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第27章

ursula-第27章

小说: ursula 字数: 每页4000字

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the man from whom he hired his carriages and horses; to a jeweler;

in short; to all those traders and shopkeepers who contribute to the

luxury of young men。



He had only just succeeded in making himself known; and had scarcely

learned how to converse; how to present himself in a salon; how to

wear his waistcoats and choose them and to order his coats and tie his

cravat; before he found himself in debt for over thirty thousand

francs; while still seeking the right phrases in which to declare his

love for the sister of the Marquis de Ronquerolles; the elegant Madame

de Serizy; whose youth had been at its climax during the Empire。



〃How is that you all manage?〃 asked Savinien one day; at the end of a

gay breakfast with a knot of young dandies; with whom he was intimate

as the young men of the present day are intimate with each other; all

aiming for the same thing and all claiming an impossible equality。

〃You were no richer than I and yet you get along without anxiety; you

contrive to maintain yourselves; while as for me I make nothing but

debts。〃



〃We all began that way;〃 answered Rastignac; laughing; and the laugh

was echoed by Lucien de Rubempre; Maxime de Trailles; Emile Blondet;

and others of the fashionable young men of the day。



〃Though de Marsay was rich when he started in life he was an

exception;〃 said the host; a parvenu named Finot; ambitious of seeming

intimate with these young men。 〃Any one but he;〃 added Finot bowing to

that personage; 〃would have been ruined by it。〃



〃A true remark;〃 said Maxime de Trailles。



〃And a true idea;〃 added Rastignac。



〃My dear fellow;〃 said de Marsay; gravely; to Savinien; 〃debts are the

capital stock of experience。 A good university education with tutors

for all branches; who don't teach you anything; costs sixty thousand

francs。 If the education of the world does cost double; at least it

teaches you to understand life; politics; men;and sometimes women。〃



Blondet concluded the lesson by a paraphrase from La Fontaine: 〃The

world sells dearly what we think it gives。〃



Instead of laying to heart the sensible advice which the cleverest

pilots of the Parisian archipelago gave him; Savinien took it all as a

joke。



〃Take care; my dear fellow;〃 said de Marsay one day。 〃You have a great

name; if you don't obtain the fortune that name requires you'll end

your days in the uniform of a cavalry…sergeant。 'We have seen the fall

of nobler heads;'〃 he added; declaiming the line of Corneille as he

took Savinien's arm。 〃About six years ago;〃 he continued; 〃a young

Comte d'Esgrignon came among us; but he did not stay two years in the

paradise of the great world。 Alas! he lived and moved like a rocket。

He rose to the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse and fell to his native town;

where he is now expiating his faults with a wheezy old father and a

game of whist at two sous a point。 Tell Madame de Serizy your

situation; candidly; without shame; she will understand it and be very

useful to you。 Whereas; if you play the charade of first love with her

she will pose as a Raffaelle Madonna; practice all the little games of

innocence upon you; and take you journeying at enormous cost through

the Land of Sentiment。〃



Savinien; still too young and too pure in honor; dared not confess his

position as to money to Madame de Serizy。 At a moment when he knew not

which way to turn he had written his mother an appealing letter; to

which she replied by sending him the sum of twenty thousand francs;

which was all she possessed。 This assistance brought him to the close

of the first year。 During the second; being harnessed to the chariot

of Madame de Serizy; who was seriously taken with him; and who was; as

the saying is; forming him; he had recourse to the dangerous expedient

of borrowing。 One of his friends; a deputy and the friend of his

cousin the Comte de Portenduere; advised him in his distress to go to

Gobseck or Gigonnet or Palma; who; if duly informed as to his mother's

means; would give him an easy discount。 Usury and the deceptive help

of renewals enabled him to lead a happy life for nearly eighteen

months。 Without daring to leave Madame de Serizy the poor boy had

fallen madly in love with the beautiful Comtesse de Kergarouet; a

prude after the fashion of young women who are awaiting the death of

an old husband and making capital of their virtue in the interests of

a second marriage。 Quite incapable of understanding that calculating

virtue is invulnerable; Savinien paid court to Emilie de Kergarouet in

all the splendor of a rich man。 He never missed either ball or theater

at which she was present。



〃You haven't powder enough; my boy; to blow up that rock;〃 said de

Marsay; laughing。



That young king of fashion; who did; out of commiseration for the lad;

endeavor to explain to him the nature of Emilie de Fontaine; merely

wasted his words; the gloomy lights of misfortune and the twilight of

a prison were needed to convince Savinien。



A note; imprudently given to a jeweler in collusion with the money…

lenders; who did not wish to have the odium of arresting the young

man; was the means of sending Savinien de Portenduere; in default of

one hundred and seventeen thousand francs and without the knowledge of

his friends; to the debtor's prison at Sainte…Pelagie。 So soon as the

fact was known Rastignac; de Marsay; and Lucien de Rubempre went to

see him; and each offered him a banknote of a thousand francs when

they found how really destitute he was。 Everything belonging to him

had been seized except the clothes and the few jewels he wore。 The

three young men (who brought an excellent dinner with them) discussed

Savinien's situation while drinking de Marsay's wine; ostensibly to

arrange for his future but really; no doubt; to judge of him。



〃When a man is named Savinien de Portenduere;〃 cried Rastignac; 〃and

has a future peer of France for a cousin and Admiral Kergarouet for a

great…uncle; and commits the enormous blunder of allowing himself to

be put in Sainte…Pelagie; it is very certain that he must not stay

there; my good fellow。〃



〃Why didn't you tell me?〃 cried de Marsay。 〃You could have had my

traveling…carriage; ten thousand francs; and letters of introduction

for Germany。 We know Gobseck and Gigonnet and the other crocodiles; we

could have made them capitulate。 But tell me; in the first place; what

ass ever led you to drink of that cursed spring。〃



〃Des Lupeaulx。〃



The three young men looked at each other with one and the same thought

and suspicion; but they did not utter it。



〃Explain all your resources; show us your hand;〃 said de Marsay。



When Savinien had told of his mother and her old…fashioned ways; and

the little house with three windows in the Rue des Bourgeois; without

other grounds than a court for the well and a shed for the wood; when

he had valued the house; built of sandstone and pointed in reddish

cement; and put a price on the farm at Bordieres; the three dandies

looked at each other; and all three said with a solemn air the word of

the abbe in Alfred de Musset's 〃Marrons du feu〃 (which had then just

appeared);〃Sad!〃



〃Your mother will pay if you write a clever letter;〃 said Rastignac。



〃Yes; but afterwards?〃 cried de Marsay。



〃If you had merely been put in the fiacre;〃 said Lucien; 〃the

government would find you a place in diplomacy; but Saint…Pelagie

isn't the antechamber of an embassy。〃



〃You are not strong enough for Parisian life;〃 said Rastignac。



〃Let us consider the matter;〃 said de Marsay; looking Savinien over as

a jockey examines a horse。 〃You have fine blue eyes; well opened; a

white forehead well shaped; magnificent black hair; a little moustache

which suits those pale cheeks; and a slim figure; you've a foot that

tells race; shoulders and chest not quite those of a porter; but

solid。 You are what I call an elegant male brunette。 Your face is of

the style Louis XII。

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