Chapter XXII: Intrigue

We will leave Emile to forget his appointment with Janille, and to wander over hill and dale with the object of his thoughts; and we will take up the thread of the events in which his destiny is involved, at the Cardonnet factory.

Monsieur Cardonnet was beginning to be seriously annoyed by Emile's continual absences, and to say to himself that the time would soon come to keep watch on and regulate his actions. "Now that his mind is diverted from his socialism," he thought, "it is time for him to take hold of some profitable reality. Argument will have little effect on a mind so addicted to discussion. It seems that his hobby-horse is in the stable for a while, and I won't do anything to make him take him out; but let us see if we cannot replace theories by practice. At his age a man is led by instinct rather than by ideas, although he proudly fancies that the contrary is true; first of all let us bind him down to some practical work and make him devote himself to it, against his will, if necessary. He is too hard-working and intelligent not to do well what he is compelled to do. Gradually whatever employment I may have provided for him will become a necessity to him. He was always like that. Even although he detested the study of the law, he learned the law. Very good, let him finish his law-studies, even if he is destined to hate it more and more, and to relapse into the aberrations which have disturbed me so. I know now that it won't take very much time or a very clever coquette to rid him of the coat of pedagogy of the new schools."

But it was the middle of vacation, and Monsieur Cardonnet had no immediate pretext for sending Emile back to Poitiers. Moreover, he had great hopes of his stay at Gargilesse; for, little by little, Emile overcame his repugnance to the occupations which his father marked out for him from time to time, and seemed to be no longer engrossed by the object for which he had fought so earnestly. All the work that Emile did he did in a superior way and Monsieur Cardonnet flattered himself that he could drive love from his mind when he chose, without impairing the submission and the talents of which he sometimes reaped the fruits.

Nothing was farther from Madame Cardonnet's intention than to call her husband's attention to Emile's strange conduct. If she could have divined the joy which her son derived from absenting himself thus, and the secret of that joy, she would have assisted to save appearances and with more affection than prudence, would have become his accomplice. But she imagined that Monsieur Cardonnet's manner, which was often cold and sarcastic, was the only cause of the discomfort Emile suffered in his father's house; and, nursing a secret grudge against her lord and master therefor, she suffered bitterly because she enjoyed so little of her son's society. When Galuchet returned with the information that Monsieur Emile would not be at home until the evening of the next day or the next but one, she could not restrain her tears, and said in an undertone: "Now he has begun to pass the night away from home! He is not willing even to sleep here; he must be very unhappy!"

"Upon my word, that's a pretty subject for lamentation!" said Monsieur Cardonnet with a shrug. "Is your son a girl, that you are so frightened for him to pass a night away from home? If you begin this way, you are not at the end of your troubles; for this is only the beginning of the escapades a young man is likely to indulge in! Constant," he said to his secretary when they were alone, "who were the people in whose company you met my son?"

"Oh! a very agreeable party, monsieur. Monsieur Antoine de Châteaubrun, who is a high-liver, a stout, jovial man, altogether agreeable in his manners; and his daughter, a superb woman, with a perfect figure, the most attractive creature you can imagine."

"I see that you are a connoisseur, Galuchet, and that you missed none of the damsel's charms."

"_Dame!_ monsieur, when a man has eyes, he uses them," said Galuchet, with a loud laugh of self-satisfaction; for it very rarely happened that his employer did him the honor to talk with him on a subject unconnected with his duties.

"And it is with these same persons, I suppose, that my son continued his romantic excursions?"

"I think so, monsieur; for I saw him in the distance on horseback, as if accompanying them."

"Have you ever been to Châteaubrun, Galuchet?"

"Yes, monsieur, I went there once when the masters were absent, and if I had known that I should find no one there but the old servant I wouldn't have been such a fool."

"Why?"

"Because I might have seen the château for nothing at another time, I have no doubt; whereas that old witch, after showing me around her den, demanded fifty centimes, monsieur, as the price of her condescension! It's a shame to bleed people for showing them such a ruin!"

"I thought that old Antoine had made some repairs since I was there."

"Repairs, monsieur! it's a pitiful sight! They have rebuilt one corner, about as big as your hand, and they didn't even have money enough to put wall-papers on their rooms. The master isn't half so well lodged as I am in your house! It's a depressing place, inside! Heaps of stones in the courtyard to break your legs over, nettles, brambles, no door under a great archway that resembles the entrance to the château of Vincennes and which would be pretty enough if they would give it a coat of plaster of Paris; but all the rest in such a state! Not a wall secure, not a staircase that doesn't shake, cracks big enough to hold a man, ivy that they don't even take the pains to tear down, although it would be easy enough, and rooms that have neither floor nor ceiling! On my word, the people hereabout are genuine Gascons for boasting about their old châteaux, and sending you about on break-neck roads, to find what?--ruins and thistles! Crozant is a stupendous fraud, and Châteaubrun is little better than Crozant!"

"So you were not charmed with Crozant either? But my son seemed to like it immensely, I'll be bound?"

"Monsieur Emile might very well like it, with such a pretty slip of a girl on his arm! If I had been in his shoes I shouldn't have complained overmuch about the place; but for my part, as I went there hoping to catch a trout and didn't get as much as a gudgeon, I am not very well satisfied with my walk, especially as it is twenty kilometres each way, making four myriameters on foot."

"Are you tired, Galuchet?"

"Yes, monsieur, very tired and very dissatisfied! they'll never catch me in their Moorish kings' fortress again."

And Galuchet, recalling with pride his jest of the morning, repeated complacently and with a cunning smile:

"Those kings must have cut a curious figure! doubtless they wore clogs and ate with their fingers."

"You are very bright to-night, Galuchet," rejoined Monsieur Cardonnet, not deigning to smile; "but, smitten as you are, if you were brighter you would find some pretext for calling on old Châteaubrun from time to time."

"I need no pretexts, monsieur," replied Galuchet in an important tone. "I am well acquainted with him; he has often invited me to fish in his stream, and again to-day he urged me to go to breakfast with him some Sunday."

"Very well, why don't you go? I am glad to allow you a little recreation from time to time."

"You are too kind, monsieur; if you don't need me, I will go next Sunday, for I am very fond of fishing."

"Galuchet, my boy, you are an idiot!"

"What's that, monsieur?" said Galuchet, disconcerted.

"I tell you, my dear fellow, you are an idiot," Cardonnet calmly repeated. "You think of nothing but catching gudgeons, when you might be paying court to a pretty girl."

"Oh! I don't know about that, monsieur!" said Galuchet, scratching his ear with a fatuous air; "I should like the girl well enough, that's true! she's a jewel! blue eyes, fair hair that's a metre and a half long, I'll wager, superb teeth, and a mischievous little glance. I could be dead in love with her, if I chose!"

"And why don't you choose?"

"_Dame!_ if I had ten thousand francs of my own, I might suit her! but when one has nothing, one is hardly a suitable match for a girl who has nothing."

"Is your salary equal to her income?"

"Why her income is contingent, and old Janille, who is supposed to be her mother--I must confess, it would be a little distasteful to me to be the son-in-law of a servant,--old Janille would certainly insist on a small sum to begin housekeeping with."

"Do you think ten thousand francs would be enough?"

"I have no idea; but it seems to me that those people have no right to be very ambitious. Their hovel isn't worth four thousand francs; the mountain, the garden, a bit of meadow on the edge of the stream, all overgrown with rushes, and the orchard where there are some fruit trees good for nothing but to burn,--all those together wouldn't bring in a hundred francs a year. They say Monsieur Antoine has a little capital in government securities. It can't be much, judging from the life they lead. But, if I were sure of a thousand francs a year, I would arrange matters with the girl. She pleases me and I am old enough to settle down."

"Monsieur Antoine has twelve hundred francs a year, I know."

"Reverting to his daughter, monsieur?"

"I am sure of it."

"But, although he has recognized her, she is a natural daughter and entitled to only half of it."

"Well, do you feel that you can aspire to her hand now?"

"Thanks, monsieur! What are we to live on? and bring up children?"

"Of course you would need a little capital. We might be able to find that for you, Galuchet, if your happiness absolutely depended on it."

"I do not know how to acknowledge your kindness, monsieur, but----"

"But what? come, don't scratch your ear so much, but answer."

"I don't dare, monsieur."

"Why not? don't I talk to you as if I were your friend?"

"I am deeply touched by it," rejoined Galuchet, "but----"

"But you annoy me. Speak, in heaven's name!"

"Well, monsieur, even though you should call me a fool again, I will say what I think. I think that Monsieur Emile is paying court to that young lady."

"Do you mean it?" exclaimed Monsieur Cardonnet, feigning surprise.

"If monsieur is not aware of it, I should be very sorry to be the cause of trouble between him and his son."

"Is there any common rumor to that effect?"

"I don't know whether people are talking about it; I pay little attention to gossip; but I myself have noticed that Monsieur Emile goes to Châteaubrun very often."

"What does that prove?"

"That is as monsieur may choose to think, and it is all the same to me. I simply meant to say that if I had any idea of marrying a young woman, I should not be very well pleased to come in second."

"I can imagine that. But it is hardly likely that my son would pay serious attention to a young woman whom he neither would nor could marry. My son has lofty sentiments, he would never descend to a falsehood, to false promises. If the girl is virtuous, be assured that her relations with Emile are entirely innocent. Isn't that your opinion?"

"I will have whatever opinion monsieur may desire on that subject."

"That is altogether too accommodating! If you were in love with Mademoiselle de Châteaubrun, wouldn't you try to find out the truth for yourself?"

"Certainly, monsieur; but I can hardly be in love with her, having seen her but once."

"Well, listen to me, Galuchet: you can do me a service. What you have just told me makes me a little more anxious than it makes you, and all that we have been saying, by way of conjecture and jest, will have at all events, the serious result of having warned me of certain dangers. I tell you again that my son is too honorable a man to seduce a penniless, inexperienced girl; but it might happen to him, if he sees her too often, to conceive for her somewhat too warm a feeling, which would expose them both to temporary but unnecessary suffering. It would be very easy for me to cut the whole thing off short by sending Emile away at once; but that would interfere with the plan I have formed of training him to share my occupations, and I regret to be compelled for so unimportant a reason to part with him under present circumstances. Consent therefore to help me. You are sure of a warm welcome at Châteaubrun; go there often, as often as my son; make yourself the friend of the family. Père Antoine's unsuspecting nature will assist you. Look about you, observe, and report to me all that happens. If your presence annoys my son, it will be a proof that the danger exists; if he tries to have you turned out, stand your ground, and pose unhesitatingly as an aspirant to the young lady's hand."

"And what if I am accepted?"

"So much the better for you!"

"That depends, monsieur, on how far things have gone between her and your son."

"You must be very simple if with time and address you can't find out about that, as you are going there in the quality of an observer."

"And suppose I find that I have arrived too late?"

"You will retire."

"I shall have made a ridiculous campaign, and Monsieur Emile will bear me a grudge for it."

"Galuchet, I don't ask anything for nothing. Certainly, all this can't be done without some ennui and some unpleasantness for you; but there's a good bonus at the end of all the sacrifices I ask you to make."

"That's enough, monsieur, and I have only one other word to say; and that is that in case the girl should suit me, and I should suit her too, I should be too poor at this moment to go to housekeeping."

"We have already anticipated that contingency. I would assist you to make a position for yourself. For example, you undertake to work for me for a certain time, and I make you an advance of five thousand francs on your salary, and a bonus of five thousand francs in addition, if necessary."

"This is no longer a jest, a conjecture, I suppose?" said Galuchet, scratching his head harder than ever.

"I don't often jest, as you know, and this time I am not jesting at all."

"Very good, monsieur; you are too kind to me. I will plant myself beside Monsieur Emile, and he will be very shrewd if I lose sight of him!"

"He will be shrewder than you, and that will not be difficult," thought Monsieur Cardonnet as soon as Galuchet had retired; "but a rival of your sort will be enough to make him feel humiliated by his choice, very soon; and if she prefers a dull lout like you for a husband to a handsome chance suitor like him, he will have received a useful lesson. In that event a trifling sacrifice for Monsieur Galuchet's establishment would not be draining the sea dry, especially as that would keep him in my service and cut short his ambition to leave me. But that is the worst possible result of my plan, and Galuchet has twenty chances to one of being shown the door sooner or later. Meanwhile I shall have had time to think of something better, and I shall at all events have succeeded in worrying Emile, in disenchanting him, in fastening to his sides an enemy whom he will hardly know how to combat--ennui in the shape of Constant Galuchet."

Cardonnet's idea did not lack depth, and if it had not been too soon or too late for Emile to renounce his illusions, it might have been successful. Any sort of competition stimulates vulgar minds, but a refined mind suffers from an unworthy rivalry. An exalted nature will infallibly be disgusted with the being who takes pleasure in the homage of stupidity; the mere fact that the object of his adoration tolerates such homage too patiently may be enough to cause him to blush and take himself away. But Cardonnet reckoned without Gilberte's pride.

Emile returned from his excursion more inflamed with passion than ever, and in such a state of blissful enthusiasm that it seemed to him impossible that he should not triumph over everything. The generous Gilberte had powerfully assisted his illusion by sharing it, and therein she had shown herself, by her lack of prudence and her openness of heart, the worthy child of Antoine. Emile might well have reproached himself, however, for having gone so far with her without having first made sure of Monsieur Cardonnet's consent. That was a terrible imprudence; indeed it was culpable rashness; for, unless a miracle should happen, he could reckon on his father's refusal. But Emile was in that state of delirious excitement in which one reckons on miracles and deems himself almost a god because he is loved.

However, he returned to Gargilesse without having made up his mind at what moment he would announce his sentiments to his family; for Gilberte had insisted that he should do nothing suddenly, and had received his promise to begin by gradually appealing to the affection of his parents, by governing his conduct in accordance with their wishes. Thus Emile was to make amends for an absence which had doubtless caused them some anxiety, by staying with them all the rest of the week and working zealously at whatever his father chose to give him to do. "You must not come to see us until next Sunday," Gilberte had said when they parted, "and then we will arrange our plans for the following week." The poor child felt that she must live from day to day, and, like Emile, she derived infinite pleasure from caressing in her thoughts the mystery of a love of which they alone realized the charm and the depth.

Emile kept his word. He did not absent himself from home during the week, and contented himself with writing Monsieur de Boisguilbault an affectionate letter to set his mind at rest concerning his sentiments, in case the suspicious old man should take alarm because he did not see him. He followed his father like a shadow; he even asked him for employment, and devoted himself to the construction of the factory like one who took the deepest interest in the success of the undertaking. But, as it is not natural to do violence to one's own heart for long, it was impossible for him to push the indolent workmen. Monsieur Cardonnet derived no sort of benefit from the employment of men of that description. They lacked energy, and the rivalry of the more active produced discouragement in them instead of emulation. They were well paid, but, as they saw, from the master's dissatisfaction, that they would not be retained long, they determined to make the most of the present, and consequently economized in their food. When Emile saw them sitting on the damp stones, with their feet in the mud, eating a piece of black bread and raw onions, like the Hebrew slaves employed in building the Pyramids, he had such a feeling of compassion for them that he would have preferred giving them his own blood to drink, to abandoning them to that slow death of toil and starvation.

Thereupon, he tried to persuade his father, since he could not save all those numerous lives, to afford them at all events some temporary relief by feeding them better than they fed themselves, or by giving them, at least, a little wine. But Monsieur Cardonnet reminded him, only too justly, that, as all the vines were frozen in the preceding year, they could not obtain wine in that country except at a very high price, and that it was for the table of the bourgeois only. Where no general system of economy was practised, it was easy to prove that economy in special directions was powerless to bring about any important amelioration, and to demonstrate, by the unanswerable evidence of figures, that they must either abandon the idea of building or compel the mechanic to undergo the unpleasant necessities of his position. Monsieur Cardonnet did his utmost to remedy the evil, but that utmost was confined within narrow limits. Emile submitted and sighed; he could give Gilberte no stronger proof of his love than to hold his peace.

"Well," said Monsieur Cardonnet, "I see that you will never be very sharp in the matter of superintending; but when I am no longer in this world, it will be enough if you realize the need of having a good superintendent in my place. The material part of the work is the least poetic; you will find your field of activity in the direction of art and science, which have their place in manufacturing as in everything else. Come to my study, help me to understand the things that escape my comprehension, and place your genius at the service of my energy."

During that week Emile had to read, to study, to comprehend and to summarize several works on hydrostatics. Monsieur Cardonnet did not think that he really needed to have that work done, but it was one way of testing Emile, and he was overjoyed by his rapidity and mental keenness. Such studies could arouse no disgust in a mind occupied with theories. Anything connected with science may have some useful application in the future, and when one has not under his eyes the deplorable conditions through which social inequality compels the men of the present day to pass, in the execution of any work, he may well become deeply interested in the abstract theories of science. Monsieur Cardonnet recognized Emile's lofty intelligence and said to himself that, with such eminent faculties, it was not possible that he would always close his eyes to what he called evidence.

When Sunday arrived, it seemed to Emile that a century had passed since he had seen that enchanted palace of Châteaubrun, where, in his eyes, nature was lovelier, the air softer and the light more glorious than in any spot on earth. He began with Boisguilbault however; for he remembered that Constant Galuchet was to breakfast at Châteaubrun, and he hoped that uninteresting individual would have departed or would be busy with his fishing when he arrived; but he was far from anticipating Monsieur Constant's Machiavelism. He found him still at table with Monsieur Antoine, a little overburdened by the native wine, to which he was not accustomed, shuffling about on his chair and making commonplace remarks, while Gilberte, sitting in the courtyard, waited impatiently until a relaxation of vigilance on Janille's part should enable her to go out on the terrace and watch for her lover's coming.

But Janille did not relax her vigilance; she was prowling about in every corner of the ruins and was on the spot to receive half the salutation which Emile addressed to Gilberte. But Emile saw, at the first glance, that she had said nothing.

"Really, monsieur," she said, lisping with more affectation than usual, "you are not polite, and you have nearly caused a rivals' quarrel between my girl and me. What! you lead me to hope that you will come and keep me company in her absence, you even go so far as to appoint a day, and then, instead of coming here, you go and enjoy yourself taking an excursion with mademoiselle, on the pretext that she is forty years younger than me! as if that was my fault, and as if I am not as light of foot and as lively to talk with as a mere girl! It was very rude on your part, and you have done well to let my anger lie for a few days; for if you had come sooner you would have had a very cold reception."

"Hasn't Monsieur Antoine justified me," rejoined Emile, "by telling you how entirely unforeseen our meeting at Crozant was, and that our trip to Saint Germain was suggested by him on the spur of the moment? Forgive me, dear Mademoiselle Janille, and be sure that nothing less than being ten leagues away would have induced me to break my appointment with you."

"I know, I know," said Janille, in a meaning tone, "that it was Monsieur Antoine who did all the harm; he is so inconsiderate! but I should have thought that you would be more reasonable."

"I am very reasonable, my dear Janille," replied Emile in the same tone, "and I have proved it by passing the week with my father, working to please him, in spite of my longing to come and obtain my pardon."

"And you did well, my boy; for it is a good thing for young men to be employed."

"You will be satisfied with me hereafter," said Emile, glancing at Gilberte, "and my father has already forgiven me for the time I have wasted. He is very kind to me, and I will show my appreciation of his kindness by forcing myself to undergo the most painful sacrifices, even that of seeing you a little less frequently henceforth, Mademoiselle Janille; so scold me to-day, quickly, but not too hard, and forgive me even more quickly, for I shall probably be able to come here very seldom for several weeks. I have much work to do, and my courage would fail me if I knew that you were angry with me."

"Well, well, you are a good boy, and no one can bear you a grudge," said Janille. "I see," she added with a knowing air, lowering her voice, "that we understand each other perfectly without any further explanation, and that it's a good thing to have people of honor and good sense like you to deal with."

This result of the explanations threatened by Janille relieved Emile from a great anxiety. His position was quite serious enough, without being complicated by the alarms and questions of that faithful retainer. The advice Gilberte had given him, to come more rarely and to let time do its work, was thus proved to be most judicious, and if she had been a trained diplomatist, she could not have acted more shrewdly on that occasion. In very truth, how many marriages between persons of unequal fortune would become possible, did not the woman, by her exactions, her pride or her suspicion, involve the man enamored of her in a labyrinth of suffering and anxiety, amid which his prudence and courage in overcoming obstacles fail him! With Gilberte's childlike innocence was blended calm common sense and unselfish courage. She did not look upon her union with Emile as possible until after several years, and she felt that her love was strong enough to wait. That cruel future appeared to her heart, overflowing with faith, like a day radiant with sunshine; and therein she was not so foolish as some might think. It is faith and not prudence that moves mountains.