Buonaparte used to call commissions militaires?

' Well, well ; what are we to do if our boys are wild,
or turn out scapegraces ? Is there no locking them up
in these days ? ' asked the Marquis.

The Chevalier looked at the heartbroken father and
lacked courage to answer, ' We shall be obliged to
bring them up properly.'

' And you have never said a word of this to me, Mile.
d'Esgrignon,' added the Marquis, turning suddenly
round upon Mile. Armande. He never addressed her
as Mile. d'Esgrignon except when he was vexed ;
usually she was called ' my sister.'

'Why, monsieur, when a young man is full of life
and spirits, and leads an idle life in a town like this,
what else can you expect ? ' asked Mile. d'Esgrignon.
She could not understand her brother's anger.

' Debts ! eh ! why, hang it all ! ' added the Chevalier.
' He plays cards, he has little adventures, he shoots, — all
these things are horribly expensive nowadays.'

'Come,' said the Marquis, 'it is time to send him to
the King. I will spend to-morrow morning in writing
to our kinsmen.'

'I have some acquaintance with the Dues de Navar-
reins, de Lenoncourt, de Maufrigneuse, and de Chaulieu,'
said the Chevalier, though he knew, as he spoke, that
he was pretty thoroughly forgotten.

' My dear Chevalier, there is no need of such formali-



The Jealousies of a Country Town 201

ties to present a d'Esgrignon at court,' the Marquis
broke in. — c A hundred thousand livres,' he muttered j
c this Chesnel makes very free. This is what comes of
these accursed troubles. Mons Chesnel protects my
son. And now I must ask him. . . . No, sister, you
must undertake this business. Chesnel shall secure
himself for the whole amount by a mortgage on our
lands. And just give this harebrained boy a good
scolding ; he will end by ruining himself if he goes on
like this.'

The Chevalier and Mile. d'Esgrignon thought these
words perfectly simple and natural, absurd as they would
have sounded to any other listener. So far from seeing
anything ridiculous in the speech, they were both very
much touched by a look of something like anguish in
the old noble's face. Some dark premonition seemed to
weigh upon M. d'Esgrignon at that moment, some
glimmering of an insight into the changed times. He
went to the settee by the fireside and sat down, for-
getting that Chesnel would be there before long ; that
Chesnel, of whom he could not bring himself to ask
anything.

Just then the Marquis d'Esgrignon looked exactly as
any imagination with a touch of romance could wish.
He was almost bald, but a fringe of silken, white locks,
curled at the tips, covered the back of his head. All
the pride of race might be seen in a noble forehead, such
as you may admire in a Louis xv., a Beaumarchais, a
Marechal de Richelieu; it was not the square, broad
brow of the portraits of the Marechal de Saxe ; nor
yet the small hard circle of Voltaire, compact to over-
fulness ; it was graciously rounded and finely moulded,
the temples were ivory tinted and soft ; and mettle and
spirit, unquenched by age, flashed from the brilliant
eyes. The Marquis had the Conde nose and the lovable
Bourbon mouth, from which, as they used to say of the
Comte d'Artois, only witty and urbane words proceed.



202 The Jealousies of a Country Town

His cheeks, sloping rather than foolishly rounded to the
chin, were in keeping with his spare frame, thin legs,
and plump hands. The strangulation cravat at his
throat was of the kind which every marquis wears in all
the portraits which adorn eighteenth century literature ;
it is common alike to Saint-Preux and to Lovelace, to
the elegant Montesquieu's heroes and to Diderot's
homespun characters (see the first editions of those
writers' works).

The Marquis always wore a white, gold-embroidered,
high waistcoat, with the red ribbon of a commander of
the Order of St. Louis blazing upon his breast ; and a
blue coat with wide skirts, and fleurs-de-lys on the flaps,
which were turned back — an odd costume which the
King had adopted. But the Marquis could \ not bring
himself to give up the Frenchman's knee-breeches nor
yet the white silk stockings or the buckles at the knees.
After six o'clock in the evening he appeared in full dress.

He read no newspapers but the Quotidienne and the
Gazette de France, two journals accused by the Consti-
tutional press of obscurantist views and uncounted
1 monarchical and religious' enormities; while the
Marquis d'Esgrignon, on the other hand, found heresies
and revolutionary doctrines in every issue. No matter
to what extremes the organs of this or that opinion may
go, they will never go quite far enough to please the
purists on their own side ; even as the portrayer of this
magnificent personage is pretty certain to be accused of
exaggeration, whereas he has done his best to soften
down some of the cruder tones and dim the more
startling tints of the original.

The Marquis d'Esgrignon rested his elbows on his
knees and leant his head on his hands. During his
meditations Mile. Armande and the Chevalier looked at
one another without uttering the thoughts in their
minds. Was he pained by the discovery that his son's
future must depend upon his sometime land steward ?



The Jealousies of a Country Town 203

Was he doubtful of the reception awaiting the young
Count ? Did he regret that he had made no preparation
for launching his heir into that brilliant world of court ?
Poverty had kept him in the depths of his province ; how
should he have appeared at court ? He sighed heavily
as he raised his head.

That sigh, in those days, came from the real
aristocracy all over France ; from the loyal provincial
noblesse, consigned to neglect with most of those who
had drawn sword and braved the storm for the cause.

c What have the Princes done for the du Guenics, or
the Fontaines, or the Bauvans, who never submitted ? '
he muttered to himself. 'They fling miserable pen-
sions to the men who fought most bravely, and give
them a royal lieutenancy in a fortress somewhere on the
outskirts of the kingdom. 1

Evidently the Marquis doubted the reigning dynasty.
Mile. d'Esgrignon was trying to reassure her brother as
to the prospects of the journey, when a step outside on
the dry narrow footway gave them notice of Chesnel's
coming. In another moment Chesnel appeared ;
Josephin, the Count's grey-haired valet, admitted the
notary without announcing him.

'Chesnel, my boy ' (Chesnel was a white-haired

man of sixty-nine, with a square-jawed, venerable
countenance ; he wore knee-breeches, ample enough to
fill several chapters of dissertation in the manner of
Sterne, ribbed stockings, shoes with silver clasps, an
ecclesiastical -looking coat and a high waistcoat of
scholastic cut.

4 Chesnel, my boy, it was very presumptuous of you to
lend money to the Comte d'Esgrignon ! If I repaid you
at once and we never saw each other again, it would be
no more than you deserve for giving wings to his vices.'

There was a pause, a silence such as there falls at court
when the King publicly reprimands a courtier. The old
notary looked humble and contrite.






204 The Jealousies of a Country Town

1 1 am anxious about that boy, Chesnel,' continued the
Marquis in a kindly tone ; * I should like to send him to
Paris to serve His Majesty. Make arrangements with
my sister for his suitable appearance at court. — And we
will settle accounts '

The Marquis looked grave as he left the room with a
friendly gesture of farewell to Chesnel.

* I thank M. le Marquis for all his goodness,' returned
the old man, who still remained standing.

Mile. Armande rose to go to the door with her brother ;
she had rung the bell, old Josephin was in readiness to
light his master to his room.

i Take a seat, Chesnel,' said the lady, as she returned,
and with womanly tact she explained away and softened
the Marquis's harshness. And yet beneath that harshness
Chesnel saw a great affection. The Marquis's attach-
ment for his old servant was something of the same
order as a man's affection for his dog ; he will fight any
one who kicks the animal, the dog is like a part of his
existence, a something which, if not exactly himself,
represents him in that which is nearest and dearest — his
sensibilities.

4 It is quite time that M. le Comte should be
sent away from the town, mademoiselle,' he said
sententiously.

1 Yes,' returned she. * Has he been indulging in some
new escapade ? '

' No, mademoiselle.'

4 Well, why do you blame him ? '

c I am not blaming him, mademoiselle. No, I am
not blaming him. I am very far from blaming him.
I will even say that I shall never blame him, whatever he
may do.'

There was a pause. The Chevalier, nothing if not
quick to take in a situation, began to yawn like a sleep-
ridden mortal. Gracefully he made his excuses and
went, with as little mind to sleep as to go and drown



The Jealousies of a Country Town 205

himself. The imp Curiosity kept the Chevalier wide
awake, and with airy fingers plucked away the cotton
wool from his ears.

' Well, Chesnel, is it something new ?' Mile. Armande
began anxiously.

4 Yes, things that cannot be told to M. le Marquis;
he would drop down in an apoplectic fit.'

'Speak out,' she said. With her beautiful head leant
on the back of her low chair, and her arms extended
listlessly by her side, she looked as if she were waiting
passively for her deathblow.

4 Mademoiselle, M. le Comte, with all his cleverness,
is a plaything in the hands of mean creatures, petty
natures on the lookout for a crushing revenge. They
want to ruin us and bring us low ! There is the
President of the Tribunal, M. du Ronceret ; he has, as
you know, a very great notion of his descent '

c His grandfather was an attorney,' interposed Mile.
Armande.

' I know he was. And for that reason you have not
received him ; nor does he go to M. de Troisville's, nor
to M. le Due de Verneuil's, nor to the Marquis de
Casteran's ; but he is one of the pillars of du Croisier's
salon. Your nephew may rub shoulders with young
M. Fabien du Ronceret without condescending too far,
for he must have companions of his own age. Well and
good. That young fellow is at the bottom of all M. le
Comte's follies ; he and two or three of the rest of them
belong to the other side, the side of M. le Chevalier's
enemy, who does nothing but breathe threats of ven-
geance against you and all the nobles together. They
all hope to ruin you through your nephew. The ring-
leader of the conspiracy is this sycophant of a du Croisier,
the pretended Royalist. Du Croisier's wife, poor thing,
knows nothing about it ; you know her, I should have
heard of it before this if she had ears to hear evil. For
some time these wild young fellows were not in the



206 The Jealousies of a Country Town

secret, nor was anybody else ; but the ringleaders let some-
thing drop in jest, and then the fools got to know about
it, and after the Count's recent escapades they let fall
some words while they were drunk. And those words
were carried to me by others who are sorry to see such
a fine, handsome, noble, charming lad ruining himself
with pleasure. So far people feel sorry for him ; before
many days are over they will — I am afraid to say
what '

'They will despise him; say it out, Chesnel ! ' Mile.
Armande cried piteously.

4 Ah! How can you keep the best people in the
town from finding out faults in their neighbours ? They
do not know what to do with themselves from morning
to night. And so M. le Comte's losses at play are all
reckoned up. Thirty thousand francs have taken
flight during these two months, and everybody wonders
where he gets the money. If they mention it when I
am present, I just call them to order. Ah! but — *
'Do you suppose' (I told them this morning), 'do you sup-
pose that if thed'Esgrignon family have lost their manorial
rights, that therefore they have been robbed of their
hoard of treasure ? The young Count has a right to do
as he pleases ; and so long as he does not owe you a half-
penny, you have no right to say a word.'

Mile. Armande held out her hand, and the notary
kissed it respectfully.

' Good Chesnel ! . . . But, my friend, how shall we
find the money for this journey ? Victurnien must
appear as befits his rank at court.'

' Oh ! I have borrowed money on Le Jard,
mademoiselle.'

' What ? You had nothing left ! Ah, heaven ! what
can we do to reward you ? '

'You can take the hundred thousand francs which I
hold at your disposal. You can understand that the
loan was negotiated in confidence, so that it might not



The Jealousies of a Country Town 207

reflect on you ; for it is known in the town that I am
closely connected with the d'Esgrignon family.'

Tears came into Mile. Armande's eyes. Chesnel saw
them, took a fold of the noble woman's dress in his
hands, and kissed it.

' Never mind,' he said, 'a lad must sow his wild oats.
In great salons in Paris his boyish ideas will take a new
turn. And, really, though our old friends here are the
worthiest folk in the world, and no one could have
nobler hearts than they, they are not amusing. If M.
le Comte wants amusement, he is obliged to look below
his rank, and he will end by getting into low company.'

Next day the old travelling coach saw the light, and
was sent to be put in repair. In a solemn interview after
breakfast, the hope of the house was duly informed of"
his father's intentions regarding him — he was to go to
court and ask to serve His Majesty. He would have
time during the journey to make up his mind about his
career. The navy or the army, the privy council, an
embassy, or the Royal Household, — all were open to a
d'Esgrignon, a d'Esgrignon had only to choose. The
King would certainly look favourably upon the d'Esgri-
gnons, because they had asked nothing of him, and had
sent the youngest representative of their house to
receive the recognition of Majesty.

But young d'Esgrignon, with all his wild pranks, had
guessed instinctively what society in Paris meant, and
formed his own opinions of life. So when they talked of
his leaving the country and the paternal roof, he listened
with a grave countenance to his revered parent's lecture,
and refrained from giving him a good deal of information
in reply. As, for instance, that young men no longer
went into the army or the navy as they used to do ; that
if a man had a mind to be a second lieutenant in a
cavalry regiment without passing through a special
training in the Ecoles, he must first serve in the Pages ;
that sons of the greatest houses went exactly like com-



208 The Jealousies of a Country Town

moners to Saint-Cyr and the Ecole polytechnique, and
took their chances of being beaten by base blood. If he
had enlightened his relatives on these points, funds
might not have been forthcoming for a stay in Paris ;
so he allowed his father and aunt Armande to believe
that he would be permitted a seat in the King's carriages,
that he must support his dignity at court as the d'Esgri-
gnon of the time, and rub shoulders with great lords of
the realm.

It grieved the Marquis that he could send but one
servant with his son ; but he gave him his own old valet
Josephin, a man who could be trusted to take care of his
young master, and to watch faithfully over his interests.
The poor father must do without Josephin, and hope to
replace him with a young lad.

4 Remember that you are a Carol, my boy,' he said ;
4 remember that you come of an unalloyed descent, and
that your scutcheon bears the motto Cil est nostre ; with
such arms you may hold your head high everywhere,
and aspire to queens. Render grace to your father, as I
to mine. We owe it to the honour of our ancestors,
kept stainless until now, that we can look all men in the
face, and need bend the knee to none save a mistress,
the King, and God. This is the greatest of your privi-
leges.'

Chesnel, good man, was breakfasting with the
family. He took no part in counsels based on heraldry,
nor in the inditing of letters addressed to diverse mighty
personages of the day ; but he had spent the night in writ-
ing to an old friend of his, one of the oldest established
notaries of Paris. Without this letter it is not possible
to understand Chesnel's real and assumed fatherhood.
It almost recalls Daedalus' address to Icarus ; for where,
save in old mythology, can you look for comparisons
worthy of this man of antique mould ? '

4 My dear and estimable Sorbier, — I remember



The Jealousies of a Country Town 209

with no little pleasure that I made my first campaign in
our honourable profession under your father, and that
you had a liking for me, poor little clerk that I was.
And now I appeal to old memories of the days when we
worked in the same office, old pleasant memories for our
hearts, to ask you to do me the one service that I have
ever asked of you in the course of our long lives, crossed
as they have been by political catastrophes, to which,
perhaps, I owe it that I have the honour to be your
colleague. And now I ask this service of you, my
friend, and my white hairs will be brought with sorrow
to the grave if you should refuse my entreaty. It is no
question of myself or of mine, Sorbier, for I lost poor
Mme. Chesnel, and I have no child of my own. Some-
thing more to me than my own family (if I had had one)
is involved — it is the Marquis d'Esgrignon's only son.
I have had the honour to be the Marquis's land steward
ever since I left the office to which his father sent me
at his own expense, with the idea of providing for me.
The house which nurtured me has passed through all
the troubles of the Revolution. I have managed to
save some of their property ; but what is it, after all, in
comparison with the wealth that they have lost ? I
cannot tell you, Sorbier, how deeply I am attached to
the great house, which has been all but swallowed up
under my eyes by the abyss of time. M. le Marquis
was proscribed, and his lands confiscated, he was getting
on in years, he had no child. Misfortunes upon mis-
fortunes ! Then M. le Marquis married, and his wife
died when the young Count was born, and to-day this
noble, dear, and precious child is all the life of the
d'Esgrignon family ; the fate of the house hangs upon
him. He has got into debt here with amusing him-
self. What else should he do in the provinces with an
allowance of a miserable hundred louis ? Yes, my friend,
a hundred louis, the great house has come to this.

* In this extremity his father thinks it necessary

o



210 The Jealousies of a Country Town

to send the Count to Paris to ask for the King's
favour at court. Paris is a very dangerous place for a
lad ; if he is to keep steady there, he must have the
grain of sense which makes notaries of us. Besides, I
should be heartbroken to think of the poor boy living
amid such hardships as we have known. — Do you
remember the pleasure with which you shared my roll
in the pit of the Theatre-Franeais when we spent a day
and a night there waiting to see The Marriage of
Figaro ? Oh, blind that we were ! — We were happy
and poor, but a noble cannot be happy in poverty. A
noble in want — it is a thing against nature ! Ah !
Sorbier, when one has known the satisfaction of prop-
ping one of the grandest genealogical trees in the king-
dom in its fall, it is so natural to interest oneself in it
and to grow fond of it, and love it and water it and look
to see it blossom. So you will not be surprised at so many
precautions on my part ; you will not wonder when I
beg the help of your lights, so that all may go well with
our young man.

* The family has allowed a hundred thousand francs
for the expenses of M. le Comte's journey. There is not
a young man in Paris fit to compare with him, as you will
see ! You will take an interest in him as if he were your
only son ; and lastly, I am quite sure that Mme. Sorbier
will not hesitate to second you in the office of guardian.
M. le Comte Victurnien's monthly allowance is fixed at
two thousand francs, but give him ten thousand for his
preliminary expenses. The family have provided in this
way for a stay of two years, unless he takes a journey
abroad, in which case we will see about making other
arrangements. Join me in this work, my old friend, and
keep the purse-strings fairly tight. Represent things to
M. le Comte without reproving him ; hold him in as
far as you can, and do not let him anticipate his monthly
allowance without sufficient reason, for he must not be
driven to desperation if honour is involved.



The Jealousies of a Country Town 211

' Keep yourself informed of his movements and doings,
of the company which he keeps, and watch over his
connections with women. M. le Chevalier says that an
opera dancer often costs less than a court lady. Obtain
information on that point and let me know. If you are
too busy, perhaps Mme.Sorbier might know what becomes
of the young man, and where he goes. The idea of play-
ing the part of guardian angel to such a noble and charm-
ing boy might have attractions for her. God will
remember her for accepting the sacred trust. Perhaps
when you see M. le Comte Victurnien, her heart may
tremble at the thought of all the dangers awaiting him
in Paris ; he is very young, and very handsome ; clever,
and at the same time disposed to trust others. If he
forms a connection with some designing woman, Mme.
Sorbier could counsel him better than you yourself could
do. The old man-servant who is with him can tell you
many things ; sound Josephin, I have told him to go to
you in delicate matters.

4 But why should I say more ? We once were clerks
together, and a pair of scamps ; remember our escapades,
and be a little bit young again, my old friend, in your
dealings with him. The sixty thousand francs will be
remitted to you in the shape of a bill on the Treasury
by a gentleman who is going to Paris,' and so forth.

If the old couple to whom this epistle was addressed
had followed out Chesnel's instructions, they would
have been compelled to take three private detectives
into their pay. And yet there was ample wisdom shown
in Chesnel's choice of a depositary. A banker pays
money to any one accredited to him so long as the
money lasts ; whereas, Victurnien was obliged, every
time that he was in want of money, to make a personal
visit to the notary, who was quite sure to use the right
of remonstrance.

Victurnien heard that he was to be allowed two



212 The Jealousies of a Country Town

thousand francs every month, and thought that he
betrayed his joy. He knew nothing of Paris. He
fancied that he could keep up princely state on such a
sum.

Next day he started on his journey. All the bene-
dictions of the Collection of Antiquities went with him;
he was kissed by the dowagers; good wishes were heaped
on his head ; his old father, his aunt, and Chesnel went
with him out of the town, tears filling the eyes of all the
three. The sudden departure supplied material for con-
versation for several evenings ; and what was more, it
stirred the rancorous minds of the salon du Croisier to
the depths. The forage-contractor, the president, and
others who had vowed to ruin the d'Esgrignons, saw
their prey escaping out of their hands. They had based
their schemes of revenge on a young man's follies, and
now he was beyond their reach.

The tendency in human nature, which often gives a
bigot a rake for a daughter, and makes a frivolous woman
the mother of a narrow pietist ; that rule of contraries,
which, in all probability, is the 'resultant' of the law of
similarities, drew Victurnien to Paris by a desire to
which he must sooner or later have yielded. Brought
up as he had been in the old-fashioned provincial house,
among the quiet, gentle faces that smiled upon him,
among sober servants attached to the family, and
surroundings tinged with a general colour of age,
the boy had only seen friends worthy of respect.
All of those about him, with the exception of the
Chevalier, that example of venerable age, were elderly
men and women, sedate of manner, decorous and sen-
tentious of speech. He had been petted by those
women in the grey gowns and embroidered mittens
described by Blondet. The antiquated splendours of his
father's house were as little calculated as possible to
suggest frivolous thoughts ; and lastly, he had been edu-
cated by a sincerely religious abbe, possessed of all the



The Jealousies of a Country Town 213

charm of an old age, which has dwelt in two centuries,
and brings to the Present its gifts of the dried roses of ex-