Father Goriot HonorĂ© de Balzac (love books to read .TXT) đ
- Author: Honoré de Balzac
Book online «Father Goriot HonorĂ© de Balzac (love books to read .TXT) đ». Author HonorĂ© de Balzac
âSo the wheel turns,â said Vautrin; âyesterday night at a duchessâ ball, this morning in a moneylenderâs office, on the lowest rung of the ladderâ âjust like a Parisienne! If their husbands cannot afford to pay for their frantic extravagance, they will sell themselves. Or if they cannot do that, they will tear out their mothersâ hearts to find something to pay for their splendor. They will turn the world upside down. Just a Parisienne through and through!â
Father Goriotâs face, which had shone at the studentâs words like the sun on a bright day, clouded over all at once at this cruel speech of Vautrinâs.
âWell,â said Mme. Vauquer, âbut where is your adventure? Did you speak to her? Did you ask her if she wanted to study law?â
âShe did not see me,â said EugĂšne. âBut only think of meeting one of the prettiest women in Paris in the Rue des GrĂšs at nine oâclock! She could not have reached home after the ball till two oâclock this morning. Wasnât it queer? There is no place like Paris for this sort of adventures.â
âPshaw! much funnier things than that happen here!â exclaimed Vautrin.
Mlle. Taillefer had scarcely heeded the talk, she was so absorbed by the thought of the new attempt that she was about to make. Mme. Couture made a sign that it was time to go upstairs and dress; the two ladies went out, and Father Goriot followed their example.
âWell, did you see?â said Mme. Vauquer, addressing Vautrin and the rest of the circle. âHe is ruining himself for those women, that is plain.â
âNothing will ever make me believe that that beautiful Comtesse de Restaud is anything to Father Goriot,â cried the student.
âWell, and if you donât,â broke in Vautrin, âwe are not set on convincing you. You are too young to know Paris thoroughly yet; later on you will find out that there are what we call men with a passionâ ââ
Mlle. Michonneau gave Vautrin a quick glance at these words. They seemed to be like the sound of a trumpet to a trooperâs horse. âAha!â said Vautrin, stopping in his speech to give her a searching glance, âso we have had our little experiences, have we?â
The old maid lowered her eyes like a nun who sees a statue.
âWell,â he went on, âwhen folk of that kind get a notion into their heads, they cannot drop it. They must drink the water from some particular springâ âit is stagnant as often as not; but they will sell their wives and families, they will sell their own souls to the devil to get it. For some this spring is play, or the stock-exchange, or music, or a collection of pictures or insects; for others it is some woman who can give them the dainties they like. You might offer these last all the women on earthâ âthey would turn up their noses; they will have the only one who can gratify their passion. It often happens that the woman does not care for them at all, and treats them cruelly; they buy their morsels of satisfaction very dear; but no matter, the fools are never tired of it; they will take their last blanket to the pawnbrokerâs to give their last five-franc piece to her. Father Goriot here is one of that sort. He is discreet, so the Countess exploits himâ âjust the way of the gay world. The poor old fellow thinks of her and of nothing else. In all other respects you see he is a stupid animal; but get him on that subject, and his eyes sparkle like diamonds. That secret is not difficult to guess. He took some plate himself this morning to the melting-pot, and I saw him at Daddy Gobseckâs in the Rue des GrĂšs. And now, mark what followsâ âhe came back here, and gave a letter for the Comtesse de Restaud to that noodle of a Christophe, who showed us the address; there was a receipted bill inside it. It is clear that it was an urgent matter if the Countess also went herself to the old money lender. Father Goriot has financed her handsomely. There is no need to tack a tale together; the thing is self-evident. So that shows you, sir student, that all the time your Countess was smiling, dancing, flirting, swaying her peach-flower crowned head, with her gown gathered into her hand, her slippers were pinching her, as they say; she was thinking of her protested bills, or her loverâs protested bills.â
âYou have made me wild to know the truth,â cried EugĂšne; âI will go to call on Mme. de Restaud tomorrow.â
âYes,â echoed Poiret; âyou must go and call on Mme. de Restaud.â
âAnd perhaps you will find Father Goriot there, who will take payment for the assistance he politely rendered.â
EugĂšne looked disgusted. âWhy, then, this Paris of yours is a slough.â
âAnd an uncommonly queer slough, too,â replied Vautrin. âThe mud splashes you as you drive through it in your carriageâ âyou are a respectable person; you go afoot and are splashedâ âyou are a scoundrel. You are so unlucky as to walk off with something or other belonging to somebody else, and they exhibit you as a curiosity in the Place du Palais-de-Justice; you steal a million, and you are pointed out in every salon as a model of virtue. And you pay thirty millions for the police and the courts of justice, for the maintenance of law and order! A pretty slate of things it is!â
âWhat,â cried Mme. Vauquer, âhas Father Goriot really melted down his silver posset-dish?â
âThere were two turtledoves on the lid, were there not?â asked EugĂšne.
âYes, that there were.â
âThen, was he fond of it?â said EugĂšne. âHe cried while he was breaking up the cup and plate. I happened to see him by accident.â
âIt was dear to him as his own life,â
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