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The Vicar of Tours-Part8_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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Poor Birotteau never imagined in his childish brain that anything



could ever separate him from that house where he expected to live and

die with Mademoiselle Gamard. He had no remembrancewhatever of that



clause, the terms of which he had not discussed, for they had seemed

quite just to him at a time when, in his great anxiety to enter the



old maid's house, he would readily have signed any and all legal

documents she had offered him. His simplicity was so guileless and



Mademoiselle Gamard's conduct so atrocious, the fate of the poor old

man seemed so deplorable, and his natural helplessness made him so



touching, that in the first glow of her indignation Madame de

Listomere exclaimed: "I made you put your signature to that document



which has ruined you; I am bound to give you back the happiness of

which I have deprived you."



"But," remarked Monsieur de Bourbonne, "that deed constitutes a fraud;

there may be ground for a lawsuit."



"Then Birotteau shall go to the law. If he loses at Tours he may win

at Orleans; if he loses at Orleans, he'll win in Paris," cried the



Baron de Listomere.

"But if he does go to law," continued Monsieur de Bourbonne, coldly,



"I should advise him to resign his vicariat."

"We will consult lawyers," said Madame de Listomere, "and go to law if



law is best. But this affair is so disgraceful for Mademoiselle

Gamard, and is likely to be so injurious to the Abbe Troubert, that I



think we can compromise."

After maturedeliberation all present promised their assistance to the



Abbe Birotteau in the struggle which was now inevitable between the

poor priest and his antagonists and all their adherents. A true



presentiment, an infallibleprovincialinstinct, led them to couple

the names of Gamard and Troubert. But none of the persons assembled on



this occasion in Madame de Listomere's salon, except the old fox, had

any real idea of the nature and importance of such a struggle.



Monsieur de Bourbonne took the poor abbe aside into a corner of the

room.



"Of the fourteen persons now present," he said, in a low voice, "not

one will stand by you a fortnight hence. If the time comes when you



need some one to support you you may find that I am the only person in

Tours bold enough to take up your defence; for I know the provinces



and men and things, and, better still, I know self-interests. But

these friends of yours, though full of the best intentions, are



leading you astray into a bad path, from which you won't be able to

extricate yourself. Take my advice; if you want to live in peace,



resign the vicariat of Saint-Gatien and leave Tours. Don't say where

you are going, but find some distant parish where Troubert cannot get



hold of you."

"Leave Tours!" exclaimed the vicar, with indescribable terror.



To him it was a kind of death; the tearing up of all the roots by

which he held to life. Celibates substitute habits for feelings; and



when to that moral system, which makes them pass through life instead

of really living it, is added a feeblecharacter, external things



assume an extraordinary power over them. Birotteau was like certain

vegetables; transplant them, and you stop their ripening. Just as a



tree needs daily the same sustenance, and must always send its roots

into the same soil, so Birotteau needed to trot about Saint-Gatien,



and amble along the Mail where he took his daily walk, and saunter

through the streets, and visit the three salons where, night after



night, he played his whist or his backgammon.

"Ah! I did not think of it!" replied Monsieur de Bourbonne, gazing at



the priest with a sort of pity.

All Tours was soon aware that Madame la Baronne de Listomere, widow of



a lieutenant-general, had invited the Abbe Birotteau, vicar of Saint-

Gatien, to stay at her house. That act, which many persons questioned,



presented the matter sharply and divided the town into parties,

especially after Mademoiselle Salomon spoke openly of a fraud and a



lawsuit. With the subtle vanity which is common to old maids, and the

fanatic self-love which characterizes them, Mademoiselle Gamard was



deeply wounded by the course taken by Madame de Listomere. The




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