Father Goriot HonorĂ© de Balzac (love books to read .TXT) đ
- Author: Honoré de Balzac
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âYou were better off than I. M. de Marsay was rich, as you have reason to know. You always were as slippery as gold. Goodbye; I have neither sister norâ ââ
âOh! hush, hush, Nasie!â cried her father.
âNobody else would repeat what everybody has ceased to believe. You are an unnatural sister!â cried Delphine.
âOh, children, children! hush! hush! or I will kill myself before your eyes.â
âThere, Nasie, I forgive you,â said Mme. de Nucingen; âyou are very unhappy. But I am kinder than you are. How could you say that just when I was ready to do anything in the world to help you, even to be reconciled with my husband, which for my own sake Iâ âOh! it is just like you; you have behaved cruelly to me all through these nine years.â
âChildren, children, kiss each other!â cried the father. âYou are angels, both of you.â
âNo. Let me alone,â cried the Countess shaking off the hand that her father had laid on her arm. âShe is more merciless than my husband. Anyone might think she was a model of all the virtues herself!â
âI would rather have people think that I owed money to M. de Marsay than own that M. de Trailles had cost me more than two hundred thousand francs,â retorted Mme. de Nucingen.
âDelphine!â cried the Countess, stepping towards her sister.
âI shall tell you the truth about yourself if you begin to slander me,â said the Baroness coldly.
âDelphine! you are aâ ââ
Father Goriot sprang between them, grasped the Countessâ hand, and laid his own over her mouth.
âGood heavens, father! What have you been handling this morning?â said Anastasie.
âAh! well, yes, I ought not to have touched you,â said the poor father, wiping his hands on his trousers, âbut I have been packing up my things; I did not know that you were coming to see me.â
He was glad that he had drawn down her wrath upon himself.
âAh!â he sighed, as he sat down, âyou children have broken my heart between you. This is killing me. My head feels as if it were on fire. Be good to each other and love each other! This will be the death of me! Delphine! Nasie! come, be sensible; you are both in the wrong. Come, Dedel,â he added, looking through his tears at the Baroness, âshe must have twelve thousand francs, you see; let us see if we can find them for her. Oh, my girls, do not look at each other like that!â and he sank on his knees beside Delphine. âAsk her to forgive youâ âjust to please me,â he said in her ear. âShe is more miserable than you are. Come now, Dedel.â
âPoor Nasie!â said Delphine, alarmed at the wild extravagant grief in her fatherâs face, âI was in the wrong, kiss meâ ââ
âAh! that is like balm to my heart,â cried Father Goriot. âBut how are we to find twelve thousand francs? I might offer myself as a substitute in the armyâ ââ
âOh! father dear!â they both cried, flinging their arms about him. âNo, no!â
âGod reward you for the thought. We are not worth it, are we, Nasie?â asked Delphine.
âAnd besides, father dear, it would only be a drop in the bucket,â observed the Countess.
âBut is flesh and blood worth nothing?â cried the old man in his despair. âI would give body and soul to save you, Nasie. I would do a murder for the man who would rescue you. I would do, as Vautrin did, go to the hulks, goâ ââ he stopped as if struck by a thunderbolt, and put both hands to his head. âNothing left!â he cried, tearing his hair. âIf I only knew of a way to steal money, but it is so hard to do it, and then you canât set to work by yourself, and it takes time to rob a bank. Yes, it is time I was dead; there is nothing left me to do but to die. I am no good in the world; I am no longer a father! No. She has come to me in her extremity, and, wretch that I am, I have nothing to give her. Ah! you put your money into a life annuity, old scoundrel; and had you not daughters? You did not love them. Die, die in a ditch, like the dog that you are! Yes, I am worse than a dog; a beast would not have done as I have done! Oh! my headâ ââ ⊠it throbs as if it would burst.â
âPapa!â cried both the young women at once, âdo, pray, be reasonable!â and they clung to him to prevent him from dashing his head against the wall. There was a sound of sobbing.
EugĂšne, greatly alarmed, took the bill that bore Vautrinâs signature, saw that the stamp would suffice for a larger sum, altered the figures, made it into a regular bill for twelve thousand francs, payable to Goriotâs order, and went to his neighborâs room.
âHere is the money, madame,â he said, handing the piece of paper to her. âI was asleep; your conversation awoke me, and by this means I learned all that I owed to M. Goriot. This bill can be discounted, and I shall meet it punctually at the due date.â
The Countess stood motionless and speechless, but she held the bill in her
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