. Can there still be the remains of

passion of a soul I believed to be purified. Burn this last incense on the altar of your penitence, or else your

"There was still that effort to makeand it is made," she answered, wiping her eyes. "The devil lurked in

that last fold of my heart, and God, no doubt, put into Monsieur de Grandville's mind the thought that brings

She stopped, as if to say a mental prayer; then she returned to Madame Sauviat and said in a low voice:

The carriage, announced by the postilion's whip, was now coming up the last slope; the gates were opened, it

entered the courtyard, and the travellers came at once to the terrace. They were the illustrious Archbishop

Dutheil, who was on his way to consecrate Monseigneur Gabriel de Rastignac, the procureurgeneral,

Monsieur de Grandville, Monsieur Grossetete, Monsieur Roubaud, and one of the most celebrated physicians

"You are very welcome," said Veronique, advancing toward them,"you particularly," she added, offering

"I counted on the intervention of Monseigneur and on that of my friend Monsieur Grossetete to obtain for me

a favorable reception," said the procureurgeneral. "It would have been a lifelong regret to me if I did not

"I thank those who brought you here," replied Veronique, looking at the Comte de Grandville for the first

time in fifteen years. "I have felt averse to you for a very long time, but I now recognize the injustice of my

feelings; and you shall know why, if you can stay till the day after tomorrow at Montegnac." Then turning

to Horace Bianchon and bowing to him, she added: "Monsieur will no doubt confirm my apprehensions. God

must have sent you, Monseigneur," she said, turning to the archbishop. "In memory of our old friendship you

will not refuse to assist me in my last moments. By whose mercy is it that I have about me all the beings who

As she said the word loved she turned with a gracious look to Monsieur de Grandville, who was touched to

tears by this mark of feeling. Silence fell for a few moments on every one. The doctors wondered by what

occult power this woman could still keep her feet, suffering as she must have suffered. The other three men

were so shocked at the ravages disease had suddenly made in her that they communicated their thoughts by

"Allow me," she said, with her accustomed grace, "to leave you now with these gentlemen; the matter is

She bowed to her guests, gave an arm to each of the doctors, and walked toward the chateau feebly and

slowly, with a difficulty which told only too plainly of the coming catastrophe.

"Monsieur Bonnet," said the archbishop, looking at the rector, "you have accomplished a miracle."

"They said she was dying," said Monsieur Grossetete, "but she is dead; there is nothing left of her but spirit."

They walked in silence the whole length of the balustrade, looking at the landscape still red with the declining

"To me who saw this scene thirteen years ago," said the archbishop, pointing to the fertile plain, the valley,

and the mountains of Montegnac, "this miracle is as extraordinary as that we have just witnessed. But how

comes it that you allow Madame Graslin to walk about? She ought to be in her bed."

"She was there," said Madame Sauviat; "for ten days she did not leave it; but today she insisted on getting

"I can understand that she wanted to bid farewell to her great creation," said Monsieur de Grandville; "but she

"What a stupendous work! what a miracle has been accomplished!" said the archbishop, whose eyes were

roving over the scene before him. "She has literally sown the desert! But we know, monsieur," he added,

turning to Gerard, "that your scientific knowledge and your labors have a large share in it."

"They have been only the workmen," replied the mayor. "Yes, the hands only; she has been the thought."

Madame Sauviat here left the group, to hear, if possible, the decision of the doctors.

"We need some heroism ourselves," said Monsieur de Grandville to the rector and the archbishop, "to enable

"Yes," said Monsieur Grossetete, who overheard him, "but we ought to do much for such a friend."

After several turns up and down the terrace, these persons, full of solemn thoughts, saw two farmers

approaching them, sent as a deputation from the village, where the inhabitants were in a state of painful

"They are still consulting, and as yet we know nothing, my friends," said the archbishop.

As he spoke, Monsieur Roubaud appeared coming toward them, and they all hurried to meet him.

"She cannot live fortyeight hours longer," replied Monsieur Roubaud. "During my absence the disease has

fully developed; Monsieur Bianchon does not understand how it was possible for her to have walked. Such

phenomenal exhibitions of strength are always caused by great mental exaltation. So, gentlemen," said the

doctor to the priests, "she belongs to you now; science is useless, and my illustrious fellow physician thinks

"Let us go now and say the prayers for the forty hours," said the rector to his parishioners, turning to leave the

The archbishop bowed his head; he could not speak; his eyes were full of tears. Every one sat down, or

leaned against the balustrade, absorbed in his own thought. The church bells presently sent forth a few sad

calls, and then the whole population were seen hurrying toward the porch. The gleam of the lighted tapers

shone through the trees in Monsieur Bonnet's garden; the chants resounded. No color was left in the

landscape but the dull red hue of the dusk; even the birds had hushed their songs; the treefrog alone sent

"I will go and do my duty," said the archbishop, turning away with a slow step like a man overcome with

The consultation had taken place in the great salon of the chateau. This vast room communicated with a state

bedchamber, furnished in red damask, in which Graslin had displayed a certain opulent magnificence.

Veronique had not entered it six times in fourteen years; the grand apartments were quite useless to her, and

she never received her friends there. But now the effort she had made to accomplish her last obligation, and

to overcome her last repugnance had exhausted her strength, and she was wholly unable to mount the stairs to

When the illustrious physician had taken the patient's hand and felt her pulse he looked at Monsieur Roubaud

and made him a sign; then together they lifted her and carried her into the chamber. Aline hastily opened the

doors. Like all state beds the one in this room had no sheets, and the two doctors laid Madame Graslin on the

damask coverlet. Roubaud opened the windows, pushed back the outer blinds, and called. The servants and

"It is ordained," said the dying woman, smiling, "that my death shall be what that of a Christian should bea

"The procureurgeneral has done his professional duty; I was going, and he has pushed me on."

"Mother, I shall speak," replied Veronique. "See! the hand of God is in all this; I am dying in a red room"

"Ah! madame is out of her mind," cried the faithful maid, who was bringing sheets. "Fetch the rector,

"It will be very difficult to do it, monsieur; madame is wrapped in a haircloth garment."

"What! in the nineteenthcentury can such horrors be revived?" said the great doctor.

"Madame Graslin has never allowed me to touch her stomach," said Roubaud. "I have been able to judge of

the progress of the disease only from her face and her pulse, and the little information I could get from her

Veronique was now placed on a sofa while the bed was being made. The doctors spoke together in a low

voice. Madame Sauviat and Aline made the bed. The faces of the two women were full of anguish; their

hearts were wrung by the thought, "We are making her bed for the last time she will die here!"

The consultation was not long. But Bianchon exacted at the outset that Aline should, in spite of the patient's

resistance, cut off the hair shirt and put on a nightdress. The doctors returned to the salon while this was

being done. When Aline passed them carrying the instrument of torture wrapped in a napkin, she said:

"Your will is stronger than that of Napoleon, madame," said Bianchon, after asking a few questions, to which

Veronique replied very clearly. "You keep your mind and your faculties in the last stages of a disease which

robbed the Emperor of his brilliant intellect. From what I know of you I think I ought to tell you the truth."

"I implore you to do so," she said. "You are able to estimate what strength remains to me; and I have need of

"If God has given me grace to die in possession of all my faculties," she said with a celestial smile, "be sure

that this favor will be used to the glory of his Church. The possession of my mind and senses is necessary to

The doctors looked at each other in astonishment at hearing these words, said with as much ease as though

"Ah! here is the doctor who is to cure me," she said presently, when the archbishop, summoned by Roubaud,

She collected all her strength and rose to a sitting posture, in order to bow graciously to Monsieur Bianchon,

and beg him to accept something else than money for the good news he gave her. She said a few words in her

mother's ear, and Madame Sauviat immediately led away the doctors; then Veronique requested the

archbishop to postpone their interview till the rector could come to her, expressing a wish to rest for a while.

At midnight Madame Graslin awoke, and asked for the archbishop and rector, whom Aline silently showed

her close at hand, praying for her. She made a sign dismissing her mother and the maid, and, at another sign,

"Monseigneur, and you, my dear rector," she said, "will hear nothing you do not already know. You were the

first, Monseigneur, to cast your eyes into my inner self; you read there nearly all my past; and what you read

sufficed you. My confessor, that guardian angel whom heaven placed near me, knows more; I have told him

all. You, whose minds are enlightened by the spirit of the Church, I wish to consult you as to the manner in

which I ought as a true Christian to leave this life. You, austere and saintly spirits, think you that if God

deigns to pardon one whose repentance is the deepest, the most absolute, that ever shook a human soul, think

"No, my father, no!" she said rising in her bed, the lightning flashing from her eyes. "Not far from here there

is a grave, where an unhappy man is lying beneath the weight of a dreadful crime; here in this sumptuous

home is a woman, crowned with the fame of benevolence and virtue. This woman is blessed; that poor young

man is cursed. The criminal is covered with obloquy; I receive the respect of all. I had the largest share in the

sin; he has a share, a large share in the good which has won for me such glory and such gratitude. Fraud that I

am, I have the honor; he, the martyr to his loyalty, has the shame. I shall die in a few hours, and the canton

will mourn me; the whole department will ring with my good deeds, my piety, my virtue; but he died covered

with insults, in sight of a whole population rushing, with hatred to a murderer, to see him die. You, my

judges, you are indulgent to me; yet I hear within myself an imperious voice which will not let me rest. Ah!

the hand of God, less tender than yours, strikes me from day to day, as if to warn me that all is not expiated.

My sins cannot be redeemed except by a public confession. He is happy! criminal, he gave his life with

ignominy in face of earth and heaven; and I, I cheat the world as I cheated human justice. The homage I

receive humiliates me; praise sears my heart. Do you not see, in the very coming of the procureurgeneral, a

command from heaven echoing the voice in my own soul which cries to me: Confess!"

The two priests, the prince of the Church as well as the humble rector, these two great lights, each in his own

way, stood with their eyes lowered and were silent. Deeply moved by the grandeur and the resignation of the

"My child," said the archbishop at last, raising his noble head, macerated by the customs of his austere life,

"you are going beyond the commandments of the Church. The glory of the Church is to make her dogma

conform to the habits and manners of each age; for the Church goes on from age to age in company with

humanity. According to her present decision secret confession has taken the place of public confession. This

substitution has made the new law. The sufferings you have endured suffice. Die in peace: God has heard

"But is not this desire of a guilty woman in conformity with the law of the first Church, which has enriched

heaven with as many saints and martyrs and confessing souls as there are stars in the firmament?" persisted

Veronique, vehemently. "Who said: Confess yourselves to one another? Was it not the disciples, who lived

with the Saviour? Let me confess my shame publicly on my knees. It will redeem my sin to the world, to that

family exiled and almost extinct through me. The world ought to know that my benefactions are not an

offering, but the payment of a debt. Suppose that later, after my death, something tore from my memory the

lying veil which covers me. Ah! that idea is more than I can bear, it is death indeed!"

"I see in this too much of calculation, my child," said the archbishop, gravely. "Passions are still too strong in

"Oh! I swear to you, Monseigneur," she said, interrupting the prelate and fixing her eyes, full of horror, upon

him, "my heart is as purified as that of a guilty and repentant woman can be; there is nothing now within me

"Monseigneur," said the rector in a tender voice, "let us leave celestial justice to take its course. It is now four

years since I have strongly opposed this wish; it is the only difference that has ever come between my

penitent and myself. I have seen to the depths of that soul, and I know this earth has no longer any hold there.

Though the tears, the remorse, the contrition of fifteen years relate to the mutual sin of those two persons,

believe me there are no remains of earthly passion in this long and terrible bewailing. Memory no longer

mingles its flames with those of an ardent penitence. Yes, tears have at last extinguished that great fire. I

guarantee," he said, stretching his hand over Madame Graslin's head, and letting his moistened eyes be seen,

"I guarantee the purity of that angelic soul. And also I see in this desire the thought of reparation to an absent

family, a member of which God has brought back here by one of those events which reveal His providence."

"You have often been very stern to me, dear pastor, but at this moment I see where you keep your apostolic

gentleness. You," she said, looking at the archbishop, "you, the supreme head of this corner of God's

kingdom, be to me, in this moment of ignominy, a support. I must bow down as the lowest of women, but

The archbishop was silent, weighing no doubt all the considerations his practised eye perceived.

"Monseigneur," said the rector, "religion has had some heavy blows. This return to ancient customs, brought

about by the greatness of the sin and its repentance, may it not be a triumph we have no right to refuse?"

"But they will say we are fanatics! They will declare we have exacted this cruel scene!"

At this moment Horace Bianchon and Roubaud entered the room, after knocking. As the door opened

Veronique saw her mother, her son, and all the servants of the household on their knees praying. The rectors

of the two adjacent parishes had come to assist Monsieur Bonnet, and also, perhaps, to pay their respects to

the great prelate, for whom the French clergy now desired the honors of the cardinalate, hoping that the

clearness of his intellect, which was thoroughly Gallican, would enlighten the Sacred College.

Horace Bianchon returned to Paris; before departing, he came to bid farewell to the dying woman and thank

her for her munificence. Slowly he approached, perceiving from the faces of the priests that the wounds of

the soul had been the determining cause of those of the body. He took Madame Graslin's hand, laid it on the

bed and felt the pulse. The deep silence, that of a summer night in a country solitude, gave additional

solemnity to the scene. The great salon, seen through the double doors, was lighted up for the little company

of persons who were praying there; all were on their knees except the two priests who were seated and

reading their brevaries. On either side of the grand state bed were the prelate in his violet robes, the rector,

"She is agitated almost unto death," said Horace Bianchon, who, like all men of great talent, sometimes used

The archbishop rose as if some inward impulse drove him; he called to Monsieur Bonnet, and together they

crossed the room, passed through the salon, and went out upon the terrace, where they walked up and down

for some moments. When they returned, after discussing this case of ecclesiastical discipline, Roubaud met

At ten o'clock in the morning the archbishop, wearing his pontifical robes, came into Madame Graslin's

chamber. The prelate, as well as the rector, had such confidence in this woman that they gave her no advice

Veronique now saw an assemblage of clergy from all the neighboring districts. Monseigneur was assisted by

four vicars. The magnificent vessels she had bestowed upon her dear parish church were brought to the house

and gave splendor to the ceremony. Eight choristers in their white and red surplices stood in two rows from

the bed to the door of the salon, each holding one of the large bronzegilt candelabra which Veronique had

ordered from Paris. The cross and the church banner were held on either side of the bed by whitehaired

sacristans. Thanks to the devotion of her servants, a wooden altar brought from the sacristy had been erected

close to the door of the salon, and so prepared and decorated that Monseigneur could say mass upon it.

Madame Graslin was deeply touched by these attentions, which the Church, as a general thing, grants only to

royal personages. The folding doors between the salon and the diningroom were open, and she could see a

vista of the groundfloor rooms filled with the village population. Her friends had thought of everything; the

salon was occupied exclusively by themselves and the servants of the household. In the front rank and

grouped before the door of the bedroom were her nearest friends, those on whose discretion reliance could be

placed. MM. Grossetete, de Grandville, Roubaud, Gerard, Clousier, Ruffin, took the first places. They had

arranged among themselves that they should rise and stand in a group, thus preventing the words of the

repentant woman from being heard in the farther rooms; but their tears and sobs would, in any case, have

At this moment and before all else in that audience, two persons presented, to an observer, a powerfully

affecting sight. One was Denise Tascheron. Her foreign garments, of Quaker simplicity, made her

unrecognizable by her former village acquaintance. The other was quite another personage, an acquaintance

not to be forgotten, and his apparition there was like a streak of lurid light. The procureur general came

suddenly to a perception of the truth; the part that he had played to Madame Graslin unrolled itself before

him; he divined it to its fullest extent. Less influenced, as a son of the nineteenth century, by the religious

aspect of the matter, Monsieur de Grandville's heart was filled with an awful dread; for he saw before him, he

contemplated the drama of that woman's hidden self at the hotel Graslin during the trial of JeanFrancois

Tascheron. That tragic period came back distinctly to his memory,lighted even now by the mother's eyes,

shining with hatred, which fell upon him where he stood, like drops of molten lead. That old woman,

standing ten feet from him, forgave nothing. That man, representing human justice, trembled. Pale, struck to

the heart, he dared not cast his eyes upon the bed where lay the woman he had loved so well, now livid

beneath the hand of death, gathering strength to conquer agony from the greatness of her sin and its

repentance. The mere sight of Veronique's thin profile, sharply defined in white upon the crimson damask,

At eleven o'clock the mass began. After the epistle had been read by the rector of Vizay the archbishop

"Christians, gather here to assist in the ceremony of extreme unction which we are about to administer to the

mistress of this house," he said, "you who join your prayers to those of the Church and intercede with God to

obtain from Him her eternal salvation, you are now to learn that she does not feel herself worthy, in this, her

last hour, to receive the holy viaticum without having made, for the edification of her fellows, a public

confession of the greatest of her sins. We have resisted her pious wish, although this act of contrition was

long in use during the early ages of Christianity. But, as this poor woman tells us that her confession may

serve to rehabilitate an unfortunate son of this parish, we leave her free to follow the inspirations of her

After these words, said with pastoral unction and dignity, the archbishop turned aside to give place to

Veronique. The dying woman came forward, supported by her old mother and the rector,the mother from

whom she derived her body, the Church, the spiritual mother of her soul. She knelt down on a cushion,

clasped her hands, and seemed to collect herself for a few moments, as if to gather from some source

descending from heaven the power to speak. At this moment the silence was almost terrifying. None dared

look at their neighbor. All eyes were lowered. And yet the eyes of Veronique, when she raised them,

encountered those of the procureurgeneral, and the expression on that blanched face brought the color to

"I could not die in peace," said Veronique, in a voice of deep emotion, "if I suffered the false impression you

all have of me to remain. You see in me a guilty woman, who asks your prayers, and who seeks to make

herself worthy of pardon by this public confession of her sin. That sin was so great, its consequences were so

fatal, that perhaps no penance can atone for it. But the more humiliation I submit to here on earth, the less I

may have to dread the wrath of God in the heavenly kingdom to which I am going. My father, who had great

confidence in me, commended to my care (now twenty years ago) a son of this parish, in whom he had seen a

great desire to improve himself, an aptitude for study, and fine characteristics. I mean the unfortunate

JeanFrancois Tascheron, who thenceforth attached himself to me as his benefactress. How did the affection

I felt for him become a guilty one? I think myself excused from explaining this. Perhaps it could be shown

that the purest sentiments by which we act in this world were insensibly diverted from their course by untold

sacrifices, by reasons arising from our human frailty, by many causes which might appear to dismiss the evil

of my sin. But even if the noblest affections moved me, was I less guilty? Rather let me confess that I, who

by education, by position in the world, might consider myself superior to the youth my father confided to me,

and from whom I was separated by the natural delicacy of our sex,I listened, fatally, to the promptings of

the devil. I soon found myself too much the mother of that young man to be insensible to his mute and

delicate admiration. He alone, he first, recognized my true value. But perhaps a horrible calculation entered

my mind. I thought how discreet a youth would be who owed his all to me, and whom the chances of life had

put so far away from me, though we were born equals. I made even my reputation for benevolence, my pious

occupations, a cloak to screen my conduct. Alas!and this is doubtless one of my greatest sinsI hid my

passion under cover of the altar. The most virtuous of my actionsthe love I bore my mother, the acts of

devotion which were sincere and true in the midst of my wrong doingall, all were made to serve the ends

of a desperate passion, and were links in the chain that held me. My poor beloved mother, who hears me now,

was for a long time, ignorantly, an accomplice in my sin. When her eyes were opened, too many dangerous

facts existed not to give her mother's heart the strength to be silent. Silence with her has been the highest

virtue. Her love for her daughter has gone beyond her love to God. Ah! I here discharge her solemnly from

the heavy burden of secrecy which she has borne. She shall end her days without compelling either eyes or

brow to lie. Let her motherhood stand clear of blame; let that noble, sacred old age, crowned with virtue,

shine with its natural lustre, freed of that link which bound her indirectly to infamy!"

Tears checked the dying woman's voice for an instant; Aline gave her salts to inhale.

"There is no one who has not been better to me than I deserve," she went on,"even the devoted servant

who does this last service; she has feigned ignorance of what she knew, but at least she was in the secret of

the penances by which I have destroyed the flesh that sinned. I here beg pardon of the world for the long

deception to which I have been led by the terrible logic of society. JeanFrancois Tascheron was not as guilty

as he seemed. Ah! you who hear me, I implore you to remember his youth, and the madness excited in him

partly by the remorse that seized upon me, partly by involuntary seductions. More than that! it was a sense of

honor, though a mistaken honor, which caused the most awful of these evils. Neither of us could endure our

perpetual deceit. He appealed, unhappy man, to my own right feeling; he sought to make our fatal love as

little wounding to others as it could be. We meant to hide ourselves away forever. Thus I was the cause, the

sole cause, of his crime. Driven by necessity, the unhappy man, guilty of too much devotion to an idol, chose

from all evil acts the one which might be hereafter reparable. I knew nothing of it till the moment of

execution. At that moment the hand of God threw down that scaffolding of false contrivancesI heard the

cries; they echo in my ears! I divined the struggle, which I could not stop, I, the cause of it! Tascheron was

Here Veronique turned her eyes upon Monsieur de Grandville, and a sob was heard to issue from Denise

"He lost his mind when he saw what he thought his happiness destroyed by unforeseen circumstances. The

unhappy man, misled by his love, went headlong from a delinquent act to crimefrom robbery to a double

murder. He left my mother's house an innocent man, he returned a guilty one. I alone knew that there was

neither premeditation nor any of the aggravating circumstances on which he was sentenced to death. A

hundred times I thought of betraying myself to save him; a hundred times a horrible and necessary restraint

stopped the words upon my lips. Undoubtedly, my presence near the scene had contributed to give him the

odious, infamous, ignoble courage of a murderer. Were it not for me, he would have fled. I had formed that

soul, trained that mind, enlarged that heart; I knew it; he was incapable of cowardice or meanness. Do justice

to that involuntarily guilty arm, do justice to him, whom God, in his mercy, has allowed to sleep in his quiet

grave, where you have wept for him, suspecting, it may be, the extenuating truth. Punish, curse the guilty

creature before you! Horrified by the crime when once committed, I did my best to hide my share in it.

Trusted by my fatherI, who was childlessto lead a child to God, I led him to the scaffold! Ah! punish

Saying these words, her eyes shone with the stoic pride of a savage. The archbishop, standing behind her, and

as if protecting her with the pastoral cross, abandoned his impassible demeanor and covered his eyes with his

right hand. A muffled cry was heard, as though some one were dying. Two persons, Gerard and Roubaud,

received and carried away in their arms, Denise Tascheron, unconscious. That sight seemed for an instant to

quench the fire in Veronique's eyes; she was evidently uneasy; but soon her selfcontrol and serenity of

"You now know," she continued, "that I deserve neither praise or blessing for my conduct here. I have led in

sight of Heaven, a secret life of bitter penance which Heaven will estimate. My life before men has been an

immense reparation for the evils I have caused; I have marked my repentance ineffaceably on the earth; it

will last almost eternally here below. It is written on those fertile fields, in the prosperous village, in the

rivulets brought from the mountains to water the plain once barren and fruitless, now green and fertile. Not a

tree will be cut for a hundred years to come but the people of this region will know of the remorse that made

it grow. My repentant soul will still live here among you. What you will owe to its efforts, to a fortune

honorably acquired, is the heritage of its repentance,the repentance of her who caused the crime. All has

been repaired so far as society is concerned; but I am still responsible for that life, crushed in its bud,a life

"There is here, before me, a man," she continued, "who, because he did his duty strictly, has been to me an

object of hatred which I thought eternal. He was the first inflictor of my punishment. My feet were still too

deep in blood, I was too near the deed, not to hate justice. So long as that root of anger lay in my heart, I

knew there was still a lingering remnant of condemnable passion. I had nothing to forgive that man, I have

only had to purify that corner of my heart where Evil lurked. However hard it may have been to win that

Monsieur de Grandville turned a face to Veronique that was bathed in tears. Human justice seemed at that

moment to feel remorse. When the confessing woman raised her head as if to continue, she met the agonizing

look of old man Grossetete, who stretched his supplicating hands to her as if to say, "Enough, enough!" At

the same instant a sound of tears and sobs was heard. Moved by such sympathy, unable to bear the balm of

this general pardon, she was seized with faintness. Seeing that her daughter's vital force was gone at last, the

"Christians," said the archbishop, "you have heard the confession of that penitent woman; it confirms the

sentence of human justice. You ought to see in this fresh reason to join your prayers to those of the Church

which offers to God the holy sacrifice of the mass, to implore his mercy in favor of so deep a repentance."

The services went on. Veronique, lying on the bed, followed them with a look of such inward contentment

that she seemed, to every eye, no longer the same woman. On her face was the candid and virtuous

expression of the pure young girl such as she had been in her parents' home. The dawn of eternal life was

already whitening her brow and glorifying her face with its celestial tints. Doubtless she heard the mystic

harmonies, and gathered strength to live from her desire to unite herself once more with God in the last

communion. The rector came beside the bed and gave her absolution. The archbishop administered the sacred

oils with a fatherly tenderness that showed to all there present how dear the lost but now recovered lamb had

been to him. Then, with the sacred anointing, he closed to the things of earth those eyes which had done such

evil, and laid the seal of the Church upon the lips that were once too eloquent. The ears, by which so many

evil inspirations had penetrated her mind, were closed forever. All the senses, deadened by repentance, were

thus sanctified, and the spirit of evil could have no further power within her soul.

Never did assistants of this ceremony more fully understand the grandeur and profundity of the sacrament

than those who now saw the acts of the Church justly following the confession of that dying woman.

Thus prepared, Veronique received the body of Jesus Christ with an expression of hope and joy which melted

the ice of unbelief against which the rector had so often bruised himself. Roubaud, confounded in all his

opinions, became a Catholic on the spot. The scene was touching and yet awesome; the solemnity of its every

feature was so great that painters might have found there the subject of a masterpiece.

When this funeral part was over, and the dying woman heard the priests begin the reading of the gospel of

Saint John, she signed to her mother to bring her son, who had been taken from the room by his tutor. When

she saw Francis kneeling by the bedside the pardoned mother felt she had the right to lay her hand upon his

Old Madame Sauviat was there, at her post, erect as she had been for twenty years. This woman, heroic after

her fashion, closed her daughter's eyesthose eyes that had wept so muchand kissed them. All the priests,

followed by the choristers, surrounded the bed. By the flaming light of the torches they chanted the terrible

De Profundis, the echoes of which told the population kneeling before the chateau, the friends praying in the

salon, the servants in the adjoining rooms, that the mother of the canton was dead. The hymn was

accompanied with moans and tears. The confession of that grand woman had not been audible beyond the

When the peasants of the neighborhood, joining with those of Montegnac, came, one by one, to lay upon their

benefactress the customary palm, together with their last farewell mingled with prayers and tears, they saw

the man of justice, crushed by grief, holding the hand of the woman whom, without intending it, he had so

Two days later the procureurgeneral, Grossetete, the archbishop, and the mayor, holding the corners of the

black pall, conducted the body of Madame Graslin to its last restingplace. It was laid in the grave in deep

silence; not a word was said; no one had strength to speak; all eyes were full of tears. "She is now a saint!"

was said by the peasants as they went away along the roads of the canton to which she had given

prosperity,saying the words to her creations as though they were animate beings.

No one thought it strange that Madame Graslin was buried beside the body of JeanFrancois Tascheron. She

had not asked it; but the old mother, as the last act of her tender pity, had requested the sexton to make the

grave there,putting together those whom earth had so violently parted, and whose souls were now reunited

Madame Graslin's will was found to be all that was expected of it. She founded scholarships and hospital

beds at Limoges solely for working men; she assigned a considerable sumthree hundred thousand francs

in six yearsfor the purchase of that part of the village called Les Tascherons, where she directed that a

hospital should be built. This hospital, intended for the indigent old persons of the canton, for the sick, for

lyingin women if paupers, and for foundlings, was to be called the Tascheron Hospital. Veronique ordered it

to be placed in charge of the Gray Sisters, and fixed the salaries of the surgeon and the physician at four

thousand francs for each. She requested Roubaud to be the first physician of this hospital, placing upon him

the choice of the surgeon, and requesting him to superintend the erection of the building with reference to

sanitary arrangements, conjointly with Gerard, who was to be the architect. She also gave to the village of

Montegnac an extent of pasture land sufficient to pay all its taxes. The church, she endowed with a fund to be

used for a special purpose, namely: watch was to be kept over young workmen, and cases discovered in

which some village youth might show a disposition for art, or science, or manufactures; the interest of the

fund was then to be used in fostering it. The intelligent benevolence of the testatrix named the sum that

The news of Madame Graslin's death, received throughout the department as a calamity, was not

accompanied by any rumor injurious to the memory of this woman. This discretion was a homage rendered to

so many virtues by the hardworking Catholic population, which renewed in this little corner of France the

Gerard, appointed guardian of Francis Graslin, and obliged, by terms of the will, to reside at the chateau,

moved there. But he did not marry Denise Tascheron until three months after Veronique's death. In her,

Bianchon, Horace Father Goriot The Atheist's Mass Cesar Birotteau The Commission in Lunacy Lost

Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Bachelor's Establishment The Secrets of a Princess The

Government Clerks Pierrette A Study of Woman Scenes from a Courtesan's Life Honorine The Seamy Side

of History The Magic Skin A Second Home A Prince of Bohemia Letters of Two Brides The Muse of the

Department The Imaginary Mistress The Middle Classes Cousin Betty In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the

Navarreins, Duc de A Bachelor's Establishment Colonel Chabert The Muse of the Department The Thirteen

Jealousies of a Country Town The Peasantry Scenes from a Courtesan's Life The Magic Skin The