The Duchess
Yes, Raoul de Frescas.
Vautrin A young man of refinement, elegance and wit, and twenty-three years of age?
The Duchess
Gifted with manners which are never acquired, but innate.
Vautrin Romantic to the point of desiring to be loved for his own sake, in spite of his immense fortune; he wishes that passion should prevail in marriage — an absurdity! The young Amoagos, for it is he, madame.
The Duchess
But the name of Raoul is not —
Vautrin
Mexican — you are right. It was given to him by his mother, a
Frenchwoman, an emigree, a De Granville, who came from St. Domingo.
Is the reckless fellow favored by her?
The Duchess
Preferred to all the rest.
Vautrin Well, open this letter, and read it, madame; and you will see that I have received full authority from Amoagos and Christoval to conclude this marriage.
The Duchess
Oh, let me call in Inez, sir. (Exit.)
SCENE FOURTH.
Vautrin (alone) The major-domo is on my side, the genuine deeds, if he comes upon them, will be handed to me. Raoul is too proud to return to this house; besides that, he has promised me to wait. I am thus master of the situation; Raoul, when once he is a prince, will not lack ancestors; Mexico and I will see to that.
SCENE FIFTH.
Vautrin, the Duchesse de Christoval and Inez.
The Duchess (to her daughter)
My child, you have reason to thank the general very warmly.
Inez To thank you, sir? My father tells me, that among other missions you have received is that of marrying me to a certain Signor Amoagos, without any regard to my inclinations.
Vautrin
You need not be alarmed, for his name here is Raoul de Frescas.
Inez
What! He, Raoul de Frescas! — why then his persistent silence?
Vautrin Does it need an old soldier to interpret the heart of a young man? He wished for love, not obedience; he wished —
Inez
Ah, general, I will punish him well for his modesty and distrust.
Yesterday, he showed himself readier to swallow an affront than to
reveal the name of his father.
Vautrin But, mademoiselle, I am still uncertain as to whether the name of his father is that of a man convicted of high treason, or of a liberator of America.
Inez
Ah! mother, do you hear that?
Vautrin (aside)
How she loves him! Poor girl, she does not deserve to be imposed upon.
The Duchess My husband’s letter does in truth give you the full authority, general.
Vautrin
I have the authentic documents, and family deeds.
A footman (as he enters)
Will her grace the duchess see Monsieur de Frescas?
Vautrin (aside)
What! Raoul here?
The Duchess (to the footman)
Let him come in.
Vautrin (aside)
What a mess! The patient is liable to dose his doctor.
The Duchess Inez, you can see Monsieur de Frescas alone hereafter, since he has been acknowledged by your father.
(Inez kisses her mother’s hand formally.)
SCENE SIXTH.
The same persons, and Raoul.
(Raoul salutes the two ladies. Vautrin approaches him.)
Vautrin (to Raoul)
Don Raoul de Cardaval.
Raoul
Vautrin!
Vautrin
No! General Crustamente.
Raoul
Crustamente!
Vautrin Certainly; Mexican Envoy. Bear well in mind the name of your father, — Amoagos, a gentleman of Aragon, friend of the Duc de Christoval. Your mother is dead; I bring the acknowledged titles, and authentic family papers. Inez is yours.
Raoul
And do you think that I will consent to such villainies? Never!
Vautrin (to the two ladies) He is overcome by what I have told him, not anticipating so prompt an explanation.
Raoul If the truth should kill, your falsehoods would dishonor me, and I prefer to die.
Vautrin You wished to obtain Inez by any means possible, yet you shrink from practicing a harmless stratagem.
Raoul (in exasperation)
Ladies!
Vautrin He is beside himself with joy. (To Raoul) To speak out would be to lose Inez and deliver me to justice: do as you choose, I am at your disposal.
Raoul
O Vautrin! In what an abyss you have plunged me!
Vautrin I have made you a prince; and don’t forget that you are at the summit of happiness. (Aside) He will give in. (Exit.)
SCENE SEVENTH.
Inez (standing at the door through which her mother has passed); Raoul (at the other side of the stage).
Raoul (aside) Honor bids me to speak out, gratitude to keep silence; well, I accept my role of happy man, until he is out of danger; but I will write this evening, and Inez shall learn who I am. Vautrin, after such a sacrifice, I may cry quits with you; all ties between us are severed. I will seek, I care not where, a soldier’s death.
Inez (approaching, after gazing at him) My father and yours are friends; they consent to our marriage; we make love to each other as if they were opposed to it, and you seem lost in thought, and almost sad!
Raoul You are right, and I have lost my reason. At the very moment you see no obstacle in our way, it is possible that insurmountable difficulties may arise.
Inez
Raoul, what a damper you are throwing on our happiness!
Raoul Our happiness! (Aside) It is impossible to dissemble. (Aloud) In the name of our common love I implore you to believe in my loyalty.
Inez Has not my confidence in you been boundless? And the general has quite justified it, even during your silence before the Montsorels. I forgive you all the little annoyances you were forced to cause me.
Raoul (aside) Ah! Vautrin! I trust myself to you! (Aloud) Inez, you do not know how great is the impression your words make upon me; they give me power to bear the overwhelming rapture your presence causes — Come then, let us be happy!
SCENE EIGHTH.
The same persons and the Marquis de Montsorel.
The footman (announcing a visitor)
Monsieur le Marquis de Montsorel.
Raoul (aside) Ah! That name recalls me to myself. (To Inez) Whatever happens, Inez, do not judge my conduct until I have myself given an account of it, and believe at the present moment that I am carried along by an invincible fatality.
Inez
Raoul, I cannot understand you; but I shall trust you always.
The Marquis (aside) Again this little gentleman here! (He salutes Inez.) I thought you were with your mother, mademoiselle, and I never dreamed my visit would be so inopportune. Be good enough to excuse me —
Inez
I beg that you will not go; there is no one but ourselves here, for
Monsieur Raoul has been accepted by my family.
The Marquis
Will Monsieur Raoul de Frescas, then, accept my congratulations?
Raoul Your congratulations? I accept them (they shake hands) in the same spirit as that in which they are offered.
Inez (to Raoul) Manage that he go away, and do you remain. (To the Marquis) My mother requires me for a few moments, and I will return with her.
SCENE NINTH.
The Marquis and Raoul; later, Vautrin.
The Marquis
Will you agree to a meeting without seconds — a fight to the death?
Raoul
Without seconds?
The Marquis
Do you realize that both of us cannot exist in the same world?
Raoul Your family is a powerful one; your proposition exposes me, in case I am victorious, to their vengeance. Allow me to say that I do not want to exchange this
house for a prison. (Vautrin appears.) I will fight to the death — but not without seconds.
The Marquis
Will those on your side stop the duel?
Raoul
Our mutual hatred is sufficient guarantee against that.
Vautrin (aside) Well, now — we always commit some blunder in the moment of success! To the death! This child would gamble away his life as if it belonged to him.
The Marquis Very well, monsieur; to-morrow at eight o’clock, we meet at the terrace of Saint-Germain, and drive from there to the forest.
Vautrin (coming forward)
You will not go. (To Raoul) A duel? Are the principals of equal rank?
Is this gentleman, like you, the only son of a noble house? Would your
father Don Inigo Juan Varago de los Amoagos de Cardaval las Frescas y
Peral, allow you to do it, Raoul?
The Marquis I have consented to fight with an unknown man, but the greatness of the house to which the gentleman belongs cannot nullify the agreement.
Raoul (to the marquis) Nevertheless, it seems to me, monsieur, that we can treat each other with courtesy, and act like people who esteem each other too much to take the trouble to hate and to kill.
The Marquis (looking at Vautrin)
May I know the name of your friend?
Vautrin
By whom have I to honor to be referred to?
The Marquis
By the Marquis de Montsorel, sir.
Vautrin (eyeing him from head to foot) I have the right to refuse you, but I will tell you my name, once for all, in a very short time, and you won’t repeat it. I am to be one of the seconds of Monsieur de Frescas. (Aside) And Buteux shall be the other.
SCENE TENTH.
Raoul, Vautrin, the Marquis and the Duchesse de Montsorel; Later, the Duchesse de Christoval and Inez.
Footman (announcing a visitor)
Her grace the Duchesse de Montsorel.
Vautrin (to Raoul) Let me have no nonsense; be calm and firm! I stand face to face with the enemy.
The Marquis
Ah, mother dear, and are you come to witness my defeat? All is ended.
The De Christoval family has trifled with us. This gentleman (he
points to Vautrin) represents both families.
The Duchesse de Montsorel Then Raoul has a family? (The Duchesse de Christoval and her daughter enter and salute the speaker. To the Duchesse de Christoval) Madame, my son has told me what has occurred to frustrate all our hopes.
The Duchesse de Christoval The interest which yesterday you manifested in Monsieur de Frescas has, I see, changed to indifference?
The Duchesse de Montsorel (scrutinizing Vautrin)
Is it through this gentleman that all your doubts have been satisfied?
Who is he?
The Duchesse de Christoval He represents the father of Monsieur de Frescas, don Amoagos, and the father of Inez, Monsieur de Christoval. He has brought us the news we expected, and brought letters from my husband.
Vautrin (aside)
Am I to act this part long?
The Duchesse de Montsorel (to Vautrin) Doubtless you have known the family of Monsieur de Frescas for some time?
Vautrin
My acquaintance is limited to a father and an uncle — (to Raoul) You
have not even the mournful satisfaction of remembering your mother.
(To the Duchess) She died in Mexico, shortly after her marriage.
The Duchesse de Montsorel
Monsieur de Frescas, then, was born in Mexico?
Vautrin
Of course he was.
The Duchesse de Montsorel (to the Duchesse de Christoval) My dear, we are being imposed upon. (To Raoul) Sir, you did not come from Mexico. Your mother is not dead, is she? And have you not been abandoned since your childhood?
Raoul
Would that my mother were alive!
Vautrin Pardon me, madame, but I am here to satisfy your curiosity, if you wish to learn the secret history which it is not necessary you should seek from this gentleman. (To Raoul) Not a word!
The Duchesse de Montsorel It is he! And this man is making him the tool in some sinister undertaking. (She approaches the marquis) My son —
The Marquis You have put them out, mother, and I share your impression of this man (he indicated Vautrin); but only a woman has the right to express her thoughts in a way to expose this frightful imposture.
The Duchesse de Montsorel
Frightful indeed! But pray leave us.
The Marquis Ladies, in spite of my ill-fortune, do not blame me if I still have hopes. (To Vautrin) Often between the cup and the lip there is —
Vautrin
Death!
(Exit the Marquis, after exchanging bows with Raoul.)
The Duchesse de Montsorel (to the Duchesse de Christoval) My dear duchess, I implore you to excuse Inez. We cannot make our explanations before her.
The Duchesse de Christoval (to her daughter, making signs to her to
leave the room)
I will rejoin you in a moment.
Raoul (kissing his hand to Inez)
This is perhaps good-bye forever!
(Exit Inez.)
SCENE ELEVENTH.
The Duchesse de Christoval, the Duchesse de Montsorel, Raoul and Vautrin.
Vautrin (to the Duchesse de Christoval)
Do you suspect the motive that brings madame here?
The Duchesse de Christoval
After what happened yesterday I prefer not to say.
Vautrin
I guessed her love for him immediately.
Raoul (to Vautrin)
This atmosphere of falsehood stifles me.
Vautrin (to Raoul)
One word more, and the affair will be ended.
The Duchesse de Montsorel Madame, I know well how strange my present conduct must appear to you, and I won’t attempt to justify it. There are solemn duties before which the conventions and even the laws of society must give way. What is the character and what the powers of this man?
The Duchesse de Christoval (to whom Vautrin makes a signal)
I am forbidden to answer this question.
The Duchesse de Montsorel Well, I will tell you; this man is either the accomplice or the dupe in an imposture of which we are the victims. In spite of the letters and documents which he brings to you, I am convinced that all evidence which gives name and family to Raoul is false.
Raoul To tell the truth, madame, I do not know what right you have to interfere in personal matters of mine.
The Duchesse de Christoval Madame, you were wise to send out of the room my daughter and the marquis.
Vautrin (to Raoul) What right? (To the Duchesse de Montsorel) You need not avow it, for we divine it. I can well understand, madame, the pain you feel at the prospect of this marriage, and am not therefore offended at your suspicions with regard to me, and the authentic documents which I have brought to the Duchesse de Christoval. (Aside) Now for the final stroke. (He takes her aside) Before becoming a Mexican I was a Spaniard, and I know the cause of your hatred for Albert. And as to the motive which brings you here, we will talk about that very soon at the house of your confessor.
The Duchesse de Montsorel
You know?
Vautrin All. (Aside) She has some motive. (Aloud) Will you examine the documents?
The Duchesse de Christoval
Well, my dear?
The Duchesse de Montsorel Be quick, and send for Inez. Examine the deeds carefully, I implore you. This is the request of a despairing mother.
The Duchesse de Christoval
A despairing mother!
The Duchesse de Montsorel (to herself, looking at Raoul and Vautrin) How is it possible that this man should know my secret and have this hold upon my son?
The Duchesse de Christoval
Will you come, madame?
(Exeunt the two duchesses.)
SCENE TWELFTH.
Raou
l, Vautrin and later Lafouraille.
Vautrin
I thought our star was setting; but it is still in the ascendant.
Raoul Have I not been humbled sufficiently? I had nothing in the world but my honor, and that I gave into your keeping. Your power is infernal, I see that plainly. But from this very moment I withdraw from its influence. You are no longer in danger. Farewell.
Lafouraille (coming in while Raoul speaks) No one caught, — ‘twas lucky, — we had time! Ah, sir, Philosopher is below, all is lost! The house has been entered by the police.
Vautrin
Disgusting! And no one has been taken?
Lafouraille
We were too cute for that.
Vautrin
Philosopher is below, as what?
Lafouraille
As a footman.
Vautrin Good; let him get up behind my carriage. I want to give you my orders about locking up the Prince d’Arjos, who thinks he is going to fight a duel to-morrow.
Raoul I see that you are in danger. I will not leave you, and I desire to know —
Vautrin Nothing. Do not worry about your own security. I will look out for you, in spite of you.
Raoul
Oh! I know what my future will be.
Vautrin
I too know.
Lafouraille
Come, things are getting hot.
Vautrin
Nay, the fat is in the fire.
Lafouraille No time for sentiment, or dilly-dallying, they are on our track and are mounted.
Vautrin Let us be off then. (He takes Lafouraille aside) If the government should do us the honor to billet its gendarmes on us, our duty is to let them alone. All are at liberty to scatter; but let all be at Mother Giroflee’s at midnight. Get off post haste, for I do not wish us to meet our Waterloo, and the Prussians are upon us. We must run for it.
Curtain to the Fourth Act.
ACT V.
SCENE FIRST.
(The scene is laid at the Montsorel house, in a room on the ground floor.)
Joseph (alone) The cursed white mark appears this evening on the wicket side of the garden. Things cannot go on long in this way; the devil only knows how it will end. I prefer seeing him there, however, rather than in the apartments; the garden is at least away from the house, and when the warning comes, one can walk out to meet him.
SCENE SECOND.
Joseph, Lafouraille and Buteux; later, Vautrin.
(The humming sound of a voice is heard for a moment.)
Joseph
There it is, our national air, which I never hear without trembling.
Works of Honore De Balzac Page 1400