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The Marriage Contract-Part13_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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that she had lost half her fortune, and Paul, ignorant that the house

of Manerville had gained it, were laughing and chattering still.



Solonet and Madame Evangelista gazed at each other; the one

endeavoring to conceal his indifference, the other repressing the rush



of a crowd of bitter feelings.

After suffering in her own mind the struggles of remorse, after



blaming Paul as the cause of her dishonesty, Madame Evangelista had

decided to employ those shameful manoeuvres to cast on him the burden



of her own unfaithful guardianship, considering him her victim. But

now, in a moment, she perceived that where she thought she triumphed



she was about to perish, and her victim was her own daughter. Guilty

without profit, she saw herself the dupe of an honorable old man,



whose respect she had doubtless lost. Her secret conduct must have

inspired the stipulation of old Mathias; and Mathias must have



enlightened Paul. Horrible reflection! Even if he had not yet done so,

as soon as that contract was signed the old wolf would surely warn his



client of the dangers he had run and had now escaped, were it only to

receive the praise of his sagacity. He would put him on his guard



against the wily woman who had lowered herself to this conspiracy; he

would destroy the empire she had conquered over her son-in-law! Feeble



natures, once warned, turn obstinate, and are never won again. At the

first discussion of the contract she had reckoned on Paul's weakness,



and on the impossibility he would feel of breaking off a marriage so

far advanced. But now, she herself was far more tightly bound. Three



months earlier Paul had no real obstacles to prevent the rupture; now,

all Bordeaux knew that the notaries had smoothed the difficulties; the



banns were published; the wedding was to take place immediately; the

friends of both families were at that moment arriving for the fete,



and to witness the contract. How could she postpone the marriage at

this late hour? The cause of the rupture would surely be made known;



Maitre Mathias's stern honor was too well known in Bordeaux; his word

would be believed in preference to hers. The scoffers would turn



against her and against her daughter. No, she could not break it off;

she must yield!



These reflections, so cruelly sound, fell upon Madame Evangelista's

brain like a water-spout and split it. Though she still maintained the



dignity and reserve of a diplomatist, her chin was shaken by that

apoplectic movement which showed the anger of Catherine the Second on



the famous day when, seated on her throne and in presence of her court

(very much in the present circumstances of Madame Evangelista), she



was braved by the King of Sweden. Solonet observed that play of the

muscles, which revealed the birth of a mortalhatred, a lurid storm to



which there was no lightning. At this moment Madame Evangelista vowed

to her son-in-law one of those unquenchable hatreds the seeds of which



were left by the Moors in the atmosphere of Spain.

"Monsieur," she said, bending to the ear of her notary, "you called



that stipulation balderdash; it seems to me that nothing could have

been more clear."



"Madame, allow me--"

"Monsieur," she continued, paying no heed to his interruption, "if you



did not perceive the effect of that entail at the time of our first

conference, it is very extraordinary that it did not occur to you in



the silence of your study. This can hardly be incapacity."

The young notary drew his client into the next room, saying to



himself, as he did so:--

"I get a three-thousand franc fee for the guardianship account, three



thousand for the contract, six thousand on the sale of the house,

fifteen thousand in all--better not be angry."



He closed the door, cast on Madame Evangelista the cool look of a

business man, and said:--



"Madame, having, for your sake, passed--as I did--the proper limits of

legal craft, do you seriously intend to reward my devotion by such



language?"

"But, monsieur--"






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