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Modeste Mignon-Part33_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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saw his chance of displaying an almost regal pomp before Modeste's

eyes, and alluring her with a glimpse of court fascinations, to which



she could be introduced by marriage. Glances were exchanged between

the duke and the two demoiselles d'Herouville, which plainly said,



"The heiress is ours!" and the poet, who detected them, and who had

nothing but his personal splendors to depend on, determined all the



more firmly to obtain some pledge of affection at once. Modeste, on

the other hand, half-frightened at being thus pushed beyond her



intentions by the d'Herouvilles, walked rather markedly apart with

Melchior, when the company adjourned to the park after dinner. With



the pardonable curiosity of a young girl, she let him suspect the

calumnies which Helene had poured into her ears; but on Canalis's



exclamation of anger, she begged him to keep silence about them, which

he promised.



"These stabs of the tongue," he said, "are considered fair in the

great world. They shock your upright nature; but as for me, I laugh at



them; I am even pleased. These ladies must feel that the duke's

interests are in great peril, when they have recourse to such



warfare."

Making the most of the advantage Modeste had thus given him, Canalis



entered upon his defence with such warmth, such eagerness, and with a

passion so exquisitely expressed, as he thanked her for a confidence



in which he could venture to see the dawn of love, that she found

herself suddenly as much compromised with the poet as she feared to be



with the grand equerry. Canalis, feeling the necessity of prompt

action, declared himself plainly. He uttered vows and protestations in



which his poetry shone like a moon, invoked for the occasion, and

illuminating his allusions to the beauty of his mistress and the



charms of her evening dress. This counterfeitenthusiasm, in which the

night, the foliage, the heavens and the earth, and Nature herself



played a part, carried the eager lover beyond all bounds; for he dwelt

on his disinterestedness, and revamped in his own charming style,



Diderot's famous apostrophe to "Sophie and fifteen hundred francs!"

and the well-worn "love in a cottage" of every lover who knows



perfectly well the length of the father-in-law's purse.

"Monsieur," said Modeste, after listening with delight to the melody



of this concerto; "the freedom granted to me by my parents has allowed

me to listen to you; but it is to them that you must address



yourself."

"But," exclaimed Canalis, "tell me that if I obtain their consent, you



will ask nothing better than to obey them."

"I know beforehand," she replied, "that my father has certain fancies



which may wound the proper pride of an old family like yours. He

wishes to have his own title and name borne by his grandsons."



"Ah! dear Modeste, what sacrifices would I not make to commit my life

to the guardian care of an angel like you."



"You will permit me not to decide in a moment the fate of my whole

life," she said, turning to rejoin the demoiselles d'Herouville.



Those noble ladies were just then engaged in flattering the vanity of

little Latournelle, intending to win him over to their interests.



Mademoiselle d'Herouville, to whom we shall in future confine the

family name, to distinguish her from her niece Helene, was giving the



notary to understand that the post of judge of the Supreme Court in

Havre, which Charles X. would bestow as she desired, was an office



worthy of his legal talent and his well-known probity. Butscha,

meanwhile, who had been walking about with La Briere, was greatly



alarmed at the progress Canalis was evidently making, and he waylaid

Modeste at the lower step of the portico when the whole party returned



to the house to endure the torments of their inevitable whist.

"Mademoiselle," he said, in a low whisper, "I do hope you don't call



him Melchior."

"I'm very near it, my Black Dwarf," she said, with a smile that might






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