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The Ball at Sceaux-Part6_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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Is not this as much as to say that her feeling had birth like all the



feelings of extreme youth--sweet but cruel mistakes, which exert a

fatal influence on the lives of young girls so inexperienced as to



trust their own judgment to take care of their future happiness?

Next morning, before Emilie was awake, her uncle had hastened to



Chevreuse. On recognizing, in the courtyard of an elegant little

villa, the young man he had so determinedly insulted the day before,



he went up to him with the pressing politeness of men of the old

court.



"Why, my dear sir, who could have guessed that I should have a brush,

at the age of seventy-three, with the son, or the grandson, of one of



my best friends. I am a vice-admiral, monsieur; is not that as much as

to say that I think no more of fighting a duel than of smoking a



cigar? Why, in my time, no two young men could be intimate till they

had seen the color of their blood! But 'sdeath, sir, last evening,



sailor-like, I had taken a drop too much grog on board, and I ran you

down. Shake hands; I would rather take a hundred rebuffs from a



Longueville than cause his family the smallest regret."

However coldly the young man tried to behave to the Comte de



Kergarouet, he could not resist the frank cordiality of his manner,

and presently gave him his hand.



"You were going out riding," said the Count. "Do not let me detain

you. But, unless you have other plans, I beg you will come to dinner



to-day at the Villa Planat. My nephew, the Comte de Fontaine, is a man

it is essential that you should know. Ah, ha! And I propose to make up



to you for my clumsiness by introducing you to five of the prettiest

women in Paris. So, so, young man, your brow is clearing! I am fond of



young people, and I like to see them happy. Their happiness reminds me

of the good times of my youth, when adventures were not lacking, any



more than duels. We were gay dogs then! Nowadays you think and worry

over everything, as though there had never been a fifteenth and a



sixteenth century."

"But, monsieur, are we not in the right? The sixteenth century only



gave religious liberty to Europe, and the nineteenth will give it

political lib----"



"Oh, we will not talk politics. I am a perfect old woman--ultra you

see. But I do not hinder young men from being revolutionary, so long



as they leave the King at liberty to disperse their assemblies."

When they had gone a little way, and the Count and his companion were



in the heart of the woods, the old sailor pointed out a slender young

birch sapling, pulled up his horse, took out one of his pistols, and



the bullet was lodged in the heart of the tree, fifteen paces away.

"You see, my dear fellow, that I am not afraid of a duel," he said



with comicalgravity, as he looked at Monsieur Longueville.

"Nor am I," replied the young man, promptly cocking his pistol; he



aimed at the hole made by the Comte's bullet, and sent his own close

to it.



"That is what I call a well-educated man," cried the admiral with

enthusiasm.



During this ride with the youth, whom he already regarded as his

nephew, he found endless opportunities of catechizing him on all the



trifles of which a perfect knowledge constituted, according to his

private code, an accomplished gentleman.



"Have you any debts?" he at last asked of his companion, after many

other inquiries.



"No, monsieur."

"What, you pay for all you have?"



"Punctually; otherwise we should lose our credit, and every sort of

respect."



"But at least you have more than one mistress? Ah, you blush, comrade!

Well, manners have changed. All these notions of lawful order,



Kantism, and liberty have spoilt the young men. You have no Guimard

now, no Duthe, no creditors--and you know nothing of heraldry; why, my



dear young friend, you are not fully fledged. The man who does not sow

his wild oats in the spring sows them in the winter. If I have but



eighty thousand francs a year at the age of seventy, it is because I

ran through the capital at thirty. Oh! with my wife--in decency and



honor. However, your imperfections will not interfere with my

introducing you at the Pavillon Planat. Remember, you have promised to



come, and I shall expect you."




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