"I am not the driver," said Pierrotin.
"What are you, then?" asked Colonel Husson.
"The
proprietor," replied Pierrotin.
"Come, don't be vexed with an old acquaintance," said Oscar, motioning
to his mother, but still retaining his patronizing manner. "Don't you
recognize Madame Clapart?"
It was all the nobler of Oscar to present his mother to Pierrotin,
because, at that moment, Madame Moreau de l'Oise, getting out of the
coupe, overheard the name, and stared disdainfully at Oscar and his
mother.
"My faith! madame," said Pierrotin, "I should never have known you;
nor you, either,
monsieur; the sun burns black in Africa, doesn't it?"
The
species of pity which Oscar thus felt for Pierrotin was the last
blunder that
vanity ever led our hero to
commit, and, like his other
faults, it was punished, but very
gently, thus:--
Two months after his official
installation at Beaumont-sur-Oise, Oscar
was paying his addresses to Mademoiselle Georgette Pierrotin, whose
'dot' amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand francs, and he
married the pretty daughter of the
proprietor of the stage-coaches of
the Oise, toward the close of the winter of 1838.
The adventure of the journey to Presles was a lesson to Oscar Husson
in
discretion; his
disaster at Florentine's card-party strengthened
him in
honesty and uprightness; the hardships of his military career
taught him to understand the social hierarchy and to yield obedience
to his lot. Becoming wise and
capable, he was happy. The Comte de
Serizy, before his death, obtained for him the collectorship at
Pontoise. The influence of Monsieur Moreau de l'Oise and that of the
Comtesse de Serizy and the Baron de Canalis secured, in after years, a
receiver-generalship for Monsieur Husson, in whom the Camusot family
now recognize a relation.
Oscar is a
commonplace man, gentle, without
assumption,
modest, and
always keeping, like his government, to a middle course. He excites
neither envy nor
contempt. In short, he is the modern bourgeois.
ADDENDUM
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
Beaupre, Fanny
Modest Mignon
The Muse of the Department
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Bridau, Joseph
The Purse
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Modeste Mignon
Another Study of Woman
Pierre Grassou
Letters of Two Brides
Cousin Betty
The Member for Arcis
Bruel, Jean Francois du
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Government Clerks
A Prince of Bohemia
The Middle Classes
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Daughter of Eve
Cabirolle, Madame
A Bachelor's Establishment
Cabirolle, Agathe-Florentine
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Bachelor's Establishment
Canalis, Constant-Cyr-Melchior, Baron de
Letters of Two Brides
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Modeste Mignon
The Magic Skin
Another Study of Woman
Beatrix
The Unconscious Humorists
The Member for Arcis
Cardot, Jean-Jerome-Severin
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Bachelor's Establishment
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket
Cesar Birotteau
Coralie, Mademoiselle
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Bachelor's Establishment
Crottat, Alexandre
Cesar Birotteau
Colonel Chabert
A Woman of Thirty
Cousin Pons
Derville
Gobseck
The Gondreville Mystery
Father Goriot
Colonel Chabert
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Desroches (son)
A Bachelor's Establishment
Colonel Chabert
A Woman of Thirty
The Commission in Lunacy
The Government Clerks
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Firm of Nucingen
A Man of Business
The Middle Classes
Finot, Andoche
Cesar Birotteau
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Government Clerks
Gaudissart the Great
The Firm of Nucingen
Gaudron, Abbe
The Government Clerks
Honorine
Giroudeau
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Bachelor's Establishment
Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie
Colonel Chabert
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Commission in Lunacy
The Middle Classes
Cousin Pons
Godeschal, Marie
A Bachelor's Establishment
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Cousin Pons
Gondreville, Malin, Comte de
The Gondreville Mystery
Domestic Peace
The Member for Arcis
Grevin
The Gondreville Mystery
The Member for Arcis
Grindot
Cesar Birotteau
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Beatrix
The Middle Classes
Cousin Betty
Lora, Leon de
The Unconscious Humorists
A Bachelor's Establishment
Pierre Grassou
Honorine
Cousin Betty
Beatrix
Loraux, Abbe
A Bachelor's Establishment
Cesar Birotteau
Honorine
Lupin, Amaury
The Peasantry
Marest, Frederic
The Seamy Side of History
The Member for Arcis
Marest, Georges
The Peasantry
Maufrigneuse, Duc de
The Secrets of a Princess
A Bachelor's Establishment
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Poiret, the elder
The Government Clerks
Father Goriot
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Middle Classes
Rouvre, Marquis du
The Imaginary Mistress
Ursule Mirouet
Schinner, Hippolyte
The Purse
A Bachelor's Establishment
Pierre Grassou
Albert Savarus
The Government Clerks
Modeste Mignon
The Imaginary Mistress
The Unconscious Humorists
Serizy, Comte Hugret de
A Bachelor's Establishment
Honorine
Modeste Mignon
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Serizy, Comtesse de
The Thirteen
Ursule Mirouet
A Woman of Thirty
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Another Study of Woman
The Imaginary Mistress
Serizy, Vicomte de
Modeste Mignon
The Imaginary Mistress
Vandenesse, Marquis Charles de
A Woman of Thirty
A Daughter of Eve
Vandenesse, Comte Felix de
The Lily of the Valley
Lost Illusions