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The Marriage Contract-Part2_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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so kind a friend, so confiding; you, at whom I have laughed, but whom

I love, and love enough to reveal to you my science? For this is



science. Yes, it proceeds from a science which the Germans are already

calling Anthropology. Ah! if I had not already solved the mystery of



life by pleasure, if I had not a profound antipathy for those who

think instead of act, if I did not despise the ninnies who are silly



enough to believe in the truth of a book, when the sands of the

African deserts are made of the ashes of I know not how many unknown



and pulverized Londons, Romes, Venices, and Parises, I would write a

book on modern marriages made under the influence of the Christian



system, and I'd stick a lantern on that heap of sharp stones among

which lie the votaries of the social 'multiplicamini.' But the



question is, Does humanity require even an hour of my time? And

besides, isn't the more reasonable use of ink that of snaring hearts



by writing love-letters?--Well, shall you bring the Comtesse de

Manerville here, and let us see her?"



"Perhaps," said Paul.

"We shall still be friends," said de Marsay.



"If--" replied Paul.

"Don't be uneasy; we will treat you politely, as Maison-Rouge treated



the English at Fontenoy."

CHAPTER II



THE PINK OF FASHION

Though the foregoing conversation affected the Comte de Manerville



somewhat, he made it a point of duty to carry out his intentions, and

he returned to Bordeaux during the winter of the year 1821.



The expenses he incurred in restoring and furnishing his family

mansion sustained the reputation for elegance which had preceded him.



Introduced through his former connections to the royalist society of

Bordeaux, to which he belonged as much by his personal opinions as by



his name and fortune, he soon obtained a fashionable pre-eminence. His

knowledge of life, his manners, his Parisian acquirements enchanted



the Faubourg Saint-Germain of Bordeaux. An old marquise made use of a

term formerly in vogue at court to express the flowery beauty of the



fops and beaux of the olden time, whose language and demeanor were

social laws: she called him "the pink of fashion." The liberal clique



caught up the word and used it satirically as a nickname, while the

royalist party continued to employ it in good faith.



Paul de Manerville acquitted himself gloriously of the obligations

imposed by his flowery title. It happened to him, as to many a



mediocre actor, that the day when the public granted him their full

attention he became, one may almost say, superior. Feeling at his



ease, he displayed the fine qualities which accompanied his defects.

His wit had nothing sharp or bitter in it; his manners were not



supercilious; his intercourse with women expressed the respect they

like,--it was neither too deferential, nor too familiar; his foppery



went no farther than a care for his personal appearance which made him

agreeable; he showed consideration for rank; he allowed young men a



certain freedom, to which his Parisian experience assigned due limits;

though skilful with sword and pistol, he was noted for a feminine



gentleness for which others were grateful. His mediumheight and

plumpness (which had not yet increased into obesity, an obstacle to



personal elegance) did not prevent his outer man from playing the part

of a Bordelais Brummell. A white skin tinged with the hues of health,



handsome hands and feet, blue eyes with long lashes, black hair,

graceful motions, a chest voice which kept to its middle tones and



vibrated in the listener's heart, harmonized well with his sobriquet.

Paul was indeed that delicate flower which needs such careful culture,



the qualities of which display themselves only in a moist and suitable

soil,--a flower which rough treatment dwarfs, which the hot sun burns,



and a frost lays low. He was one of those men made to receive

happiness, rather than to give it; who have something of the woman in



their nature, wishing to be divined, understood, encouraged; in short,

a man to whom conjugal love ought to come as a providence.



If such a character creates difficulties in private life, it is

gracious and full of attraction for the world. Consequently, Paul had



great success in the narrow social circle of the provinces, where his




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