Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan, Honoré de Balzac [urban books to read TXT] 📗

stronger than wit," said Blondet to Nathan.

This broadside of sarcasms was in fact the discharge of a battery of cannons against a platoon of musketry. When coffee was served, Blondet and Nathan went up to d'Arthez with an eagerness no one else dared to imitate, so unable were the rest of the company to show the admiration his conduct inspired from the fear of making two powerful enemies.

"This is not the first time we have seen that your character equals your talent in grandeur," said Blondet. "You behaved just now more like a demi-god than a man. Not to have been carried away by your heart or your imagination, not to have taken up the defence of a beloved woman--a fault they were enticing you to commit, because it would have given those men of society eaten up with jealousy of your literary fame a triumph over you--ah! give me leave to say you have attained the height of private statesmanship."

"Yes, you are a statesman," said Nathan. "It is as clever as it is difficult to avenge a woman without defending her."

"The princess is one of those heroines of the legitimist party, and it is the duty of all men of honor to protect her quand meme," replied d'Arthez, coldly. "What she has done for the cause of her masters would excuse all follies."

"He keeps his own counsel!" said Nathan to Blondet.

"Precisely as if the princess were worth it," said Rastignac, joining the other two.

D'Arthez went to the princess, who was awaiting him with the keenest anxiety. The result of this experiment, which Diane had herself brought about, might be fatal to her. For the first time in her life this woman suffered in her heart. She knew not what she should do in case d'Arthez believed the world which spoke the truth, instead of believing her who lied; for never had so noble a nature, so complete a man, a soul so pure, a conscience so ingenuous come beneath her hand. Though she had told him cruel lies she was driven to do so by the desire of knowing a true love. That love--she felt it dawning in her heart; yes, she loved d'Arthez; and now she was condemned forever to deceive him! She must henceforth remain to him the actress who had played that comedy to blind his eyes.

When she heard Daniel's step in the dining-room a violent commotion, a shudder which reached to her very vitals came over her. That convulsion, never felt during all the years of her adventurous existence, told her that she had staked her happiness on this issue. Her eyes, gazing into space, took in the whole of d'Arthez's person; their light poured through his flesh, she read his soul; suspicion had not so much as touched him with its bat's-wing. The terrible emotion of that fear then came to its reaction; joy almost stifled her; for there is no human being who is not more able to endure grief than to bear extreme felicity.

"Daniel, they have calumniated me, and you have avenged me!" she cried, rising, and opening her arms to him.

In the profound amazement caused by these words, the roots of which were utterly unknown to him, Daniel allowed his hand to be taken between her beautiful hands, as the princess kissed him sacredly on the forehead.

"But," he said, "how could you know--"

"Oh! illustrious ninny! do you not see that I love you fondly?"

Since that day nothing has been said of the Princess de Cadignan, nor of d'Arthez. The princess has inherited some fortune from her mother and she spends all her summers in a villa on the lake of Geneva, where the great writer joins her. She returns to Paris for a few months in winter. D'Arthez is never seen except in the Chamber. His writings are becoming exceedingly rare. Is this a conclusion? Yes, for people of sense; no, for persons who want to know everything.


ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Ajuda-Pinto, Marquis Miguel d'
Father Goriot
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Beatrix

Arthez, Daniel d'
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Letters of Two Brides
The Member for Arcis

Bianchon, Horace
Father Goriot
The Atheist's Mass
Cesar Birotteau
The Commission in Lunacy
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Government Clerks
Pierrette
A Study of Woman
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Honorine
The Seamy Side of History
The Magic Skin
A Second Home
A Prince of Bohemia
Letters of Two Brides
The Muse of the Department
The Imaginary Mistress
The Middle Classes
Cousin Betty
The Country Parson
In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following:
Another Study of Woman
La Grande Breteche

Blondet, Emile
Jealousies of a Country Town
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Modeste Mignon
Another Study of Woman
A Daughter of Eve
The Firm of Nucingen
The Peasantry

Blondet, Virginie
Jealousies of a Country Town
The Peasantry
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Another Study of Woman
The Member for Arcis
A Daughter of Eve

Cadignan, Prince de
Modeste Mignon

Chrestien, Michel
A Bachelor's Establishment
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Cinq-Cygne, Laurence, Comtesse (afterwards Marquise de)
The Gondreville Mystery
The Seamy Side of History
The Member for Arcis

Dudley, Lady Arabella
The Lily of the Valley
The Ball at Sceaux
The Magic Skin
A Daughter of Eve
Letters of Two Brides

Esgrignon, Victurnien, Comte (then Marquis d')
Jealousies of a Country Town
Letters of Two Brides
A Man of Business
Cousin Betty

Espard, Chevalier d'
The Commission in Lunacy
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Espard, Jeanne-Clementine-Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, Marquise d'
The Commission in Lunacy
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Letters of Two Brides
Another Study of Woman
The Gondreville Mystery
A Daughter of Eve
Beatrix

Galathionne, Prince and Princess (both not in each story)
The Middle Classes
Father Goriot
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Daughter of Eve
Beatrix

Giraud, Leon
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
A Bachelor's Establishment
The Unconscious Humorists

Marsay, Henri de
The Thirteen
The Unconscious Humorists
Another Study of Woman
The Lily of the Valley
Father Goriot
Jealousies of a Country Town
Ursule Mirouet
A Marriage Settlement
Lost Illusions
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Letters of Two Brides
The Ball at Sceaux
Modest Mignon
The Gondreville Mystery
A Daughter of Eve

Maufrigneuse, Duc de
A Start in Life
A Bachelor's Establishment
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Maufrigneuse, Duchesse de
Modeste Mignon
Jealousies of a Country Town
The Muse of the Department
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Letters of Two Brides
Another Study of Woman
The Gondreville Mystery
The Member for Arcis

Maufrigneuse, Georges de
The Gondreville Mystery
Beatrix