Domestic Peace

by Honore de Balzac
Translated by Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell

Dedicated to my dear niece Valentine Surville.
The incident recorded in this sketch took place towards the end of the

month of November, 1809, the moment when Napoleon's fugitive empire
attained the apogee of its splendor. The trumpet-blasts of Wagram were

still sounding an echo in the heart of the Austrian monarchy. Peace
was being signed between France and the Coalition. Kings and princes

came to perform their orbits, like stars, round Napoleon, who gave
himself the pleasure of dragging all Europe in his train--a

magnificent experiment in the power he afterwards displayed at
Dresden. Never, as contemporaries tell us, did Paris see

entertainments more superb than those which preceded and followed the
sovereign's marriage with an Austrian archduchess. Never, in the most

splendid days of the Monarchy, had so many crowned heads thronged the
shores of the Seine, never had the French aristocracy been so rich or

so splendid. The diamonds lavishly scattered over the women's dresses,
and the gold and silver embroidery on the uniforms contrasted so

strongly with the penury of the Republic, that the wealth of the globe
seemed to be rolling through the drawing-rooms of Paris. Intoxication

seemed to have turned the brains of this Empire of a day. All the
military, not excepting their chief, reveled like parvenus in the

treasure conquered for them by a million men with worsted epaulettes,
whose demands were satisfied by a few yards of red ribbon.

At this time most women affected that lightness of conduct and
facility of morals which distinguished the reign of Louis XV. Whether

it were in imitation of the tone of the fallen monarchy, or because
certain members of the Imperial family had set the example--as certain

malcontents of the Faubourg Saint-Germain chose to say--it is certain
that men and women alike flung themselves into a life of pleasure with

an intrepidity which seemed to forbode the end of the world. But there
was at that time another cause for such license. The infatuation of

women for the military became a frenzy, and was too consonant to the
Emperor's views for him to try to check it. The frequent calls to

arms, which gave every treaty concluded between Napoleon and the rest
of Europe the character of an armistice, left every passion open to a

termination as sudden as the decisions of the Commander-in-chief of
all these busbys, pelisses, and aiguillettes, which so fascinated the

fair sex. Hearts were as nomadic as the regiments. Between the first
and fifth bulletins from the Grand armee a woman might be in

succession mistress, wife, mother, and widow.
Was it the prospect of early widowhood, the hope of a jointure, or

that of bearing a name promised to history, which made the soldiers so
attractive? Were women drawn to them by the certainty that the secret

of their passions would be buried on the field of battle? or may we
find the reason of this gentle fanaticism in the noble charm that

courage has for a woman? Perhaps all these reasons, which the future
historian of the manners of the Empire will no doubt amuse himself by

weighing, counted for something in their facile readiness to abandon
themselves to love intrigues. Be that as it may, it must here be

confessed that at that time laurels hid many errors, women showed an
ardent preference for the brave adventurers, whom they regarded as the

true fount of honor, wealth, or pleasure; and in the eyes of young
girls, an epaulette--the hieroglyphic of a future--signified happiness

and liberty.
One feature, and a characteristic one, of this unique period in our

history was an unbridled mania for everything glittering. Never were
fireworks so much in vogue, never were diamonds so highly prized. The

men, as greedy as the women of these translucent pebbles, displayed
them no less lavishly. Possibly the necessity for carrying plunder in

the most portable form made gems the fashion in the army. A man was
not ridiculous then, as he would be now, if his shirt-frill or his

fingers blazed with large diamonds. Murat, an Oriental by nature, set
the example of preposterousluxury to modern soldiers.

The Comte de Gondreville, formerly known as Citizen Malin, whose
elevation had made him famous, having become a Lucullus of the

Conservative Senate, which "conserved" nothing, had postponed an
entertainment in honor of the peace only that he might the better pay

his court to Napoleon by his efforts to eclipse those flatterers who
had been before-hand with him. The ambassadors from all the Powers

friendly with France, with an eye to favors to come, the most
important personages of the Empire, and even a few princes, were at

this hour assembled in the wealthy senator's drawing-rooms. Dancing
flagged; every one was watching for the Emperor, whose presence the

Count had promised his guests. And Napoleon would have kept his word
but for the scene which had broken out that very evening between him

and Josephine--the scene which portended the impendingdivorce of the
august pair. The report of this incident, at the time kept very

secret, but recorded by history, did not reach the ears of the
courtiers, and had no effect on the gaiety of Comte de Gondreville's

party beyond keeping Napoleon away.
The prettiest women in Paris, eager to be at the Count's on the

strength of mere hearsay, at this moment were a besieging force of
luxury, coquettishness, elegance, and beauty. The financial world,

proud of its riches, challenged the splendor of the generals and high
officials of the Empire, so recently gorged with orders, titles, and

honors. These grand balls were always an opportunity seized upon by
wealthy families for introducing their heiresses to Napoleon's

Praetorian Guard, in the foolish hope of exchanging their splendid
fortunes for uncertain favors. The women who believed themselves

strong enough in their beauty alone came to test their power. There,
as elsewhere, amusement was but a blind. Calm and smiling faces and

placid brows covered sordid interests, expressions of friendship were
a lie, and more than one man was less distrustful of his enemies than

of his friends.
These remarks are necessary to explain the incidents of the little

imbroglio which is the subject of this study, and the picture,
softened as it is, of the tone then dominant in Paris drawing-rooms.

"Turn your eyes a little towards the pedestal supporting that
candelabrum--do you see a young lady with her hair drawn back a la

Chinoise!--There, in the corner to the left; she has bluebells in the
knot of chestnut curls which fall in clusters on her head. Do not you

see her? She is so pale you might fancy she was ill, delicate-looking,
and very small; there--now she is turning her head this way; her

almond-shaped blue eyes, so delightfully soft, look as if they were
made expressly for tears. Look, look! She is bending forward to see

Madame de Vaudremont below the crowd of heads in constantmotion; the
high head-dresses prevent her having a clear view."

"I see her now, my dear fellow. You had only to say that she had the
whitest skin of all the women here; I should have known whom you

meant. I had noticed her before; she has the loveliest complexion I
ever admired. From hence I defy you to see against her throat the

pearls between the sapphires of her necklace. But she is a prude or a
coquette, for the tucker of her bodice scarcely lets one suspect the

beauty of her bust. What shoulders! what lily-whiteness!"
"Who is she?" asked the first speaker.

"Ah! that I do not know."
"Aristocrat!--Do you want to keep them all to yourself, Montcornet?"

"You of all men to banter me!" replied Montcornet, with a smile. "Do
you think you have a right to insult a poor general like me because,

being a happy rival of Soulanges, you cannot even turn on your heel
without alarming Madame de Vaudremont? Or is it because I came only a

month ago into the Promised Land? How insolent you can be, you men in
office, who sit glued to your chairs while we are dodging shot and

shell! Come, Monsieur le Maitre des Requetes, allow us to glean in the
field of which you can only have precarious possession from the moment

when we evacuate it. The deuce is in it! We have a right to live! My
good friend, if you knew the German women, you would, I believe, do me

a good turn with the Parisian you love best."
"Well, General, since you have vouchsafed to turn your attention to

that lady, whom I never saw till now, have the charity to tell me if
you have seen her dance."

"Why, my dear Martial, where have you dropped from? If you are ever
sent with an embassy, I have small hopes of your success. Do not you

see a triple rank of the most undaunted coquettes of Paris between her