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Read Ebook: The Stepmother A Drama in Five Acts by Balzac Honor De
Font size: Background color: Text color: Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page Prev PageEbook has 1393 lines and 32501 words, and 28 pagesGodard That is not it at all, General. You quite alarm me, with your banter. The General What do you mean then? Godard I understand nothing about the tricks of women. I know no more when their yes means no, than when their no means yes; and when I am in love, I wish to be loved in return. The General With such ideas as those he has precious little chance. Godard There are plenty of men like me, men who are supremely bored by this little warfare of manners and whims. The General But there is something also delightful in it,--I mean in the feminine show of resistance, which gives one the pleasure of overcoming it. Godard Thank you, nothing of that sort for me! When I am hungry, I do not wish to coquette with my soup. I like to have things decided, and care very little how the decision is arrived at, although I do come from Normandy. In the world, I see coxcombs who creep into the favor of women by saying to them, "Ah! madame, what a pretty frock you have on. Your taste is perfect. You are the only person who could wear that," and starting from such speeches as that they go on and on--and gain their end. They are wonderful fellows, upon my honor! I don't see how they reach success by such idle talk. I should beat about the bush through all eternity before I could tell a pretty woman the effect she had made on me. The General The men of the Empire were not of that sort. Godard It is on account of that, that I put on a bold face! This boldness when backed by an income of forty thousand francs is accepted without protest, and wins its way to the front. That is why you took me for a good match. So long as there are no mortgages on the rich pasture lands of the Auge Valley, so long as one possesses a fine chateau, well furnished--for my wife need bring with her nothing but her trousseau, since she will find there even the cashmeres and laces of my late mother--when a man has all that, General, he has got all the courage he need have. Besides, I am now Monsieur de Rimonville. The General No, you're only Godard. Godard Godard de Rimonville. The General Godard for short. Godard General, you are trying my patience. The General As for me, it would try my patience to see a man, even if he were my son-in-law, deny his father; and your father, a right honest man, used himself to drive his beeves from Caen to Poissy, and all along the road was known as Godard--Father Godard. Godard He was highly thought of. The General He was, in his own class. But I see what's the matter; as his cattle provided you with an income of forty thousand francs, you are counting upon other animals to give you the name of De Rimonville. The General Well, if such silliness as this pleases my daughter, it makes no difference to me. For, after all, you would be the one they'd poke fun at, my dear Godard. Godard De Rimonville. The General Godard, you are a good fellow, you are young, you are rich, you say that you won't pay your court to women, but that your wife shall be the queen of your house. Well, if you gain her consent you can have mine; for bear in mind, Pauline will only marry the man she loves, rich or poor. There may be one exception, but that doesn't concern you. I would prefer to attend her funeral rather than take her to the registry office to marry a man who was a son, grandson, brother, nephew, cousin or connection of one of the four or five wretches who betrayed--you know what my religion is-- Godard Betrayed the Emperor. Yes, everyone knows your creed, General. The General God, first of all; then France or the Emperor--It is all the same to me. Lastly, my wife and children! Whoever meddles with my gods becomes my enemy; I would kill him like a hare, remorselessly. My catechism is short, but it is good. Do you know why, in the year 1816, after their cursed disbanding of the army of the Loire, I took my little motherless child and came here, I, colonel of the Young Guard, wounded at Waterloo, and became a cloth manufacturer of Louviers? Godard I suppose you didn't wish to hold office under them. The General No, because I did not wish to die as a murderer on the scaffold. Godard What do you mean? The General If I had met one of those traitors, I should have finished his business for him. Even to-day, after some fifteen years, my blood boils if I read their names in the newspaper or anyone mentions them in my presence. And indeed, if I should meet one of them, nothing would prevent me from springing at his throat, tearing him to pieces, strangling him-- Godard You would do right. I must humor him. The General Yes, sir, I would strangle him! And if my son-in-law were to ill-treat my dear child, I would do the same to him. Godard Ah! The General I shouldn't wish him to be altogether under her thumb. A man ought to be king in his own house, as I am here. Godard Poor man! How he deceives himself! The General Did you speak? Godard I said, General, that your threat had no terrors for me! When one has nothing but a wife to love, he loves her well. The General Quite right, my dear Godard. And now with regard to the marriage settlement? Godard Oh, yes! The General My daughter's portion consists of-- Godard Consists of-- The General It comprises her mother's fortune and the inheritance of her uncle Boncoeur. It will be undivided, for I give up my rights to it. This will amount to three hundred and fifty thousand francs and a year's interest, for Pauline is twenty-two. Godard This will make up three hundred and sixty-seven thousand five hundred francs. The General No. Godard Why not? The General It will be more! Godard More? The General Four hundred thousand francs. I make up the difference! But when I die there will be nothing more coming to her. Do you understand? Godard I do not understand. The General I am very much attached to little Napoleon. Godard You mean the young Duke of Reichstadt? The General No, my son whom they would enter in the register only under the name of Leon; but I had inscribed here the name of Napoleon! Do you see I must provide for him and his mother? Godard Especially for his mother; she'll take care of that! The General What are you saying? If you don't agree with me, out with it! Godard If I did so, we should find ourselves in the law courts. I agree, and will back you in everything, General. The General Good for you! And I'll tell you why, my dear Godard. Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page Prev Page |
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