"He is right," said Eve; "you yourself were
saying, were you not, that
he ought to go to Paris at once?"
David took Eve's hand in his, and drew her into the narrow little room
where she had slept for seven years.
"Love, you were
saying just now that he would want two thousand
francs?" he said in her ear. "Postel is only lending one thousand."
Eve gave her betrothed a look, and he read all her
anguish in her
eyes.
"Listen, my adored Eve, we are making a bad start in life. Yes, my
expenses have taken all my capital; I have just two thousand francs
left, and half of it will be wanted to carry on the business. If we
give your brother the thousand francs, it will mean that we are giving
away our bread, that we shall live in
anxiety. If I were alone, I know
what I should do; but we are two. Decide for us."
Eve, distracted,
sprang to her lover's arms, and kissed him tenderly,
as she answered through her tears:
"Do as you would do if you were alone; I will work to earn the money."
In spite of the most impassioned kiss ever given and taken by
betrothed lovers, David left Eve
overcome with trouble, and went out
to Lucien.
"Do not worry yourself," he said; "you shall have your two thousand
francs."
"Go in to see Postel," said Mme. Chardon, "for you must both give your
signatures to the bill."
When Lucien and David came back again
unexpectedly, they found Eve and
her mother on their knees in prayer. The women felt sure that Lucien's
return would bring the
realization of many hopes; but at the moment
they could only feel how much they were losing in the
parting, and the
happiness to come seemed too
dearly bought by an
absence that broke up
their life together, and would fill the coming days with innumerable
fears for Lucien.
"If you could ever forget this sight," David said in Lucien's ear,
"you would be the basest of men."
David, no doubt, thought that these brave words were needed; Mme. de
Bargeton's influence seemed to him less to be feared than his friend's
unlucky instability of
character, Lucien was so easily led for good or
evil. Eve soon packed Lucien's clothes; the Fernando Cortez of
literature carried but little
baggage. He was wearing his best
overcoat, his best
waistcoat, and one of the two fine shirts. The
whole of his linen, the
celebrated coat, and his
manuscript made up so
small a
package that to hide it from Mme. de Bargeton, David proposed
to send it by coach to a paper merchant with whom he had dealings, and
wrote and advised him to that effect, and asked him to keep the parcel
until Lucien sent for it.
In spite of Mme. de Bargeton's precautions, Chatelet found out that
she was leaving Angouleme; and with a view to discovering whether she
was traveling alone or with Lucien, he sent his man to Ruffec with
instructions to watch every
carriage that changed horses at that
stage.
"If she is
taking her poet with her," thought he, "I have her now."
Lucien set out before
daybreak the next morning. David went with him.
David had hired a cabriolet, pretending that he was going to Marsac on
business, a little piece of
deception which seemed
probable under the
circumstances. The two friends went to Marsac, and spent part of the
day with the old "bear." As evening came on they set out again, and in
the
beginning of the dawn they waited in the road, on the further side
of Mansle, for Mme. de Bargeton. When the seventy-year old traveling
carriage, which he had many a time seen in the coach-house, appeared
in sight, Lucien felt more deeply moved than he had ever been in his
life before; he
sprang into David's arms.
"God grant that this may be for your good!" said David, and he climbed
into the
shabby cabriolet and drove away with a feeling of dread
clutching at his heart; he had terrible presentiments of the fate
awaiting Lucien in Paris.
ADDENDUM
Note: Two Poets is part one of a trilogy. The second part is A
Distinguished Provincial at Paris and details the further adventures
of Lucien. Part three is titled Eve and David and continues their
story. In other addendum references parts one and three are combined
under the title of Lost Illusions.
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
Bargeton, Madame de (see Chatelet, Baronne du)
Cerizet
Eve and David
A Man of Business
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Middle Classes
Chardon, Madame (nee Rubempre)
Eve and David
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Chatelet, Sixte, Baron du
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
The Thirteen
Chatelet, Marie-Louise-Anais de Negrepelisse, Baronne du
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Government Clerks
Cointet, Boniface
Eve and David
The Firm of Nucingen
The Member for Arcis
Cointet, Jean
Eve and David
Courtois
Eve and David
Courtois, Madame
Eve and David
Desplein
The Atheist's Mass
Cousin Pons
The Thirteen
The Government Clerks
Pierrette
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Seamy Side of History
Modeste Mignon
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Honorine
Gentil
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Grozier, Abbe
The Commission in Lunacy
Hautoy, Francis du
Eve and David
Maucombe, Comte de
Letters of Two Brides
Montriveau, General Marquis Armand de
The Thirteen
Father Goriot
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Another Study of Woman
Pierrette
The Member for Arcis
Negrepelisse, De
The Commission in Lunacy
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Petit-Claud
Eve and David
Pimentel, Marquis and Marquise de
Eve and David
Postel
Eve and David
Prieur, Madame
Eve and David
Rastignac, Baron and Baronne de (Eugene's parents)
Father Goriot
Rastignac, Laure-Rose and Agathe de
Father Goriot
The Member for Arcis
Rubempre, Lucien-Chardon de
Eve and David
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
The Government Clerks
Ursule Mirouet
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Sechard, Jerome-Nicolas
Eve and David
Sechard, David
Eve and David
A Distinguished Provincial At Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Sechard, Madame David
Eve and David
A Distinguished Provincial At Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Senonches, Jacques de
Eve and David
Senonches, Madame Jacques de
Eve and David
Stanhope, Lady Esther
The Lily of the Valley
End