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The Two Brothers-Part20_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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much under his wife's rule, and, according to a witticism which she

was fond of repeating, he only saw things with a good eye--for he was



blind of the other. In the course of seven years, that is, from 1816

to 1823, neither wife nor husband had betrayed what went on nightly at



their house, or who they were that shared in the plot; they felt the

liveliest regard for the Knights; their devotion was absolute. But



this may seem less creditable if we remember that self-interest was

the security of their affection and their silence. No matter at what



hour of the night the Knights dropped in upon the tavern, the moment

they knocked in a certain way Pere Cognet, recognizing the signal, got



up, lit the fire and the candles, opened the door, and went to the

cellar for a particular wine that was laid in expressly for the Order;



while La Cognette cooked an excellent supper, eaten either before or

after the expeditions, which were usually planned the previous evening



or in the course of the preceding day.

CHAPTER VIII



While Joseph and Madame Bridau were journeying from Orleans to

Issoudun, the Knights of Idleness perpetrated one of their best



tricks. An old Spaniard, a former prisoner of war, who after the peace

had remained in the neighborhood, where he did a small business in



grain, came early one morning to market, leaving his empty cart at the

foot of the tower of Issoudun. Maxence, who arrived at a rendezvous of



the Knights, appointed on that occasion at the foot of the tower, was

soon assailed with the whispered question, "What are we to do to-



night?"

"Here's Pere Fario's cart," he answered. "I nearly cracked my shins



over it. Let us get it up on the embankment of the tower in the first

place, and we'll make up our minds afterwards."



When Richard Coeur-de-Lion built the tower of Issoudun he raised it,

as we have said, on the ruins of the basilica, which itself stood



above the Roman temple and the Celtic Dun. These ruins, each of which

represents a period of several centuries, form a mound big with the



monuments of three distinct ages. The tower is, therefore, the apex of

a cone, from which the descent is equally steep on all sides, and



which is only approached by a series of steps. To give in a few words

an idea of the height of this tower, we may compare it to the obelisk



of Luxor on its pedestal. The pedestal of the tower of Issoudun, which

hid within its breast such archaeological treasures, was eighty feet



high on the side towards the town. In an hour the cart was taken off

its wheels and hoisted, piece by piece, to the top of the embankment



at the foot of the tower itself,--a work that was somewhat like that

of the soldiers who carried the artillery over the pass of the Grand



Saint-Bernard. The cart was then remounted on its wheels, and the

Knights, by this time hungry and thirsty, returned to Mere Cognette's,



where they were soon seated round the table in the low room, laughing

at the grimaces Fario would make when he came after his barrow in the



morning.

The Knights, naturally, did not play such capers every night. The



genius of Sganarelle, Mascarille, and Scapin combined would not have

sufficed to invent three hundred and sixty-five pieces of mischief a



year. In the first place, circumstances were not always propitious:

sometimes the moon shone clear, or the last prank had greatly



irritated their betters; then one or another of their number refused

to share in some proposed outrage because a relation was involved. But



if the scamps were not at Mere Cognette's every night, they always met

during the day, enjoying together the legitimate pleasures of hunting,



or the autumn vintages and the winter skating. Among this assemblage

of twenty youths, all of them at war with the social somnolence of the



place, there are some who were more closely allied than others to Max,

and who made him their idol. A character like his often fascinates



other youths. The two grandsons of Madame Hochon--Francois Hochon and

Baruch Borniche--were his henchmen. These young fellows, accepting the



general opinion of the left-handed parentage of Lousteau, looked upon

Max as their cousin. Max, moreover, was liberal in lending them money



for their pleasures, which their grandfather Hochon refused; he took

them hunting, let them see life, and exercised a much greater



influence over them than their own family. They were both orphans, and

were kept, although each had attained his majority, under the



guardianship of Monsieur Hochon, for reasons which will be explained




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