太子爷小说网 > 英语电子书 > the two brothers >

第15节

the two brothers-第15节

小说: the two brothers 字数: 每页4000字

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!




passions gratified; only prompt them to study how it happened that

they succeeded in getting round all social laws; the result is they

become alarmingly adroit。



A fortnight later; Philippe; once more a man of leisure; lazy and

bored; renewed his fatal cafe life;his drams; his long games of

billiards embellished with punch; his nightly resort to the gambling…

table; where he risked some trifling stake and won enough to pay for

his dissipations。 Apparently very economical; the better to deceive

his mother and Madame Descoings; he wore a hat that was greasy; with

the nap rubbed off at the edges; patched boots; a shabby overcoat; on

which the red ribbon scarcely showed so discolored and dirty was it by

long service at the buttonhole and by the spatterings of coffee and

liquors。 His buckskin gloves; of a greenish tinge; lasted him a long

while; and he only gave up his satin neckcloth when it was ragged

enough to look like wadding。 Mariette was the sole object of the

fellow's love; and her treachery had greatly hardened his heart。 When

he happened to win more than usual; or if he supped with his old

comrade; Giroudeau; he followed some Venus of the slums; with brutal

contempt for the whole sex。 Otherwise regular in his habits; he

breakfasted and dined at home and came in every night about one

o'clock。 Three months of this horrible life restored Agathe to some

degree of confidence。



As for Joseph; who was working at the splendid picture to which he

afterwards owed his reputation; he lived in his atelier。 On the

prediction of her grandson Bixiou; Madame Descoings believed in

Joseph's future glory; and she showed him every sort of motherly

kindness; she took his breakfast to him; she did his errands; she

blacked his boots。 The painter was never seen till dinner…time; and

his evenings were spent at the Cenacle among his friends。 He read a

great deal; and gave himself that deep and serious education which

only comes through the mind itself; and which all men of talent strive

after between the ages of twenty and thirty。 Agathe; seeing very

little of Joseph; and feeling no uneasiness about him; lived only for

Philippe; who gave her the alternations of fears excited and terrors

allayed; which seem the life; as it were; of sentiment; and to be as

necessary to maternity as to love。 Desroches; who came once a week to

see the widow of his patron and friend; gave her hopes。 The Duc de

Maufrigneuse had asked to have Philippe in his regiment; the minister

of war had ordered an inquiry; and as the name of Bridau did not

appear on any police list; nor an any record at the Palais de Justice;

Philippe would be reinstated in the army early in the coming year。



To arrive at this result; Desroches set all the powers that he could

influence in motion。 At the prefecture of police he learned that

Philippe spent his evenings in the gambling…house; and he thought it

best to tell this fact privately to Madame Descoings; exhorting her

keep an eye on the lieutenant…colonel; for one outbreak would imperil

all; as it was; the minister of war was not likely to inquire whether

Philippe gambled。 Once restored to his rank under the flag of his

country; he would perhaps abandon a vice only taken up from idleness。

Agathe; who no longer received her friends in the evening; sat in the

chimney…corner reading her prayers; while Madame Descoings consulted

the cards; interpreted her dreams; and applied the rules of the

〃cabala〃 to her lottery ventures。 This jovial fanatic never missed a

single drawing; she still pursued her trey;which never turned up。 It

was nearly twenty…one years old; just approaching its majority; on

this ridiculous idea the old woman now pinned her faith。 One of its

three numbers had stayed at the bottom of all the wheels ever since

the institution of the lottery。 Accordingly; Madame Descoings laid

heavy stakes on that particular number; as well as on all the

combinations of the three numbers。 The last mattress remaining to her

bed was the place where she stored her savings; she unsewed the

ticking; put in from time to time the bit of gold saved from her

needs; wrapped carefully in wool; and then sewed the mattress up

again。 She intended; at the last drawing; to risk all her savings on

the different combinations of her treasured trey。



This passion; so universally condemned; has never been fairly studied。

No one has understood this opium of poverty。 The lottery; all…powerful

fairy of the poor; bestowed the gift of magic hopes。 The turn of the

wheel which opens to the gambler a vista of gold and happiness; lasts

no longer than a flash of lightning; but the lottery gave five days'

existence to that magnificent flash。 What social power can to…day; for

the sum of five sous; give us five days' happiness and launch us

ideally into all the joys of civilization? Tobacco; a craving far more

immoral than play; destroys the body; attacks the mind; and stupefies

a nation; while the lottery did nothing of the kind。 This passion;

moreover; was forced to keep within limits by the long periods that

occurred between the drawings; and by the choice of wheels which each

investor individually clung to。 Madame Descoings never staked on any

but the 〃wheel of Paris。〃 Full of confidence that the trey cherished

for twenty…one years was about to triumph; she now imposed upon

herself enormous privations; that she might stake a large amount of

savings upon the last drawing of the year。 When she dreamed her

cabalistic visions (for all dreams did not correspond with the numbers

of the lottery); she went and told them to Joseph; who was the sole

being who would listen; and not only not scold her; but give her the

kindly words with which an artist knows how to soothe the follies of

the mind。 All great talents respect and understand a real passion;

they explain it to themselves by finding the roots of it in their own

hearts or minds。 Joseph's ideas was; that his brother loved tobacco

and liquors; Maman Descoings loved her trey; his mother loved God;

Desroches the younger loved lawsuits; Desroches the elder loved

angling;in short; all the world; he said; loved something。 He

himself loved the 〃beau ideal〃 in all things; he loved the poetry of

Lord Byron; the painting of Gericault; the music of Rossini; the

novels of Walter Scott。 〃Every one to his taste; maman;〃 he would say;

〃but your trey does hang fire terribly。〃



〃It will turn up; and you will be rich; and my little Bixiou as well。〃



〃Give it all to your grandson;〃 cried Joseph; 〃at any rate; do what

you like best with it。〃



〃Hey! when it turns up I shall have enough for everybody。 In the first

place; you shall have a fine atelier; you sha'n't deprive yourself of

going to the opera so as to pay for your models and your colors。 Do

you know; my dear boy; you make me play a pretty shabby part in that

picture of yours?〃



By way of economy; Joseph had made the Descoings pose for his

magnificent painting of a young courtesan taken by an old woman to a

Doge of Venice。 This picture; one of the masterpieces of modern

painting; was mistaken by Gros himself for a Titian; and it paved the

way for the recognition which the younger artists gave to Joseph's

talent in the Salon of 1823。



〃Those who know you know very well what you are;〃 he answered gayly。

〃Why need you trouble yourself about those who don't know you?〃



For the last ten years Madame Descoings had taken on the ripe tints of

a russet apple at Easter。 Wrinkles had formed in her superabundant

flesh; now grown pallid and flabby。 Her eyes; full of life; were

bright with thoughts that were still young and vivacious; and might be

considered grasping; for there is always something of that spirit in a

gambler。 Her fat face bore traces of dissimulation and of the mental

reservations hidden in the depths of her heart。 Her vice necessitated

secrecy。 There were also indications of gluttony in the motion of her

lips。 And thus; although she was; as we have seen; an excellent and

upright woman; the eye might be misled by her appearance。 She was an

admirable model for the old woman Joseph wished to paint。 Coralie; a

young actress of exquisite beauty who died in the flower of her youth;

the mistress of Lucien de Rubempre; one of Joseph's friends; had given

him the idea of the picture。 This noble painting has been called a

plagiarism of other pictures; while in fact it was a splendid

arrangement of three portraits。 Michel Chrestien; one of his

companions at the Cenacle; lent his republican head for the senator;

to which Joseph added a few mature tints; just as he exaggerated the

expression of Madame Descoings's features。 This fine picture; which

was destined to make a great noise and bring the artist much hatred;

jealousy; and admiration; was just sketched out; but; compelled as he

was to work for a living; he laid it aside to make copies of the old

masters for the dealers; thus he penetrat

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 1 2

你可能喜欢的