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The Commission in Lunacy-Part5_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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a year; that, knowing the privations to which they are exposed, she

makes vain efforts to give them the things most necessary for their



existence, and which they require----' Oh! Madame la Marquise, this is

preposterous. By proving too much you prove nothing.--My dear boy,"



said the old man, laying the document on his knee, "where is the

mother who ever lacked heart and wit and yearning to such a degree as



to fall below the inspirations suggested by her animal instinct? A

mother is as cunning to get at her children as a girl can be in the



conduct of a love intrigue. If your Marquise really wanted to give her

children food and clothes, the Devil himself would not have hindered



her, heh? That is rather too big a fable for an old lawyer to swallow!

--To proceed.



" 'That at the age the said children have now attained it is necessary

that steps should be taken to preserve them from the evil effects of



such an education; that they should be provided for as beseems their

rank, and that they should cease to have before their eyes the sad



example of their father's conduct;

" 'That there are proofs in support of these allegations which the



Court can easily order to be produced. Many times has M. d'Espard

spoken of the judge of the Twelfth Arrondissement as a mandarin of the



third class; he often speaks of the professors of the College Henri

IV. as "men of letters" '--and that offends them! 'In speaking of the



simplest things, he says, "They were not done so in China;" in the

course of the most ordinary conversation he will sometimes allude to



Madame Jeanrenaud, or sometimes to events which happened in the time

of Louis XIV., and then sit plunged in the darkest melancholy;



sometimes he fancies he is in China. Several of his neighbors, among

others one Edme Becker, medical student, and Jean Baptiste Fremiot, a



professor, living under the same roof, are of opinion, after frequent

intercourse with the Marquis d'Espard, that his monomania with regard



to everything Chinese is the result of a scheme laid by the said Baron

Jeanrenaud and the widow his mother to bring about the deadening of



all the Marquis d'Espard's mental faculties, since the only service

which Mme. Jeanrenaud appears to render M. d'Espard is to procure him



everything that relates to the Chinese Empire;

" 'Finally, that the petitioner is prepared to show to the Court that



the moneys absorbed by the said Baron and Mme. Jeanrenaud between 1814

and 1828 amount to not less than one million francs.



" 'In confirmation of the facts herein set forth, the petitioner can

bring the evidence of persons who are in the habit of seeing the



Marquis d'Espard, whose names and professions are subjoined, many of

whom have urged her to demand a commission in lunacy to declare M.



d'Espard incapable of managing his own affairs, as being the only way

to preserve his fortune from the effects of his maladministration and



his children from his fatal influence.

" 'Taking all this into consideration, M. le President, and the



affidavits subjoined, the petitioner desires that it may please you,

inasmuch as the foregoing facts sufficiently prove the insanity and



incompetency of the Marquis d'Espard herein described with his titles

and residence, to order that, to the end that he may be declared



incompetent by law, this petition and the documents in evidence may be

laid before the King's public prosecutor; and that you will charge one



of the judges of this Court to make his report to you on any day you

may be pleased to name, and thereupon to pronounce judgment,' etc.



"And here," said Popinot, "is the President's order instructing me!--

Well, what does the Marquise d'Espard want with me? I know everything.



But I shall go to-morrow with my registrar to see M. le Marquis, for

this does not seem at all clear to me."



"Listen, my dear uncle, I have never asked the least little favor of

you that had to do with your legal functions; well, now I beg you to



show Madame d'Espard the kindness which her situation deserves. If she

came here, you would listen to her?"



"Yes."

"Well, then, go and listen to her in her own house. Madame d'Espard is



a sickly, nervous, delicate woman, who would faint in your rat-hole of

a place. Go in the evening, instead of accepting her dinner, since the



law forbids your eating or drinking at your client's expense."

"And does not the law forbid you from taking any legacy from your



dead?" said Popinot, fancying that he saw a touch of irony on his

nephew's lips.






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