A Second Home, Honoré de Balzac [free e books to read online txt] 📗

gaping scavenger to the doctor, who stood stupefied. "As for Caroline Crochard!--she may die of hunger and thirst, hearing the heartrending shrieks of her starving children, and convinced of the baseness of the man she loves. I will not give a sou to rescue her; and because you have helped her, I will see you no more----"

The Count left Bianchon standing like a statue, and walked as briskly as a young man to the Rue Saint-Lazare, soon reaching the little house where he resided, and where, to his surprise, he found a carriage waiting at the door.

"Monsieur, your son, the attorney-general, came about an hour since," said the man-servant, "and is waiting for you in your bedroom."

Granville signed to the man to leave him.

"What motive can be strong enough to require you to infringe the order I have given my children never to come to me unless I send for them?" asked the Count of his son as he went into the room.

"Father," replied the younger man in a tremulous voice, and with great respect, "I venture to hope that you will forgive me when you have heard me."

"Your reply is proper," said the Count. "Sit down," and he pointed to a chair, "But whether I walk up and down, or take a seat, speak without heeding me."

"Father," the son went on, "this afternoon, at four o'clock, a very young man who was arrested in the house of a friend of mine, whom he had robbed to a considerable extent, appealed to you.--He says he is your son."

"His name?" asked the Count hoarsely.

"Charles Crochard."

"That will do," said the father, with an imperious wave of the hand.

Granville paced the room in solemn silence, and his son took care not to break it.

"My son," he began, and the words were pronounced in a voice so mild and fatherly, that the young lawyer started, "Charles Crochard spoke the truth.--I am glad you came to me to-night, my good Eugene," he added. "Here is a considerable sum of money"--and he gave him a bundle of banknotes--"you can make any use of them you think proper in this matter. I trust you implicitly, and approve beforehand whatever arrangements you may make, either in the present or for the future.--Eugene my dear son, kiss me. We part perhaps for the last time. I shall to-morrow crave my dismissal from the King, and I am going to Italy.

"Though a father owes no account of his life to his children, he is bound to bequeath to them the experience Fate sells him so dearly--is it not a part of their inheritance?--When you marry," the count went on, with a little involuntary shudder, "do not undertake it lightly; that act is the most important of all which society requires of us. Remember to study at your leisure the character of the woman who is to be your partner; but consult me too, I will judge of her myself. A lack of union between husband and wife, from whatever cause, leads to terrible misfortune; sooner or later we are always punished for contravening the social law.--But I will write to you on this subject from Florence. A father who has the honor of presiding over a supreme court of justice must not have to blush in the presence of his son. Good-bye."

PARIS, February 1830-January 1842.


ADDENDUM

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

Beaumesnil, Mademoiselle
The Middle Classes
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

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 Secrets of a Princess
The Government Clerks
Pierrette
A Study of Woman
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Honorine
The Seamy Side of History
The Magic Skin
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

Crochard, Charles
The Middle Classes

Fontanon, Abbe
The Government Clerks
Honorine
The Member for Arcis

Granville, Vicomte de (later Comte)
The Gondreville Mystery
Honorine
Farewell (Adieu)
Cesar Birotteau
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
A Daughter of Eve
Cousin Pons

Granville, Comtesse Angelique de
The Thirteen
A Daughter of Eve

Granville, Vicomte de
A Daughter of Eve
The Country Parson

Granville, Baron Eugene de
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Molineux, Jean-Baptiste
The Purse
Cesar Birotteau

Regnier, Claude-Antoine
The Gondreville Mystery

Roguin, Madame
Cesar Birotteau
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket
Pierrette
A Daughter of Eve

Vandenesse, Comtesse Felix de
A Daughter of Eve
The Muse of the Department

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Publication Date: 07-26-2010

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