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Father Goriot-Part15_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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A few days after this Eugene called at Mme. de Restaud's house;

she was not at home. Three times he tried the experiment, and



three times he found her doors closed against him, though he was

careful to choose an hour when M. de Trailles was not there. The



Vicomtesse was right.

The student studied no longer. He put in an appearance at



lectures simply to answer to his name, and after thus attesting

his presence, departedforthwith. He had been through a reasoning



process familiar to most students. He had seen the advisability

of deferring his studies to the last moment before going up for



his examinations; he made up his mind to cram his second and

third years' work into the third year, when he meant to begin to



work in earnest, and to complete his studies in law with one

great effort. In the meantime he had fifteen months in which to



navigate the ocean of Paris, to spread the nets and set the lines

that would bring him a protectress and a fortune. Twice during



that week he saw Mme. de Beauseant; he did not go to her house

until he had seen the Marquis d'Ajuda drive away.



Victory for yet a few more days was with the great lady, the most

poetic figure in the Faubourg Saint-Germain; and the marriage of



the Marquis d'Ajuda-Pinto with Mlle. de Rochefide was postponed.

The dread of losing her happiness filled those days with a fever



of joy unknown before, but the end was only so much the nearer.

The Marquis d'Ajuda and the Rochefides agreed that this quarrel



and reconciliation was a very fortunate thing; Mme. de Beauseant

(so they hoped) would gradually become reconciled to the idea of



the marriage, and in the end would be brought to sacrifice

d'Ajuda's morning visits to the exigencies of a man's career,



exigencies which she must have foreseen. In spite of the most

solemn promises, daily renewed, M. d'Ajuda was playing a part,



and the Vicomtesse was eager to be deceived. "Instead of taking a

leap heroically from the window, she is falling headlong down the



staircase," said her most intimate friend, the Duchesse de

Langeais. Yet this after-glow of happiness lasted long enough for



the Vicomtesse to be of service to her young cousin. She had a

half-superstitious affection for him. Eugene had shown her



sympathy and devotion at a crisis when a woman sees no pity, no

real comfort in any eyes; when if a man is ready with soothing



flatteries, it is because he has an interested motive.

Rastignac made up his mind that he must learn the whole of



Goriot's previous history; he would come to his bearings before

attempting to board the Maison de Nucingen. The results of his



inquiries may be given briefly as follows:--

In the days before the Revolution, Jean-Joachim Goriot was simply



a workman in the employ of a vermicelli maker. He was a skilful,

thrifty workman, sufficientlyenterprising to buy his master's



business when the latter fell a chance victim to the disturbances

of 1789. Goriot established himself in the Rue de la Jussienne,



close to the Corn Exchange. His plain good sense led him to

accept the position of President of the Section, so as to secure



for his business the protection of those in power at that

dangerous epoch. This prudent step had led to success; the



foundations of his fortune were laid in the time of the Scarcity

(real or artificial), when the price of grain of all kinds rose



enormously in Paris. People used to fight for bread at the

bakers' doors; while other persons went to the grocers' shops and



bought Italian paste foods without brawling over it. It was

during this year that Goriot made the money, which, at a later



time, was to give him all the advantage of the great capitalist

over the small buyer; he had, moreover, the usual luck of average



ability; his mediocrity was the salvation of him. He excited no

one's envy, it was not even suspected that he was rich till the



peril of being rich was over, and all his intelligence was

concentrated, not on political, but on commercial speculations.



Goriot was an authority second to none on all questions relating

to corn, flour, and "middlings"; and the production, storage, and



quality of grain. He could estimate the yield of the harvest, and

foresee market prices; he bought his cereals in Sicily, and



imported Russian wheat. Any one who had heard him hold forth on

the regulations that control the importation and exportation of



grain, who had seen his grasp of the subject, his clear insight

into the principles involved, his appreciation of weak points in






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