........ .¦.
6
EUGENIA GRANDET.
his chestnut locks recurled, changed his linen,
and donned a new black cravat. A traveling-
coat, buttoned half-way, and fitting his form
exactly, exposed a waistcoat of palm-leaf cash-
mere, under which was another of white. His
watch was carelessly slipped into his vest
pocket, and attached to a button-hole by a
gold chain. His gray pantaloons were buttoned
at the feet, and the seams embroidered with
black silk: his cane had a carved gold head,
aud his gloves were of a delicate lemon color.
A Parisian, and no one else, can be thus ar-
rayed without being ridiculous; and it may be
added that Charles's fearless and haughty bear-
ing well sustained and harmonized with his
folly and foppishness.
And now, if the reader would entirely com-
prehend the astonishment of the Saumurites
and the young Parisian; if he would distinctly
see the effect that the elegance of the traveler
cast over the gray shadows of this room and the
figures that composed the family picture; let
him try to depict to himself the appearance of
the Cruchots. All three of them took snuff;
and all three of them, for a length of time,
had ceased to be particular about keeping the
ends of their noses wiped, and the frills of their
linen clean. Their unstiffened cravats were
twined like a cord about their necks, and their
shirts being seldom bleached, grew yellow and
dingy. Their whole appearance, indeed, was
that of ill-grace and senility.
Whenever the Parisian put his glass to his
eye to examine the queer accessaries of this
room—the wooden beams, the hue of the
wainscoting, the glass, the furniture—the loto-
players lifted up their noses and stared at him
with as much curiosity as if he had been a
giraffe. It is true, the appearance of a fashion-
able young man was not a novelty to Mr. des
Grassins and his son, yet they participated in
their companions' gaze of astonishment, either
because they felt the undefinable influence of a
general sentiment, or because they wished to
give a sanction to the prevailing astonishment
by saying, with the glance of those who know:
"They are all so at Paris."
Every one had an opportunity to observe
Charles without displeasing old Grandet; for
that individual was completely absorbed in the
long letter he held in his hand, and to peruse it
he had taken one of the candles from the play-
ers' table, without thinking or caring for the
convenience of his guests.
Eugenia, to whom this type of perfection,
whether of dress or person, was previously
unknown, thought she beheld in her cousin a
being descended from some seraphic region.
She inhaled with delight the perfume of his
glossy hair; she longed to touch his beautiful
gloves; she envied him his small hand, his
complexion, and the freshness and delicacy of
his features. In fine—if the simile can convey
a notion of the impressions produced by the
young dandy on an ignorant country girl who,
continually occupied in darning stockings and
patching her father's clothes, had spent her life
under this desolate roof iu a silent street where
scarcely one person passed in an hour—the
sight of her cousin called up in her heart emo-
tions of delicate voluptuousness similar to
those that may be felt by a young man while
gazing at the fantastic figures of females in the
English keepsakes, drawn by Westall, and en-
graved by Finden with so clever a pencil that
one fears to breathe on them, lest the heavenly
apparitions may be blown from the paper.
When Charles drew a handkerchief from his
pocket, embroidered by the fine lady who was
traveling in Scotland, Eugenia, as she saw the
beautiful work, done by love during the hours
lost to love, looked incredulously at her cousin,
as if to inquire if he were really about to use it.
Then Charles's manners, his gestures, the way
he managed his eye-glass, his easy imperti-
nence, his contempt for the work-box bestowed
by Adolphe, and which had at first given such
delight to the heiress—in short, all that offend-
ed the Cruchots and Des Grassins, pleased
Eugenia so much that before she fell asleep she
mused long and anxiously about this phoenix
of cousins.
Nanon soon entered the parlor, and request-
ed Madame Grandet to give her the sheets for
the gentleman's bed; on which that lady im-
mediately withdrew to make the necessary ar-
rangement. The players, by common consent,
took up their sous and wheeled around toward
the fire.
"You've finished your game, eh?" said old
Grandet, but without taking his eyes from the
letter.
"Yes," answered Madame des Grassins, tak-
ing a seat by Charles.
Eugenia, actuated by one of those impulses
that spring up in the heart of young ladies
when a sentiment takes possession of it for the
first time, quitted the parlor to assist her moth-
er and Nanon; and, she arrived very oppor-
tunely, for they were just returning to the par-
lor under the conviction that all was arranged,
when Eugenia, who was suddenly impressed
with the belief that she alone was capable of
understanding the tastes and wants of her
cousin, soon persuaded them that all was yet to
be done. She directed Nanon to warm the
sheets with some of the coals from the kitchen
fire ; she spread a napkin over the top of the
old table, and requested Nanon to change it
every day; she convinced her mother that it
was necessary to light a good fire in the room,
and persuaded Nanon to bring up a pile of
wood, and place it in the hall without saying
anything about it. She ran to one of the side-
boards in the parlor and took from it a salver
of old lacquered work (which had formerly be-
longed to Mr. de la Bertelliere), an hexagonal
crystal goblet, a tarnished silver-gilt spoon, and
an antique flacon, with cupids engraved on it,
and triumphantly placed the whole on one side
of the chimney-piece. More ideas had found
their way into her head in the last quarter of
an hour than ever before during her whole
life.
" Mamma," said she, "my cousin will never
be able to endure this tallow candle, suppose
we buy a bougie?" And, light as a bird, she
went for her purse, and drew out the hundred-
sous piece that she had received for her monthly
expenses. "Go, Nanon," said she; "make
haste."
" But what will your father say?"
This terrible objection was propounded by
Madame Grandet, as she saw her daughter
armed with an old Sevres sugar-dish, brought
by Mr. Grandet from the chateau of Froidfond.
" And," she added, " where will you get sugar
from?   Are you crazy?"
" Oh, Nanon can buy the sugar at the same
time that she buys the bougie," replied Eu-
genia.
"But,your father," persisted her mother.
" Would it be proper that his nephew should
not have a glass of sugar-water?" said Eugenia,
confidently.     " Besides, he will  never know
about it."
" Your father knows about everything in the
house,"   said Madame Grandet,   shaking  her
head.
Nanon hesitated—she knew her master well.
" Since it is my  birthday, Nanon, you must
go!" said Eugenia, archly.
Nanon burst into a shout of laughter on hear-
ing the first facetious remark her young friend
had ever uttered ; and she obeyed.
While Eugenia and her mother were thus
embellishing his room, Charles found himself
the object of Madame des Grassins's attention
in the parlor.
"You are very courageous, sir," said she,
" to abandon the pleasures of the metropolis
during the winter for a residence at Saumur;
but if we do not frighten you at first, you will
find that even here we are not destitute of
amusements."
Charles felt so out of his element, so far re-
moved from the vast chateau and luxurious life
with which his imagination had invested his
uncle's residence, that, by dint of regarding
Madame des Grassins attentively, he at length
discovered in her a half-effaced resemblance to
Parisian forms.
He replied therefore with courtesy; and a
conversation ensued, during which Madame
des Grassins lowered her voice to a pitch re-
quisite for the exchange of private conversa-
tion.
"If you would do us the honor," said the
wily lady, believing she was unheard by the
others, who were eagerly discussing the prices
of wine; "if you would do us tiie honor of
coming to see us, you would confer a great
pleasure on my husband and myself. Our
house is the only one in Saumur where you
will find the haut commerce and the noblesse
united, for we belong to both societies, by
whom, I say it with pride, my husband is
equally respected. We will endeavor to allevi-
ate the ennui of your sojourn here; for, gra-
cious Heaven! what will become of you, if you
remain shut up here with Mr. Grandet? Your
uncle is a miser, who thinks of nothing but
planting vineyards; your aunt, a devotee, who
knows not how to join together two ideas; and
your cousin, a little simpleton, without educa-
tion, vulgar, portionless, who passes her days
in patching and mending."
Charles listened to thisharangue, said to him-
self, "This woman is well enough," and re-
plied to her after her own manner.
" It seems to me, wife," said the burly banker,
"that you wish to monopolize the gentleman."
Taking this for a cue, the notary and presi-
dent joined the conversation with more or less
of malice; but the abbe, with a sly wink, took
the floor, saying, as he rapped his snuff-box,
and handed it around :
" Who better than Madame des Grassins can
do the honors of Saumur for the gentleman?"
" How do you intend that, Abbe Cruchot?"
said Mr. des Grassins.
" I intend it, sir, in the sense most favorable
to you, to your lady, to the town of Saumur,
and to the gentleman," returned the cunning old
man, turning to Charles. The truth is, the
abbe, without appearing to attend, had divined
the nature of the conversation between Charles
and Madame des Grassins.
" I do not know, sir," said Adolphe, endeav-
oring to assume an air of ease, " whether you
recollect me; but I had the pleasure of being
your vis-a-vis at a ball given by the Marshal
d'Oudinot, and------"
"Perfectly, perfectly, sir," replied Charles,
quietly; and then turning to Madame des Gras-
sins, he continued, "Is he your son, madame?"
The abbe looked at her maliciously, and she
replied in the affirmative.
" You must have been very young when you
were in Paris," said Charles, addressing
Adolphe again.
"And why not?" interposed the abbe; "we
send them all to Babylon as soon as they are
weaned."
Madame des Grassins looked inquisitively at
the abbe, but he proceeded :
" You must come to the provinces, sir, to
find women of thirty-odd years as fresh as this
lady, and with sons old enough to be admitted
to the bar. It seems to me, madame," he con-
tinued, turning to her, "that I still see the
young people mount on benches and chairs to
see you dance at a ball ; to my recollection, your
triumphs are of yesterday. "
" The old wretch!" said Madame des Gras-
sins to herself: "he guesses my motives."
"I shal! be quite a lion at Saumur," said
Charles to himself, unbuttoning his traveling-
coat, thrusting his hand under his vest, and
looking into space, in imitation of the attitude
of Lord Byron, by Chantry.
Meantime, the profound attention given by
Father Grandet to the letter he was reading did
not escape the observation of the notary and
the president, and they endeavored to guess at
its contents by studying the almost impercepti-
ble movements of his face, strongly lighted as
it was by the candle. And, indeed, it was
with difficulty that the miser could maintain
the habitual calm of his countenance. That
the reader may judge what cause lie had for
disturbance, the letter itself is here subjoined :
" My Brother.—It is now almost twenty-
three years since we have met. My marriage
was the subject of our last conversation, after
which we parted with light hearts. Surely, I
could not then foresee that you would one day
become the sole hope and dependence of a
family in whose prosperity you at that time re-
joiced. When you receive this letter. I shall be
with the dead; for I cannot survive the disgrace
of bankruptcy. I have paused on the brink of
the abyss, in the hope of relief, until this final
moment, and now I must take the leap. The
failure of both my banker and notary, has
swept away my last resource. My debts are
not less than three millions, and my property
will not pay a dividend on this of more than
eight per cent. My wines, so long stored for
an advance in price, have depreciated ruin-
ously before the abundance and superior qual-
ity of your vintages. In three days, no doubt,
all Paris will say of me: 'Grandet was a
swindler!' while I, honest in purpose, must
nevertheless lie down in a shroud of infamy.
I rob my son both of the good name I once
bore, and the fortune his mother bequeathed
him: and he, poor idolized child! is ignorant of
all this calamity. We parted affectionately,
and he saw not that the flood-gates of my life
overflowed in this farewell. Will he not one
day curse me? Brother! brother! the maledic-
tion of our children is a fearful thing! They
may appeal from ours; but theirs is irrevocable.
You, as my elder brother, owe me protection;