2014년 11월 30일 일요일

Moral Tales 2

Moral Tales 2


At the conclusion of this recital, intermingled with reproofs, Madame
Jerome renewed her questions; but little Peter wept without replying.
The physician who had been sent for, now arrived, and told them that
he must not be tormented, as a severe fever was coming on; and indeed
a violent excitement soon succeeded to the weakness from which he
had just recovered. His fault represented itself to him in the most
frightful colours, and threw him into fits of despair, of which they
were at a loss to conjecture the cause. At length, when Madame Jerome
had gone home to inform her husband of what had happened, and of
the necessity there was of her remaining to nurse Peter, he raised
himself in his bed, and throwing himself on his knees, with clasped
hands called M. Dubourg, and said to him, "Oh! M. Dubourg, I have
committed a great crime." M. Dubourg, thinking him delirious, told
him to keep himself quiet, and lie down again. "No, M. Dubourg,"
he repeated, "I have committed a great crime." And then with the
quickness and volubility which the fever gave him, he related all
that had passed, but with so much minuteness of detail, that it was
impossible to consider what he said as the effect of delirium. M.
Dubourg made him he down again, and stood before him pale and shocked.

"Oh! Peter, Peter!" said he at last, with a deep sigh, "I had so
earnestly hoped to have been able to keep you with me!"

Peter, without listening to him, uttered aloud all that the torments
of his conscience dictated; he said that his master's mother would
have him apprehended, and in moments when his reason wandered more
than usual, he declared that the guard were in pursuit of him. M.
Dubourg, after reflecting for some time, went to his secretary,
counted his money, closed his desk again, and Madame Jerome returning
at the same moment, he related to her what he had just learned,
adding, "Madame Jerome, little Peter, according to his own account,
has committed a great crime, which prevents my keeping him with me
as I had hoped to do, for I had provided the necessary means. My
mind has never been easy, from the day I saw him behind a cursed
cabriolet. He had offered to remain with me for one louis more a
year, and I thought of procuring it by my labour. You see, Madame
Jerome, how valuable and profitable a thing is learning. I had indeed
made it a rule never to publish anything; but I considered that
there were works which might be written, without compromising one's
tranquillity. I have composed an almanac, in which I have recorded
the feasts and epochs of the year among the ancients. It cannot but
be very interesting to know, that on such a day began the Ides of
March, or, as the case may be, the Feasts of Ceres. I demanded of
the publisher one louis for it, that being all I stood in need of.
He gave it immediately, and will give me the same every year, for
a similar almanac." M. Dubourg was going on to explain to Madame
Jerome how he would manage to insure accuracy, notwithstanding the
irregularity of the ancient calendar; "but," said he, "it is not
necessary for you to know all this:" and then added, "I had intended
this louis for little Peter. I can dispose of it in his favour, and
the more easily as we are now at the end of the year, and I have in
my reserved fund more than sufficient to defray the expenses of his
illness. I was afraid at first that I should be encouraging vice; but
I have since considered that the evil is now done, and that it is the
innocent who has suffered from it. Take, then, this louis, Madame
Jerome, and carry the eighteen francs to the shopkeeper." This,
said M. de Cideville, was the precise louis d'or whose history I am
relating to you.

Madame Jerome, he continued, had been waiting anxiously for the end
of this discourse, which she did not very well understand, but which
she had not ventured to interrupt. As she was a very honest woman,
the conduct of her son had so overwhelmed her with grief and shame,
that she almost threw herself at the feet of M. Dubourg, to thank him
for affording her the means of repairing it without being obliged to
pay a sum very considerable for a poor woman burdened with a family.
She hastened out, though not without addressing some reproaches to
her son, who scarcely understood them, and ran to pay the shopkeeper.
As it happened, no inquiries had been made of him, nor had he, on
his part, sent for the money. Peter, therefore, had been mistaken,
and as yet nothing was known about the affair. His mother, on her
return, found him better; the fever had begun to abate, and he was
also comforted by the intelligence she brought. But if he had escaped
exposure, he could not escape from the remorse of his own conscience,
or from the reproaches of his mother, who was inconsolable. Her
lamentations, however, distressed him less than the cold and serious
manner of M. Dubourg, who no longer approached his bed, or spoke to
him, but took care that he should want for nothing, without ever
directly asking him what he wished to have. Little Peter had, more
than once, shed bitter tears on this account, and to this grief was
added, when he began to recover, the fear of returning to his father,
who had come to see him during his illness, and who, being a man of
great integrity, had severely reprimanded, and even threatened him.

Peter entreated his mother to ask M. Dubourg to keep him. M. Dubourg
at first refused; but Madame Jerome having promised him that Peter
should not go out, and that he should study the whole of the day, he
went to consult his Xenophon, and saw that Socrates in his youth had
been addicted to every vice; there was reason therefore, for hoping
that labour would reform little Peter, as it had reformed Socrates.

Peter was obliged to keep his word. His illness had left a debility
which long continued, and he was further restrained from going out
by the fear of meeting those to whom he owed money. Study being his
only amusement, he ended by becoming fond of it: and as he possessed
good abilities, his progress was such as to give his master much
satisfaction. But the honest M. Dubourg was ill at ease with Peter,
and no longer spoke to him with his accustomed familiarity. Peter
felt this, and was unhappy: then he redoubled his efforts to improve.
One day, having made a translation which gave M. Dubourg great
satisfaction, the latter promised, that if he continued to improve,
he would have the coat, which he still kept for him, arranged. Peter,
after much hesitation, begged to be allowed to sell it instead, so
that its price, together with the louis which he was to receive
at the end of the year, might serve to pay a part, at least, of
his debts. M. Dubourg consented, and was greatly pleased that this
idea had occurred to him. While waiting, therefore, for two years,
until the new coat had served its time, he continued to wear his
old grey jacket, which he was obliged to mend almost every day, and
the sleeves of which had become about four inches too short. But
during this time he succeeded in completely gaining the friendship
of M. Dubourg, who, having received a small legacy, employed it in
increasing the salary of Peter, whom he elevated to the rank of his
secretary. From this moment he treated him as a son; but Peter, who
was now called M. Jerome, could not perceive, without profound grief,
that whenever any allusion was made in his presence to a defect of
probity, M. Dubourg blushed, cast down his eyes, and did not dare
to look at him. As for himself, whenever anything was mentioned
that could have reference to his fault, he felt a severe pang shoot
through his heart. When money was concerned, he was timid, always
trembling, lest his honesty should be suspected. He did not dare,
for several years, to propose to M. Dubourg that he should spare
him the trouble of carrying the money to the restaurateur at the
end of each month. The first time his master intrusted him with it,
he was delighted, but still felt humiliated by the very pleasure he
experienced. However, he became accustomed to it: a life of steady
honesty has at last restored to him the confidence which every man of
honour ought to possess; but he will not dare to relate this history
to his children for their instruction, until he has become so old,
and so respectable, that he is no longer the same person as little
Peter, and he will always remember, that to M. Dubourg, and his louis
d'or, he owes the preservation of his character.


CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF A LOUIS D'OR.

One day after breakfast, M. de Cideville having a leisure hour,
Ernestine begged him to continue the history of the louis d'or, and
he began thus:--

The shopkeeper to whom Madame Jerome had carried the louis, was just
going out as she gave it to him. He took it, returned her in change
a six-franc piece, which was lying on the counter, gave the louis
to his wife to be locked up, and departed. As the woman was on the
point of putting it by, she heard her little girl, a child of two
years old, screaming so violently in the adjoining room, that she
thought she must have fallen into the fire. She ran to her, and found
that she had only caught her finger in a door. Having succeeded in
pacifying her, she returned to lock up the louis, but it was not to
be found. Her shopwoman, Louisa, searched for it also, with great
uneasiness. No one had entered the shop; she had been alone, and
she felt persuaded that her mistress, who did not much like her,
and who often quarrelled with her without just cause, would accuse
her of having taken it: nor was she mistaken. It was in vain that
she asserted her innocence, that she emptied her pockets, and even
undressed herself in the presence of her mistress, to prove to her
that she had not concealed it. She was not to be convinced, and she
was the more enraged from knowing that her husband would be angry
with her for not having locked it up immediately. On his return, she
related what had happened, and expressed her confidence that Louisa
had taken the money. He was not so sure of that, however, for he
knew her to be an honest girl; but he was out of temper, and Louisa
suffered for it, and was dismissed.

She went away heart-broken, yet carrying with her, without being
aware of it, the louis d'or in her shoe. At the moment that her
mistress, hearing the cries of her little girl, ran to her aid, she
laid the louis upon the counter, on which Louisa had mounted for the
purpose of arranging a bandbox, placed very high. She wore thick
shoes, to which, in order to render them still stronger, and better
suited for keeping out the damp, she had had another sole put; but
this sole, which was not very good, was worn out at the side, and
Louisa, making a false step upon the counter with these heavy shoes,
the louis was forced into the opening between the two soles. She
felt, as she descended, something catch at her foot, but imagined it
to be a nail coming out of her shoe, and as she was very active, and
did not willingly interrupt anything upon which she was engaged, she
merely struck her foot against the bottom of the counter, in order to
drive in what inconvenienced her. This made the louis enter entirely
into the opening, and as high heels were then worn, the action of the
foot made it slip towards the toe, where it was no longer felt, and
Louisa wandered through Paris in search of a new situation, carrying
with her everywhere this louis which had driven her from her old one.

Not having a character from her master, she could not obtain an
engagement. She was an orphan, and had no relations in Paris, so that
to avoid perishing from want, she was obliged to station herself at
the corner of a street, as a mender of old clothes. This occupation
was a very painful one for Louisa, who had been well brought up,
her parents having been respectable tradespeople, who had failed,
and died in poverty. It had required all the gentleness of her
disposition to enable her to live with the wife of the shopkeeper,
by whom she was badly treated, but as she was a well-conducted
girl, she endured everything in order to continue in a respectable
situation. Now, she was compelled to hear the oaths of the street
people, and the talk of drunkards, who often addressed her in a very
disagreeable manner, to say nothing of the cold, the wind, and the
rain, from which she suffered greatly; but as her occupation did not
require much walking, she had not worn out her shoes, so that she
always carried about with her the louis which had occasioned her so
much harm.

One day, in spring, when the sun had been very warm, there came on
suddenly a terrible storm, which, in a few minutes, swelled the
kennels to such a degree, that in several places they touched the
walls of the street. Louisa had left her station to take refuge under
an opposite doorway, where she found herself by the side of a lady,
dressed in a manner which indicated affluence. She was not young,
appeared to be in bad health, and was much embarrassed about having
to cross, in her thin shoes, the deep pools of water formed before
her. She was not in the habit of going on foot; but this morning, the
weather being very fine, and the church in which she usually heard
mass, being near her residence, she had not ordered her carriage in
going to it. Having found it, however, very full, she went to another
at some distance, and while there, had sent her servant on an errand.
She had returned alone, had been overtaken by the storm, and was much
afraid that the damp would bring on a severe cold, from which she
was but just recovered. "If I had only some other shoes!" she said.
Louisa very timidly offered hers.

"But what will you do?" asked the lady.

"Oh, I can go barefoot," replied Louisa; "but you, madam, cannot
possibly go in those shoes." And Louisa really believed what she
said, for poor people, accustomed to see us surrounded with so many
conveniences, which they manage to do without, sometimes imagine it
would be impossible for us to support things which they endure as a
matter of course. But although they entertain this opinion, we ought
not to share it. We must not persuade ourselves that their skins are
much less sensitive than our own, nor that they are constituted in a
different manner to ourselves; but, accustomed to pain, they do not
exaggerate it, and thus endure, without much suffering, things which
we should think it impossible for us even to attempt, and which,
nevertheless, would not do us more harm than they do them.

However, continued M. de Cideville, in the present case, it was not
so. Louisa was young, and in good health, the lady aged, and an
invalid. It was quite reasonable, therefore, that she should accept
Louisa's offer, and she did so. Louisa making many apologies for not
being able to present her shoes in better condition, accompanied her
barefoot, and supported her, as she could not walk very well in such
large and heavy shoes. When they reached the lady's residence, she
made Louisa go in, in order to dry herself, and at the same time to
reward her for the service she had rendered her. She also ordered
her shoes to be dried before they were returned to her. They were
placed near the kitchen fire; Louisa likewise seated herself there,
and while talking with the servants, the kitchen-maid took one of the
shoes in order to clean it, and accidentally raised up the outer sole
which the water had almost entirely detached. The louis d'or fell
out. For a moment Louisa was as much astonished as the rest, but
she suddenly uttered a cry of joy, for she remembered that something
had entered her shoe on the day she had been accused of taking the
louis. She related her story, and the servants, greatly astonished,
went and told it to their mistress. Louisa entreated the lady to
give her a certificate of what had happened, that she might get a
character from her master, and thus be able to obtain a situation.
The lady caused inquiries to be made, not only at the shopkeeper's,
where she learned that Louisa's account was entirely true, but also
in the neighbourhood, where she had always been regarded as a very
honest girl, and where no one believed that she had stolen the louis.
The lady also perceived by her manners and conversation, that she
was much superior to the station in which she had found her; she
therefore took her into her service, in order to assist her lady's
maid, who was old and infirm. She sent to the shopkeeper the amount
of his louis in silver, and gave to Louisa the louis d'or, which had
occasioned her so much injury, and so much good.

As often happens with uneducated persons, Louisa was superstitious.
She imagined that her good fortune was attached to this louis d'or,
which she had so long carried about her, without being aware of it.
She therefore would not think of spending it, but still continued
to carry it about her. It happened that her mistress while going
to her country seat, which lay at some considerable distance from
Paris, turned aside, for a few leagues, in order to spend a day with
a friend, whose house was nearly on her route. She left Louisa at
the post-house, with her luggage, where she was to take her up the
following morning. As Louisa had nothing to do, she seated herself
upon a bench before the door which faced the high road. Presently she
beheld a young man riding up to the house, at full speed. He rode so
rapidly that the postilion, by whom he was accompanied, could not
keep pace with him, and was obliged to follow at some considerable
distance behind. He was pale, apparently much fatigued, and also
greatly agitated. He alighted from his horse, and ordered another
to be saddled immediately; the ostlers could not make sufficient
haste. As he was preparing to remount, he sought for money to
defray his expenses, but he had not his purse. He searched all his
pockets, and then perceived that at the last stage but one, where he
had been obliged to change everything, in consequence of his horse
having thrown him into a ditch full of water, he had forgotten his
portmanteau, his purse, and his watch. He was greatly distressed and
agitated. "What!" he exclaimed, "not a louis upon me! A louis would
save my life." He inquired for the master of the inn, and was told
that he was in the fields, and that there was no one in the house
except his son, a lad of fifteen, and some postilions. "Can you not,"
he said, "find one louis to lend me? I will give you a cheque for
ten." The men looked at each other without replying. He told them he
was the Count de Marville, and that he was going two leagues further
on. His wife was lying there ill, very ill, without a physician, and
surrounded by persons who did not understand her constitution, and
who were giving her remedies quite unsuitable to her state. The news
had reached him at Paris: he had consulted his physician, and in
order not to lose time, had taken post horses and travelled night
and day. His servant, too weak to follow him, had been obliged to
stop by the way, and as for himself, he had just travelled a double
post, so that he was four leagues from the place where he had left
his luggage, and had not a single louis to continue his journey, and
save, perhaps, the life of his wife. But to all this, the men made
no reply; they merely dispersed; the very agitation of the count
destroyed their confidence in what he said. Besides, the postilion
who had accompanied him, and to whom he had promised a liberal
reward, in order to induce him to ride a double stage, was extremely
dissatisfied, at not being even paid his hire, and complained, swore,
and threatened to appeal to the mayor of the place. M. de Marville
thought of nothing but the delay, and in his anxiety it seemed to him
that the loss of a single hour might be fatal to his wife. Louisa
heard all this; she knew the name of de Marville, having heard it
mentioned by her mistress. She thought of her louis; it was the only
money she had about her, for in travelling she placed the little she
possessed in the care of her mistress, except the louis, which she
could not part with. She thought it very hard to give it up: still it
had drawn her from a state of so much misery, that she felt it would
be a sin not to allow another to be benefited by it when it was in
her power to do so. Taking it, therefore, out of the little pocket
in which she always carried it, she offered it to M. de Marville,
who, greatly delighted, asked her name, and promised that she should
hear from him; then paying the postilion, and remounting his horse,
he rode off; while Louisa, though she did not repent of what she had
done, felt, nevertheless, a little uneasy, and the more so as the
people of the inn assured her that she would never see her money
again.

The following day, her mind was set at rest, by the return of her
mistress, who was acquainted with M. de Marville, and had learned
that his wife was in fact lying very ill, at the distance of two
leagues from where they were. Louisa's sole anxiety now was to regain
her louis, which was still at the post-house where M. de Marville had
changed it, and it became henceforward more precious than ever in
her estimation. M. de Marville did not forget what he owed her. He
had found his wife extremely ill, and whether from the good effects
of his treatment, or from some other cause, he had the delight of
seeing her restored to health. He attributed her cure to Louisa, and
as he was extremely attached to his wife, he considered himself under
great obligations to one whom he regarded as her preserver. He went
to see her at the seat of her mistress, repaid the louis, and also
settled upon her a small annuity. On this occasion, his man-servant,
who had some property, became acquainted with Louisa. He married her,
and shortly after entered into the service of the same mistress. As
he was a reasonable man, he wished her to spend the louis, for he
knew that it was ridiculous to imagine that anything of this kind
could bring good fortune; but Louisa would only consent to part with
it, in payment of the first two months' nursing of her first child.
The nurse of this child was a tenant of M. d'Auvray, the father of a
little girl called _Aloise_. To him she gave the louis, when paying
the rent of her farm, and you shall presently see what use was made
of it.


THE RENT.

Aloise had for some time been very uneasy. Janette, the woman who
used to bring her every other day a bunch of fresh chickweed for
her bird, had not been near her for a whole week, and each time she
thought of it, she said to her nurse, "I am sure my poor little
_Kiss_ will be ill, for want of some chickweed, for there is no shade
in his cage when he is at the window, and the sun is shining over his
head." And Aloise actually feared that her bird would receive a _coup
de soleil_. This fear, indeed, did not often occupy her thoughts,
only whenever she went to talk to Kiss, she would say, "This naughty
Janette, will she never come?"

Janette arrived at last, and Aloise, when she saw her, gave her a
good scolding, and hastily seizing a bunch of chickweed, and without
giving herself the time to unfasten it, she tore a handful, and
carried it to her bird, saying, "Poor Kiss! the sun is dreadfully
hot!"

"Oh yes! Miss," said Janette, "it is indeed very hot, especially when
one has just recovered from a fever."

"Have you had a fever?" asked Aloise, whose whole attention was now
turned to Janette, and whom, indeed, she perceived to be very much
altered. Janette told her that her illness had been caused by grief,
for her rent was due, and she was unable to pay it, and her landlord
had threatened to turn her and her three children out of doors, and
take away her bed, which was all she possessed in the world.

"What," said Aloise, "have you no chairs?"

Janette replied that she had had two wooden stools and a table, but
that during the winter before last, which was that of 1789, she had
been forced to burn them, for the cold was so intense, that one
morning she found one of her children almost dead. A short time
previously, she had lost her husband, after a long illness, which had
exhausted all their resources, so that this was the third quarter's
rent which she had been unable to pay. Her landlord had given her
some further indulgence, but now told her, that if she did not pay
by the next quarter, both she and her children should be turned into
the street. "And well will it be for us," continued Janette, "if we
find there a little straw on which to lie down and die, for we are
too miserable to be taken in by any one." Saying this, she began
to cry, and Aloise, who was extremely kind and compassionate, felt
ready to cry also. She asked Janette if her rent was very high. It
was six francs a quarter. Three quarters were due, a louis would,
therefore, be owing in July; and this was a sum which she could not
possibly hope to pay, for her only means of living was the sale of
her chickweed, together with a few flowers in summer, and some baked
apples in the winter, all which was scarcely sufficient to find food
for her children. She added that during her illness, they must have
died of hunger, had it not been for the charity of some neighbours,
and that she was now hastening home in order to get them some bread,
as they had eaten nothing all day. Aloise took from her drawer forty
sous, which was all that remained of her month's allowance, for
as she was very careless, she was never rich. These she gave to
Janette, and the nurse added twenty more, thus making in all half
a crown. The nurse also gave her, for the children, some old shoes
which Aloise had cast aside, and poor Janette went away delighted,
forgetting for the time her unhappy condition, for the poor sometimes
endure such pressing hardships, that when they find themselves for a
moment freed from them, the happiness which they experience prevents
them from thinking of the misery which awaits them.

After Janette's departure, Aloise and her nurse continued talking
of her for a long time. Aloise would gladly have saved from her
allowance eight francs a month, in order to make up the louis
required by Janette, but this was impossible; she had lost her new
gloves, and was obliged to buy others; a new pair of prunella shoes
was to be brought home to her on the first of the month, to replace
those she had spoiled by imprudently walking in the mud; besides,
her thimble, her needles, her scissors, her thread, all of which she
was constantly losing through her want of order, formed a source of
considerable expense. Although she was eleven years of age, nothing
had been able to cure her of this want of order, a defect which
resulted from great vivacity, and from the fact, that when once an
idea had taken possession of her mind, it so completely engrossed it
that, for the moment, it was impossible for her to think of anything
else. At present, it was Janette who occupied her thoughts. She
would have been delighted to have had a louis to give her by the
time her rent became due, but she did not dare to ask her parents
for it, for she saw that, without being in any way embarrassed,
they nevertheless lived with a certain degree of economy; besides,
she knew them to be so kind, that if they could do anything, they
would do it without being asked. When she went down to her mother's
room, she spoke of Janette, of her grief for her, and of her desire
to assist her. Twenty times she went over her calculations aloud, in
order to let it be understood that she could not do so out of her
allowance. Twenty times she repeated, "This poor Janette says that
she must die upon straw, if she cannot pay her rent." Her mother,
Madame d'Auvray, was writing, and her father was occupied in looking
over some prints; neither of them appeared to hear her. Aloise was
in despair, for when she once wished for anything, she had no rest
until she had either obtained it, or forgotten it. She was told that
her drawing-master was waiting for her. Quite taken up with Janette
and her grief, she left, as was almost invariably the case with her,
her work upon the chair, her pincushion under it, her thimble on the
table, and her scissors on the ground. Her mother called her back.

"Aloise," said she, "will you never put away your work of your own
accord, and without my being obliged to remind you of it?" Aloise
replied mournfully that she was thinking of something else.

"Of Janette, was it not?" said her father. "Well, then, since you are
so anxious to get her out of trouble, let us make a bargain. Whenever
you put away your work without being reminded of it by your mother, I
will give you ten sous; in forty-eight days, therefore, you will be
able to gain the louis, which will not be required by Janette for
three months."

Oh! how delighted was Aloise. She threw herself into her father's
arms; her heart was freed from a heavy load.

"But," said M. d'Auvray, "in order that the agreement may be equal,
it is necessary that you should pay something whenever you fail. It
would be just to demand from you ten sous, but," added he, smiling,
"I do not wish to make too hard a bargain for poor Janette; I will,
therefore, only require of you five sous; but mind, I shall show no
mercy, and you must not expect a fraction of the louis, unless you
gain the whole. Here it is," said he, as he took it out of his pocket
and placed it in a drawer of Madame d'Auvray's secretary; "now try to
gain it."

Aloise promised that it should be hers; her parents seemed to doubt
it. It was, however, agreed, that Madame d'Auvray and Aloise should
each keep an account, in order to secure accuracy. And Aloise was
so pleased, and so eager to communicate the arrangement to her
nurse, that she ran out of the room without putting away her work.
Fortunately, she remembered it at the door; she ran back again,
seized upon it, and beheld her father laughing heartily. "At all
events," she exclaimed, "mamma did not remind me of it," and for once
the excuse was admitted.

For some time Aloise was very exact, and the more so as she had
related the affair to Janette, who without daring to remind her
of it, now and then dropped a word concerning her landlord, who
was a very severe man. During a whole month the work had only been
forgotten six times; thus, in twenty-four days, Aloise had gained
her ten sous, but as there were six days of negligence, during each
of which she had lost five sous, there remained six times five, or
three times ten sous, to be deducted from what she had gained; she
had, therefore, secured but twenty-one, out of the forty-eight days.

But Aloise did not reckon in this manner. As her carelessness
extended to everything, she sometimes forgot that on the six days on
which she had not put away her work, she had not gained her ten sous;
at other times she forgot that on these days she had lost five also,
so that she never considered that she had lost more than five or
ten sous, on those days on which her negligence had really made her
lose fifteen. At the end of the month, her mother had the greatest
difficulty in the world to make her understand this calculation,
and when she did understand it, she forgot it again. She had begun
to keep her account in writing, and then had neglected it; she
begged her mother to let her examine hers; she did so, at the same
time warning her that it was for the last time. Aloise recommenced
writing, but lost her paper; she then tried to reckon mentally, but
got confused in her calculations. Unfortunately, also, the hour
for her dancing lesson, which she took in her mother's apartment,
was changed, and now fell at the time that Janette called; she
therefore saw her less frequently, and began to forget her a little:
nevertheless the orderly habits which she had begun to contract were
tolerably well kept up. She often put her work away, but she also
frequently neglected it: still it seemed to her that she had attended
to it so many times, that she felt quite easy on the subject, and
did not even think of examining the day of the month.

One morning she rose extremely happy; she was going to spend a day in
the country. The party had been long arranged, and Aloise had drawn a
brilliant picture of the pleasure which she anticipated from it. The
weather, too, was delightful. She had just finished dressing, when
a man came to her room in the garb of a workman; he wore a leathern
apron and a woollen cap, which he scarcely raised as he entered. He
appeared very much out of humour, and said in a rough manner to the
nurse, that he had come on account of the woman who had served her
with chickweed for her birds; that he was her landlord; that she
owed him four quarters' rent, which she was unable to pay, and had
entreated him to go and see if any one there could assist her. "It
is not my business," he added in a surly tone, "to go about begging
for my rent. However, I was willing to see if anything was to be got.
If not, let her be prepared; to-morrow, the eighth of July, she must
quit. At all events, her moving will not be a very heavy one!"

Aloise trembled in every limb, at finding herself in the same room
with this terrible landlord, of whom she had so often heard Janette
speak, and whose manner was not calculated to tranquillize her fears.
Not daring to address him herself, she whispered to her nurse, that
she would go and ask her mamma for the louis.

"But have you gained it?" said the nurse.

"Oh! certainly," said Aloise, and yet she began to be very much
afraid she had not. She drew herself in as much as possible, in
order to pass between the door and the man who stood beside it, and
who terrified her so much that she would not have dared to ask him to
move. She ran quite flushed and breathless into her mother's room,
and asked for the louis.

"But does it belong to you?" said her mother. "I do not think it
does."

"Oh, mamma," replied Aloise, turning pale, "I have put away my work
more than forty-eight times."

"Yes, my child, but the days on which you have not put it away?"

"Mamma, I have put it away very often, I assure you."

"We shall see;" and Madame d'Auvray took the account from her
secretary. "You have put it away sixty times," said she to her
daughter.

"You see, mamma!" cried Aloise, delighted.

"Yes, but you have neglected it thirty-one times, for the month of
May has thirty-one days."

"Oh! mamma, that does not make...."

"My dear! thirty-one days, at five sous a day, make seven livres
fifteen sous, which are to be deducted from the thirty francs that
you have gained. Thus thirty-five sous are still wanting to complete
the louis." Aloise turned pale and clasped her hands.

"Is it possible," she said, "that for thirty-five sous...."

"My child," said her mother, "you remember your agreement with your
father."

"Oh! mamma! for thirty-five sous! and this poor Janette!"

"You knew very well what would be the consequence," said her mother;
"I can do nothing in the matter."

Aloise wept bitterly. Her father coming in, asked the reason. Madame
d'Auvray told him, and Aloise raised her hands towards him with
supplicating looks.

"My child," said M. d'Auvray, "when I make a bargain I keep to it,
and I require that others should act in the same manner towards me.
You have not chosen to fulfil the conditions of this agreement,
therefore let us say no more about it."

When M. d'Auvray had once said a thing, it was settled. Aloise did
not dare to reply, but she remained weeping. "The horses are ready,"
said M. d'Auvray, "we must set off; come, go and fetch your bonnet."

Aloise then knew that all hope was lost, and she could not restrain
her sobs. "Go and get your bonnet," said her father in a firmer tone,
and her mother led her gently to the door. She remained outside the
room, leaning against the wall, unable to move a step, and crying
most bitterly. Her nurse entered softly, and asked whether she had
got the money, as the man was becoming impatient. Indeed Aloise
heard him in the hall speaking to the servant, in the same surly
ill-tempered tone. He said he had not time to wait; that it was very
disagreeable and inconvenient to be sent there for nothing; and that
Janette might rest assured she would have to be off pretty quickly.
The tears of Aloise were redoubled; her nurse endeavoured to console
her, and the old servant who was passing at the moment, not knowing
the cause of her grief, told her that she was going to amuse herself
in the country, and would soon forget her trouble.

"To amuse myself!" cried Aloise, "to amuse myself!" And she
remembered that during this time Janette would be in despair, and
turned into the street with her three children.

"Oh! dear," she exclaimed, "could they not have punished me in some
other manner?"

"Listen," said her nurse, "suppose you were to ask for some other
punishment?"

Aloise turned towards her a hesitating and frightened look. She
saw very well that she was going to propose to her to give up her
visit to the country; and although she promised herself very little
pleasure from it, she had not the courage to renounce it. But the
servant came to tell her that the man was tired of waiting, and was
going away. And in fact she heard him open the door, saying in a loud
voice, "She shall pay for having made me come here for nothing."
Aloise with clasped hands, entreated the servant to run after him
and stop him for a moment, and told her nurse to go and beg of her
parents to change her punishment, and instead of it to deprive her
of the pleasure of going into the country. The nurse having done so,
Madame d'Auvray came out immediately and said to her daughter,

"My child, our wish is not to punish you, but to fix in your
mind something of consequence which we have not yet succeeded in
impressing on it. Do you think the regret you will feel in not going
into the country with us, will have sufficient effect upon you, to
make you remember to be a little more orderly in what you do?"

"Oh! mamma," said Aloise, "I do assure you that the grief I have
had, and that which I shall still have," she added, redoubling her
tears, "in not going into the country, will make me well remember it."

"Very well, then," said Madame d'Auvray, and she gave her the louis,
which Aloise charged her nurse to carry to the man. As for herself,
she remained leaning against the door, through which her mother had
returned into her room. Her nurse, having ordered the kitchen-maid to
follow the man, and carry the louis to Janette, found her there still
crying; and told her that as she had taken her course, she ought to
show more courage, and dry up her tears, and go and bid farewell to
her parents, who would otherwise think she was sulking, which would
not be proper. Aloise dried her eyes, and endeavouring to restrain
herself, entered the room. As she approached her father, in order
to kiss him, he took her on his knee, and said, "My dear Aloise, is
there no way of engraving still more deeply on your memory, that
which you ought not to forget?" Aloise looked at him. "Would it not
be," he continued, "by taking you with us into the country, relying
upon the promise which you will give us never again to forget to put
your work away?"

"Never!" said Aloise, with an agitated look; "but if I should forget
it on some occasion?"

"I am sure that you will not do so," replied her mother; "your
promise, the recollection of our indulgence, all this will force you
to remember it."

"But, oh dear! oh dear! if after all I were to forget it!"

"Well," said her father, kissing her, "we wish to force you to
remember it."

Aloise was greatly affected by all this kindness; but she felt
tormented by the fear of not keeping the promise on which her parents
relied; and whilst her nurse, who had heard what was said, ran
joyfully to fetch her bonnet, she remained pensive, leaning against
the window. At length, turning eagerly to her mother, "Mamma," she
said, "I will beg of God every day in my prayers to give me grace to
keep my promise."

"That will be an excellent means," replied her mother, "make use of
it at once;" and Aloise raised her eyes to heaven and her heart to
God, and felt encouraged. Nevertheless she preserved throughout the
day, amidst the amusements of the country, something of the emotions
which had agitated her in the morning. At night she did not forget
to renew her prayer; the next morning she thought of it on waking,
and in order not to forget it, she imposed upon herself the rule of
attending to it before she did anything else. She succeeded, by this
means, in impressing upon her mind the duty prescribed to her. Once
only, did she seem on the point of going away without arranging her
work.

"Aloise," said her mother, "have you said your prayers this morning?"

This question reminded her both of her prayer, which, indeed, for
some time past, she had said with less attention, as she now thought
herself secure, and also of her promise, which she had run the risk
of forgetting; and she was so much terrified that she never again
fell into the same danger. One day when her mother was speaking to
her about the manner in which she had corrected herself, she said
timidly, "But, mamma, in order to correct me, you surely would not
have had the heart to allow poor Janette to be turned out of doors?"

Her mother smiled and said, "You must at all events allow that
you are at present very happy for having been afraid of this."
Aloise assented. The louis d'or had enabled her to acquire a good
habit, from which she derived more advantages than she had at first
expected; for the money which she saved, by not having constantly to
replace things lost through carelessness, gave her the means of doing
something additional for Janette, for whom also work was found, as
well as various little commissions, so that she and her children were
no longer in danger of dying of hunger, or of being turned out of
their miserable garret.

Here M. de Cideville, being obliged to go out, interrupted his
narrative, deferring its continuation to another day.


CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF A LOUIS D'OR

M. de Cideville having one day, of his own accord, continued the
history of the louis d'or, said to his daughter, You have already
seen, by the several adventures which I have related, of what
importance may be, under certain circumstances, a sum apparently so
trifling as a louis d'or. You will soon see all the advantages which
may be derived from it; but I must first tell you in what manner it
passed out of the hands of the landlord, to whom Janette had given
it in payment of her rent.

This landlord was a shoemaker; his house was very small, very
disagreeable, and very dirty, as may be imagined by the sum paid
by Janette for rent, and he was himself the porter. He was very
avaricious, and would not go to the expense of keeping it in a
moderately decent condition, or even of repairing it, so that it was
occupied only by very poor people, or by those who had been guilty of
bad actions, for, provided his tenants paid him, he did not trouble
himself about their honesty. There was one among them, named Roch,
whom he knew to be a rogue, and who had several times concealed
stolen goods. The shoemaker shut his eyes to this, because on these
occasions he almost always received some little present. One day, as
the shoemaker was looking in the narrow court, which separated his
house from that of his neighbour, for old pieces of linen sometimes
thrown there, and of which, after having washed them, he made use
as linings for his shoes, he stooped down to pick up one of them,
when his pipe, which he had in his mouth, caught in something, and
slipping from him, fell through a grating into his neighbour's
cellar. He would have been glad to have gone and asked for it, but he
did not dare to do so, for misers are always ashamed of those actions
which their avarice leads them to commit. Whilst leaning over the
grating, in the hope that it might have lodged on the slope of the
wall within, and that he should be able to regain it, there suddenly
burst from the opening such a volume of smoke, that he was nearly
stifled. The pipe had fallen upon some straw, recently unpacked, and
which, not having yet imbibed the damp of the cellar, caught fire
almost immediately. The shoemaker knew very well what was likely to
follow, and ran away, in order that he might not be suspected as the
cause of the mischief; but trembling for his own house, to which
the fire might extend, he gave an alarm, saying that he perceived a
strong smell of smoke; and in order that assistance might be promptly
rendered, he guided the people so well in the direction of the fire,
that the truth was immediately suspected.

The flames quickly spread to a heap of faggots, thence to a quantity
of goods which were near, and before there was time to suppress them,
they had injured the building. The landlord entered a process against
the shoemaker, in order to make him pay the damages, saying that it
was he who had set the place on fire, which, indeed, there was every
reason for suspecting. It was known that he was in the habit of
searching in the court for rags, and suchlike things, that happened
to be thrown from the windows. There had also been found in the ashes
underneath the grating and on the spot occupied by the heap of straw,
the remains of a pipe which had not been consumed. It was observed
that when the shoemaker gave the information, he was without his
pipe, a thing quite extraordinary for him. He was also known to have
bought a new one on the same day, and every one was aware that he was
not a man to buy a new pipe if he had an old one in his possession.
It was then more than probable that it was his pipe which had fallen
into the cellar, and set it on fire. Besides, two persons believed
that they had seen him, from a distance, going out of the court.

The shoemaker had nothing to oppose to these charges, but the
assertion that he was not on the spot when the place took fire; but
in order to have this assertion received, he must find witnesses who
would consent to give a false testimony. He thought Roch might do
him this service, and he reminded him of all the indulgence which
he had granted to him. Roch made no objections; he was so great a
knave, that he seemed to take a pleasure in doing what was wrong. He
simply demanded, as the reward of this service, that the shoemaker
should introduce and recommend him, as a servant, to M. de la Fere,
a gentleman for whom the shoemaker worked, and who at that time was
in want of a servant. Roch was very desirous of getting this place,
but quite at a loss as to the means of doing so, as he could find no
one willing to give him a character. The shoemaker consented; for we
can never ask others to do what is wrong for us without being obliged
to do at least as much for them in return. But two witnesses were requisite. Roch undertook to procure another, on condition that the shoemaker should give him a louis d'or.

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