Vautrin Nothing of the kind, I know who it is; tell him to wait. Everybody in arms! Vautrin must then vanish; I will be the Baron de Vieux-Chene. Speak in a German account, fool him well, until I can play the master stroke. (Exit.)
SCENE SIXTH.
Lafouraille and Saint-Charles.
Lafouraille (speaking with a German accent)
M. de Frescas is not at home, sir, and his steward, the Baron de
Vieux-Chene, is engaged with an architect, who is to build a grand
house for my master.
Saint-Charles
I beg your pardon, my dear sir, you said —
Lafouraille
I said Baron de Vieux-Chene.
Saint-Charles
Baron!
Lafouraille
Yes! Yes!
Saint-Charles
He is a baron?
Lafouraille
Baron de Vieux-Chene.
Saint-Charles
You are a German.
Lafouraille
Not I! Not I! I am an Alsatian, a very different thing.
Saint-Charles (aside)
This man has certainly an accent too decidedly German to be a
Parisian.
Lafouraille (aside)
I know this man well. Here’s a go!
Saint-Charles
If the baron is busy, I will wait.
Lafouraille (aside) Ah! Blondet, my beauty, you can disguise your face, but not your voice; if you get out of our clutches now, you will be a wonder. (Aloud) What shall I tell the baron brings you here? (He makes as if to go out.)
Saint-Charles Stay a moment, my friend; you speak German, I speak French, we may misunderstand one another. (Puts a purse into his hand.) There can be no mistake with this for an interpreter.
Lafouraille
No, sir.
Saint-Charles
That is merely on account.
Lafouraille (aside) Yes, on account of my eighty thousand francs. (Aloud) And do you wish me to shadow my master?
Saint-Charles No, my friend, I merely ask for some information, which cannot compromise you.
Lafouraille
In good German we call that spying.
Saint-Charles
But no — that is not it — it is —
Lafouraille
To shadow him. And what shall I say to his lordship the baron?
Saint-Charles
Announce the Chevalier de Saint-Charles.
Lafouraille We understand each other. I will induce him to see you. But do not offer money to the steward; he is more honest than the rest of us. (He gives a sly wink.)
Saint-Charles
That means he will cost more.
Lafouraille
Yes, sir. (Exit.)
SCENE SEVENTH.
Saint-Charles (alone) A bad beginning! Ten louis thrown away. To shadow him indeed! It is too stupid not to have a spice of wit in it, this habit of calling things by their right name, at the outset. If the pretended steward, for there is no steward here, if the baron is as clever as his footman, I shall have nothing to base my information on, excepting what they conceal from me. This room is very fine. There is neither portrait of the king, nor emblem of royalty here. Well, it is plain they do not frame their opinions. Is the furniture suggestive of anything? No. It is too new to have been even paid for. But for the air which the porter whistled, doubtless a signal, I should be inclined to believe in the De Frescas people.
SCENE EIGHTH.
Saint-Charles, Vautrin and Lafouraille. (Vautrin wears a bright maroon coat, of old-fashioned cut, with large heavy buttons; his breeches are black silk, as are his stockings. His shoes have gold buckles, his waistcoat is flowered, he wears two watch-chains, his cravat belongs to the time of the Revolution; his wig is white, his face old, keen, withered, dissipated looking. He speaks low, and his voice is cracked.)
Vautrin (to Lafouraille) Very good; you may go. (Exit Lafouraille. Aside) Now for the tug of war, Monsieur Blondet. (Aloud) I am at your service, sir.
Saint-Charles (aside) A worn out fox is still dangerous. (Aloud) Excuse me, baron, for disturbing you, while yet unknown to you.
Vautrin
I can guess what your business is.
Saint-Charles (aside)
Indeed?
Vautrin You are an architect, and have a proposal to make to me; but I have already received most excellent offers.
Saint-Charles
Excuse me, your Dutchman must have mispronounced my name. I am the
Chevalier de Saint-Charles.
Vautrin (raising his spectacles)
Let me see — we are old acquaintances. You were at the Congress of
Vienna, and then bore the name of Count of Gorcum — a fine name!
Saint-Charles (aside)
Go choke yourself, old man! (Aloud) So you were there also?
Vautrin I should think so! And I am glad to have come upon you again. You were a deuced clever fellow, you know. How you fooled them all!
Saint-Charles (aside) We’ll stick to Vienna, then. (Aloud) Ah, baron! I recall you perfectly now; you also steered your bark pretty cleverly there.
Vautrin Of course I did, and what women we had there! Yes, indeed! And have you still your fair Italian?
Saint-Charles
Did you know her? She was a woman of such tact.
Vautrin My dear fellow, wasn’t she, though? She actually wanted to find out who I was.
Saint-Charles
And did she find out?
Vautrin Well, my dear friend, I know you will be glad to hear it, she discovered nothing.
Saint-Charles Come, baron, since we are speaking freely to each other to-day, I for my part must confess that your admirable Pole —
Vautrin
You also had the pleasure?
Saint-Charles
On my honor, yes!
Vautrin (laughing)
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Saint Charles (laughing)
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Vautrin
We can safely laugh now, for I suppose you left her there?
Saint-Charles Immediately, as you did. I see that we are both come to throw away our money in Paris, and we have done well; but it seems to me, baron, that you have accepted a very secondary position, though one which attracts notice.
Vautrin Ah! thank you, chevalier. I hope, however, we may still be friends for many a day.
Saint-Charles
Forever, I hope.
Vautrin You can be extremely useful to me, I can be of immense service to you, we understand each other! Let me know what your present business is, and I will tell you mine.
Saint-Charles (aside)
I should like to know whether he is being set on me, or I on him.
Vautrin (aside)
It is going to be a somewhat slow business.
Saint-Charles
I will tell you.
Vautrin
I am attention!
Saint-Charles
Baron, between ourselves, I admire you immensely.
Vautrin
What a compliment from a man like you!
Saint-Charles Not at all! To create a De Frescas in the face of all Paris shows an inventive genius which transcends by a thousand points that of our countesses at the Congress. You are angling for the dowry with rare nerve.
Vautrin
I angling for a dowry?
Saint-Charles But, my dear friend, you would be found out, unless I your friend had been the man chosen to watch you, for I am appointed your shadower by a very high authority. Permit me also to ask how can you dare to interfere with the family of Montsorel in their pursuit of an heiress?
Vautrin To think that I innocently believed you came to propose we should work in company, and speculate, both of us, with the money of Monsieur de Frescas, of which I have entire control — and here you talk to me of something entirely different! Frescas, my good friend, is one of the legal titles of this
young man, who has seven in all. Stringent reasons prevent him from revealing the name of his family, which I know, for the next twenty-four hours. Their property is vast, I have seen their estate, from which I am just returned. I do not mind being taken by you for a rogue, for there is no disgrace in the vast sums at stake; but to be taken for an imbecile, capable of dancing attendance on a sham nobleman, and so silly as to defy the Montsorels on behalf of a counterfeit — Really, my friend, it would seem that you have never been to Vienna! We are not in the same class!
Saint-Charles Do not grow angry, worthy steward! Let us leave off entangling ourselves in a web of lies more or less agreeable; you cannot expect to make me swallow any more of them. Our cash box is better furnished than yours, therefore come over to us. Your young man is as much Frescas as I am chevalier and you baron. You picked him up on the frontier of Italy; he was then a vagabond, to-day he is an adventurer, and that’s the whole truth of it.
Vautrin You are right. We must leave off entangling ourselves in the web of falsehoods more or less agreeable; we must speak the truth.
Saint-Charles
I will pay you for it.
Vautrin I will give it you for nothing. You are an infamous cur, my friend. Your name is Charles Blondet; you were steward in the household of De Langeac; twice have you bought the betrayal of the viscount, and never have you paid the money — it is shameful! You owe eighty thousand francs to one of my footmen. You caused the viscount to be shot at Mortagne in order that you might appropriate the property entrusted to you by the family. If the Duc de Montsorel, who sent you here, knew who you are, ha! ha! He would make you settle some old accounts! Take off your moustache, your whiskers, your wig, your sham decorations and your badges of foreign orders. (He tears off from him his wig, his whiskers and decorations.) Good day, you rascal! How did you manage to eat up a fortune so cleverly won? It was colossal; how did you lose it?
Saint-Charles
Through ill-luck.
Vautrin
I understand. . . . What are you going to do now?
Saint-Charles Whoever you are, stop there; I surrender, I haven’t a chance left! You are either the devil or Jacques Collin!
Vautrin
I am and wish to be nothing but the Baron de Vieux-Chene to you.
Listen to my ultimatum. I can cause you to be buried this instant in
one of my cellars, and no one will inquire for you.
Saint-Charles
I know it.
Vautrin
It would be prudent to do so. But are you willing to do for me in
Montsorel’s house, what Montsorel sent you to do here?
Saint-Charles
I accept the offer; but what are the profits?
Vautrin
All you can take.
Saint-Charles
From either party?
Vautrin Certainly! You will send me by the person who accompanies you back all the deeds that relate to the De Langeac family; they must still be in your possession. In case Monsieur de Frescas marries Mademoiselle de Christoval, you cannot be their steward, but you shall receive a hundred thousand francs. You are dealing with exacting masters. Walk straight, and they will not betray you.
Saint-Charles
It is a bargain!
Vautrin I will not ratify it until I have the documents in hand. Until then, be careful! (He rings; all the household come in.) Attend Monsieur le Chevalier home, with all the respect due his high rank. (To Saint-Charles, pointing out to him Philosopher) This man will accompany you. (To Philosopher) Do not leave him.
Saint-Charles (aside) Once I get safe and sound out of their clutches, I will come down heavy on this nest of thieves.
Vautrin
Monsieur le Chevalier, I am yours to command!
SCENE NINTH.
Vautrin and Lafouraille.
Lafouraille
M. Vautrin!
Vautrin
Well?
Lafouraille
Are you letting him go?
Vautrin Unless he considers himself at liberty, what can we hope to learn from him? I have given my instructions; he will be taught not to put ropes in the way of hangmen. When Philosopher brings for me the documents which this fellow is to hand him, they will be given to me, wherever I happen to be.
Lafouraille
But afterwards, will you spare his life?
Vautrin You are always a little premature, my dear. Have you forgotten how seriously the dead interfere with the peace of the living? Hush! I hear Raoul — leave us to ourselves.
SCENE TENTH.
Vautrin and Raoul de Frescas.
Raoul (soliloquizing) After a glimpse of heaven, still to remain on earth — such is my fate! I am a lost man; Vautrin, an infernal yet a kindly genius, a man who knows everything, and seems able to do everything, a man as harsh to others as he is good to me, a man who is inexplicable except by a supposition of witchcraft, a maternal providence if I may so call him, is not after all the providence divine. (Vautrin enters wearing a plain black peruke, a blue coat, gray pantaloons, a black waistcoat, the costume of a stock-broker.) Oh! I know what love is; but I did not know what revenge was, until I felt I could not die before I had wreaked my vengeance on these two Montsorels.
Vautrin (aside)
He is in trouble. (Aloud) Raoul, my son, what ails you?
Raoul
Nothing ails me. Pray leave me.
Vautrin Do you again repulse me? You abuse the right you have to ill-treat a friend — What are you thinking about?
Raoul
Nothing.
Vautrin Nothing? Come, sir, do you think that he who has taught you that English coldness, under the veil of which men of worth would conceal their feelings, was not aware of the transparency which belongs to this cuirass of pride? Try concealment with others, but not with me. Dissimulation is more than a blunder, for in friendship a blunder is a crime.
Raoul To game no more, to come home tipsy no more, to shun the menagerie of the opera, to become serious, to study, to desire a position in life, this you call dissimulation.
Vautrin You are as yet but a poor diplomatist. You will be a great one, when you can deceive me. Raoul, you have made the mistake which I have taken most pains to save you from. My son, why did you not take women for what they are, creatures of inconsequence, made to enslave without being their slave, like a sentimental shepherd? But instead, my Lovelace has been conquered by a Clarissa. Ah, young people will strike against these idols a great many times, before they discover them to be hollow!
Raoul
Is this a sermon?
Vautrin What? Do you take me, who have trained your hand to the pistol, who have shown you how to draw the sword, have taught you not to dread the strongest laborer of the faubourg, who have done for your brains what I have done for your body, have set you above all men, and anointed you my king, do you take me for a dolt? Come, now, let us have a little more frankness.
Raoul Do you wish me to tell you what I was thinking? — But no, that would be to accuse my benefactor.
Vautrin Your benefactor! You insult me. Do you think I have devoted to you my life, my blood, shown myself ready to kill, to assassinate your enemy, in order that I may receive that exorbitant interest called gratitude? Have I become an usurer of this kind? There are some men who would hang the weight of a benefit around your heart like a cannon-ball attached to the feet of — — , but let that pass! Such men I would crush as I would a worm, without thinking that I had committed homicide! No! I have asked you to adopt me as your father, that my heart may be to you what heaven is to the angels, a space where all is happiness and confidence; that you may tell me all your thoughts, even those which are evil. Speak, I shall understand everything, even an act of cowardice.
Raoul
God and Satan must have conspired to cast this man of bronze.
Vautrin
It is quite possible.
Raoul
I will tell you all.
Vautrin
Very good, my son; let us sit down.
Raoul
You have been the cause to me of opprobrium and despair.
Vautrin Where? When? Blood of a man! Who has wounded you? Who has proved false to you? Tell me the place, name the people — the wrath of Vautrin shall descend upon them!
Raoul
You can do nothing.
Vautrin
Child, there are two kinds of men who can do anything.
Raoul
And who are they?
Vautrin Kings, who are, or who ought to be, above the law; and — this will give you pain — criminals, who are below it.
Raoul
But since you are not king —
Vautrin
Well! I reign in the region below.
Raoul
What horrible mockery is this, Vautrin?
Vautrin
Did you not say that God and the devil hobnobbed to cast me?
Raoul
Heavens, sir, you make me shudder!
Vautrin Return to your seat! Calm yourself, my son. You must not be astonished at anything, if you wish to escape being an ordinary man.
Raoul Am I in the hands of a demon, or of an angel? You have brought me up without debauching the generous instincts I feel within me; you have enlightened without dazzling me; you have given me the experience of the old, without depriving me of the graces of youth; but it is not with impunity that you have whetted the edge of my intellect, expanded my view, roused my perspicacity. Tell me, what is the source of your wealth, is it an honorable one? Why do you forbid me to confess to you the sufferings of my childhood? Why have you given me the name of the village where you found me? Why do you prevent me from searching out my father and mother? Why do you bow me down under a load of falsehoods? An orphan may rouse the interest of people; an imposter, never. I live in a style which makes me a equal to the son of a duke or a peer; you have educated me well, without expense to the state; you have launched me into the empyrean of the world, and now they fling into my face the declaration, that there are no longer such people as De Frescas in existence. I have been asked who my family are, and you have forbidden me to answer. I am at once a great nobleman and a pariah. I must swallow insults which would drive me to rend alive marquises and dukes; rage fills my heart; I should like to fight twenty duels, and to die. Do you wish me to suffer any further insults? No more secrets for me! Prometheus of hell, either finish your work, or shatter it to pieces!
Works of Honore De Balzac Page 1398