Gerfaut -- Volume 1

t was a very large room, longer than it was wide, and lighted by three windows, the middle one of which opened from top to bottom like a door and led out upo

tion which covered every side of the room, consisting of one of the most glorious collec

oustache like those of an untamed tiger. Beginning with this formidable figure, which bore the date 1247, forty others of about the same dimensions were placed in order acco

. In these portraits of the fifteenth century beards had disappeared with the sword. In those wearing caps and velvet toques, silk robes and heavy gold chains supporting a badge of the same metal, one recognized lords in full and tranquil possession of the fiefs won by their fathers, landowners who had degenerated a little and preferred mountain life in a manor to the chances of a more hazardous existence. These pacific gen

e parlor near the windows. These worthy advisers of the Dukes of Lorraine explained the way in which the masters of the chateau had awakened from the

stoms? Thanks to these respectable counsellors and judges, one might reverse the motto: 'Non solum toga', in favor of their race. But it did not seem as if these bearded ancestors looked with much gratitude upon this parliamentary flower added to their feudal crest. They app

this genealogical tree. Several among the military ones wore sashes and plumes of the colors of Lorraine; others, even before the union of this province to France, had served the latter country; there wer

che hung against his boots a little lower than the hilt of his sabre. The costume represented a sprightly officer of the Royal Nassau hussars. The portrait was hung on the left of the entrance door and only s

cal resemblance between these two lives, separated by more than five centuries. The chevalier in coat-of-mail had been killed in the battle of the Mansourah during the first crusade of St. Louis. The young man with the superciliou

med with clubs. The field was red; with its three bulls' heads in silver, it announced to people well versed in heraldic art that they had before them the lineaments of noble and powerful lords, squires of Reisnach-B

nounced were the family features common to them all. The furniture of the room was not unworthy of these proud defunct ones. High-backed chairs and enormous armchairs, dating from the time of Louis XIII; more modern sofas, which had

an ebony console inlaid with ivory, upon which was placed one of those elegant clocks whose delicate and original chased work has not been eclipsed by any modern workmanship. Two large Japanes

curtains which hung by the windows. The light sometimes softened, sometimes revivified by some sudden flash of the flames, glanced over the scowling faces and red beards, enlivening the eyes and giving a supernatural animation to those lifeless canvases. One would have said tha

n!" said at this moment an old voice issuing from

gown. A false front as black as jet, surmounted by a cap with poppy-colored ribbons, framed her face. She had sharp, withered features, and the brilliancy of her primitive freshness had been converted into a blotched and pimpled complexion which affected above all her nose and cheek-bones, but whos

to mind the lions which sleep at the foot of chevaliers in their Gothic tombs. As a pug-dog and an old maid pertain to each other, it was only necessary, in order to

ack of a chair, seeming to breathe with difficulty,

last, "it was a horrible c

old maid. "Shut that window; do you not kn

he flashes of lightning which continued to dart thr

ut upon the balcony? The sleeve of your gown is wet. That is the way one gets cold; afterward, there is nothing but an endless array of syru

ld. It is because you have a habi

sten to my advice-you go out in the wind and rain with that flighty Aline and your husband, who has no more sense than

ssed against the glass. The distant rumbling of the thunder announce

t the Montigny rocks; when the lightning strikes them they l

owled the old lady, never ta

eplied Clemence. "I simply find the storm a distraction, a

u find i

, pronounced with a heartfelt accent, t

for several moments at her pretty niece's face, which was tinged with a look of deep melanch

ny trouble with

Clemence, in a gay tone, which she repented

suit myself, even taking down the partition and enlarging the windows; and yet, you know how much he clings to everything that is old about the house. He tries to do everythi

au officer; "and he was the most brutal, unbearable, and detestable of all the dragoons in Lorraine; so much so that he got into three quarrels at Nancy in one month, and at Metz, over a game of checkers, he killed the poor Vicomte de Megrigny, who was worth a hundred of him and danced so well! Some one described Bergenheim as being 'proud as a peacock, as stubborn as a mule, and as furious as a lion!' Ugly race! ugly rac

he hobbies which the old maid rode with a most complacent spite; so she settled herself back in her chair like a person who would at least be comfortable wh

n not understand why you have taken this idea into your head that Christian renders me unhappy. I repeat it, it is imp

has been perfectly noticeable for some time? When I say ennui, it is more than that; it is sadness, it is grief? You grow thinner every day; you are as pale as a ghost; just at this moment, yo

ad her reasons for not liking pale complex

s if to acquiesce in this decision, a

, a disgust for everything, something which I can not overcome. It is an inexplicable physical and moral languor, for which, for this reason, I see no remedy. I am weary a

they call it spleen! Spleen! a new discovery, an English importation! Fine things come to us from England; to begin with, the constitutional government! All this is perfectly ridiculous. As for you, Clemence, you ought to put an end to such childishness. Two months ago, in Paris, you did not have any of the rest that yo

o do, to join my husband. Was it not enough, and too much, to have left

ulfil, you wished to be with your husband; you bothered and wore me out with your conjugal love. When back at Bergenheim, you dream and sigh for Paris. Do not shake your head; I am an old aunt to whom you pay no heed, but who sees clearly y

ty into these three words which seemed to condense all the quintessence of p

to her aunt's face as if

ance that the latter could no

and you know that I am a kind aunt to you. Now, then, speak freely-have you left anything or any person in Paris, t

d Madame de Bergenheim, quickly, as if trying to conce

society and hold one's position there? One need not bury one's self in a desert at twenty-three years of age, and you really are charming enough to inspire love; you understand, I do not say, to experience it; but when one is young an

h, aunt, you do him honor! Monsieur de Mauleon, who is past forty-five years old and wears stays! an audacious man

r niece's burst of gayety, when, with one hand upon her heart, she rolled her

is Monsieu

chat with me; on my side, I found his conversation very entertaining; but you may rest assured that he di

with which aged people follow an idea, and as if determined to pass in review al

silent a moment

es books that one hardly dares read, and plays that it's almost a sin to witness! Did you not hear Madam

nd that a widow forty years old was quite old enough to go about alone! She has a mania for fearing that she may be compromised. The idea of turning up her nose at Monsieur de Gerfaut! What presumption! He certainly is too clever ever

se whom you might name, has the slightest effect upon my state of mind. I am bored because it probably is my nature to need distractions, and there are none in this deserted

not prevent a gesture of anger as she saw her advances thus repelled, but felt that she was no wiser than when she began the conversation. She manifested her disappointmen

, and languor are caprices which are very disagreeable to others. There is a Provence proverb which says: Vaillance de Blacas, prudence de Pontevez, caprice de Corandeuil. If there was not such a saying, it should be created for you, for you have something in

for me to know them, and, if they were not corrected, it was not your fault, for you never spared me scoldings. If

pened it, in order to conceal her emotion and to put an end to this conversation, which had become painful to her. Mademoiselle de Corandeuil, on her side, carefully repla

at last from her revery and carelessly turned over the leaves of the review in a manner which showed how little interest she felt in it. As she turned the first page a surprised cry escaped her, and her eyes were fastened upon the pamphlet with eager curiosity. Upo

eck and gazed for an instant upon the page without seeing, at first, anything extraordinary, but finally her glan

upon Madame's shield! What can that mean, 'bon Dieu'! and it

s a crowned gerfaut," s

for a coronet-and it really does resemble one-is a badly drawn cock's comb. How did this horrid creature come to be there? I should like to know if such pretty tricks are permitted at the postoffice. People protest against

ng the bell-rope with a vivacity which showed that she shared

n green liv

ont yesterday for th

lle de Co

let, Mademoiselle,"

onsieur de

playing billiards wi

ard Rousse

herself back in her chair with the dign