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A Daughter of Eve-Part17_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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the morrow might be too late. She took a vast responsibility upon



herself, but she resolved to tell all to the count. Surely he would be

indulgent when he knew that his honor was still safe. The countess was



deluded rather than sinful. Eugenie feared to be treacherous and base

in revealing secrets that society (agreeing on this point) holds to be



inviolable; but--she saw her sister's future, she trembled lest she

should some day be deserted, ruined by Nathan, poor, suffering,



disgraced, wretched, and she hesitated no longer; she sent in her name

and asked to see the count.



Felix, astonished at the visit, had a long conversation with his

sister-in-law, in which he seemed so calm, so completely master of



himself, that she feared he might have taken some terrible resolution.

"Do not be uneasy," he said, seeing her anxiety. "I will act in a



manner which shall make your sister bless you. However much you may

dislike to keep the fact that you have spoken to me from her



knowledge, I must entreat you to do so. I need a few days to search

into mysteries which you don't perceive; and, above all, I must act



cautiously. Perhaps I can learn all in a day. I, alone, my dear

sister, am the guilty person. All lovers play their game, and it is



not every woman who is able, unassisted, to see life as it is."

Madame du Tillet returned home comforted. Felix de Vandenesse drew



forty thousand francs from the Bank of France, and went direct to

Madame de Nucingen He found her at home, thanked her for the



confidence she had placed in his wife, and returned the money,

explaining that the countess had obtained this mysterious loan for her



charities, which were so profuse that he was trying to put a limit to

them.



"Give me no explanations, monsieur, since Madame de Vandenesse has

told you all," said the Baronne de Nucingen.



"She knows the truth," thought Vandenesse.

Madame de Nucingen returned to him Marie's letter of guarantee, and



sent to the bank for the four notes. Vandenesse, during the short time

that these arrangements kept him waiting, watched the baroness with



the eye of a statesman, and he thought the moment propitious for

further negotiation.



"We live in an age, madame, when nothing is sure," he said. "Even

thrones rise and fall in France with fearfulrapidity. Fifteen years



have wreaked their will on a great empire, a monarchy, and a

revolution. No one can now dare to count upon the future. You know my



attachment to the cause of legitimacy. Suppose some catastrophe; would

you not be glad to have a friend in the conquering party?"



"Undoubtedly," she said, smiling.

"Very good; then, will you have in me, secretly, an obliged friend who



could be of use to Monsieur de Nucingen in such a case, by supporting

his claim to the peerage he is seeking?"



"What do you want of me?" she asked.

"Very little," he replied. "All that you know about Nathan's affairs."



The baronessrepeated to him her conversation with Rastignac, and

said, as she gave him the four notes, which the cashier had meantime



brought to her:

"Don't forget your promise."



So little did Vandenesse forget this illusive promise that he used it

again on Baron Eugene de Rastignac to obtain from him certain other



information. Leaving Rastignac's apartments, he dictated to a street

amanuensis the following note to Florine.



"If Mademoiselle Florine wishes to know of a part she may play she

is requested to come to the masked opera at the Opera next Sunday



night, accompanied by Monsieur Nathan."

To this ball he determined to take his wife and let her own eyes



enlighten her as to the relations between Nathan and Florine. He knew

the jealous pride of the countess; he wanted to make her renounce her



love of her own will, without causing her to blush before him, and

then to return to her her own letters, sold by Florine, from whom he



expected to be able to buy them. This judicious plan, rapidly

conceived and partly executed, might fail through some trick of chance



which meddles with all things here below.

After dinner that evening, Felix brought the conversation round to the



masked balls of the Opera, remarking that Marie had never been to one,

and proposing that she should accompany him the following evening.



"I'll find you some one to 'intriguer,'" he said.

"Ah! I wish you would," she replied.






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