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

masters for the dealers; thus he penetrated the secrets of their

processes; and his brush is therefore one of the best trained of the

modern school。 The shrewd sense of an artist led him to conceal the

profits he was beginning to lay by from his mother and Madame

Descoings; aware that each had her road to ruin;the one in Philippe;

the other in the lottery。 This astuteness is seldom wanting among

painters; busy for days together in the solitude of their studios;

engaged in work which; up to a certain point; leaves the mind free;

they are in some respects like women;their thoughts turn about the

little events of life; and they contrive to get at their hidden

meaning。



Joseph had bought one of those magnificent chests or coffers of a past

age; then ignored by fashion; with which he decorated a corner of his

studio; where the light danced upon the bas…reliefs and gave full

lustre to a masterpiece of the sixteenth century artisans。 He saw the

necessity for a hiding…place; and in this coffer he had begun to

accumulate a little store of money。 With an artist's carelessness; he

was in the habit of putting the sum he allowed for his monthly

expenses in a skull; which stood on one of the compartments of the

coffer。 Since his brother had returned to live at home; he found a

constant discrepancy between the amount he spent and the sum in this

receptacle。 The hundred francs a month disappeared with incredible

celerity。 Finding nothing one day; when he had only spent forty or

fifty francs; he remarked for the first time: 〃My money must have got

wings。〃 The next month he paid more attention to his accounts; but add

as he might; like Robert Macaire; sixteen and five are twenty…three;

he could make nothing of them。 When; for the third time; he found a

still more important discrepancy; he communicated the painful fact to

Madame Descoings; who loved him; he knew; with that maternal; tender;

confiding; credulous; enthusiastic love that he had never had from his

own mother; good as she was;a love as necessary to the early life of

an artist as the care of the hen is to her unfledged chickens。 To her

alone could he confide his horrible suspicions。 He was as sure of his

friends as he was of himself; and the Descoings; he knew; would take

nothing to put in her lottery。 At the idea which then suggested itself

the poor woman wrung her hands。 Philippe alone could have committed

this domestic theft。



〃Why didn't he ask me; if he wanted it?〃 cried Joseph; taking a dab of

color on his palette and stirring it into the other colors without

seeing what he did。 〃Is it likely I should refuse him?〃



〃It is robbing a child!〃 cried the Descoings; her face expressing the

deepest disgust。



〃No;〃 replied Joseph; 〃he is my brother; my purse is his: but he ought

to have asked me。〃



〃Put in a special sum; in silver; this morning; and don't take

anything out;〃 said Madame Descoings。 〃I shall know who goes into the

studio; and if he is the only one; you will be certain it is he。〃



The next day Joseph had proof of his brother's forced loans upon him。

Philippe came to the studio when his brother was out and took the

little sum he wanted。 The artist trembled for his savings。



〃I'll catch him at it; the scamp!〃 he said; laughing; to Madame

Descoings。



〃And you'll do right: we ought to break him of it。 I; too; I have

missed little sums out of my purse。 Poor boy! he wants tobacco; he's

accustomed to it。〃



〃Poor boy! poor boy!〃 cried the artist。 〃I'm rather of Fulgence and

Bixiou's opinion: Philippe is a dead…weight on us。 He runs his head

into riots and has to be shipped to America; and that costs the mother

twelve thousand francs; he can't find anything to do in the forests of

the New World; and so he comes back again; and that costs twelve

thousand more。 Under pretence of having carried two words of Napoleon

to a general; he thinks himself a great soldier and makes faces at the

Bourbons; meantime; what does he do? amuse himself; travel about; see

foreign countries! As for me; I'm not duped by his misfortunes; he

doesn't look like a man who fails to get the best of things! Somebody

finds him a good place; and there he is; leading the life of a

Sardanapalus with a ballet…girl; and guzzling the funds of his

journal; that costs the mother another twelve thousand francs! I don't

care two straws for myself; but Philippe will bring that poor woman to

beggary。 He thinks I'm of no account because I was never in the

dragoons of the Guard; but perhaps I shall be the one to support that

poor dear mother in her old age; while he; if he goes on as he does;

will end I don't know how。 Bixiou often says to me; 'He is a downright

rogue; that brother of yours。' Your grandson is right。 Philippe will

be up to some mischief that will compromise the honor of the family;

and then we shall have to scrape up another ten or twelve thousand

francs! He gambles every night; when he comes home; drunk as a

templar; he drops on the staircase the pricked cards on which he marks

the turns of the red and black。 Old Desroches is trying to get him

back into the army; and; on my word on honor; I believe he would hate

to serve again。 Would you ever have believed that a boy with such

heavenly blue eyes and the look of Bayard could turn out such a

scoundrel?〃







CHAPTER V



In spite of the coolness and discretion with which Philippe played his

trifling game every night; it happened every now and then that he was

what gamblers call 〃cleaned out。〃 Driven by the irresistible necessity

of having his evening stake of ten francs; he plundered the household;

and laid hands on his brother's money and on all that Madame Descoings

or Agathe left about。 Already the poor mother had had a dreadful

vision in her first sleep: Philippe entered the room and took from the

pockets of her gown all the money he could find。 Agathe pretended to

sleep; but she passed the rest of the night in tears。 She saw the

truth only too clearly。 〃One wrong act is not a vice;〃 Madame

Descoings had declared; but after so many repetitions; vice was

unmistakable。 Agathe could doubt no longer; her best…beloved son had

neither delicacy nor honor。



On the morrow of that frightful vision; before Philippe left the house

after breakfast; she drew him into her chamber and begged him; in a

tone of entreaty; to ask her for what money he needed。 After that; the

applications were so numerous that in two weeks Agathe was drained of

all her savings。 She was literally without a penny; and began to think

of finding work。 The means of earning money had been discussed in the

evenings between herself and Madame Descoings; and she had already

taken patterns of worsted work to fill in; from a shop called the

〃Pere de Famille;〃an employment which pays about twenty sous a day。

Notwithstanding Agathe's silence on the subject; Madame Descoings had

guessed the motive of this desire to earn money by women's…work。 The

change in her appearance was eloquent: her fresh face had withered;

the skin clung to the temples and the cheek…bones; and the forehead

showed deep lines; her eyes lost their clearness; an inward fire was

evidently consuming her; she wept the greater part of the night。 A

chief cause of these outward ravages was the necessity of hiding her

anguish; her sufferings; her apprehensions。 She never went to sleep

until Philippe came in; she listened for his step; she had learned the

inflections of his voice; the variations of his walk; the very

language of his cane as it touched the pavement。 Nothing escaped her。

She knew the degree of drunkenness he had reached; she trembled as she

heard him stumble on the stairs; one night she picked up some pieces

of gold at the spot where he had fallen。 When he had drunk and won;

his voice was gruff and his cane dragged; but when he had lost; his

step had something sharp; short and angry about it; he hummed in a

clear voice; and carried his cane in the air as if presenting arms。 At


breakfast; if he had won; his behavior was gay and even affectionate;

he joked roughly; but still he joked; with Madame Descoings; with

Joseph; and with his mother; gloomy; on the contrary; when he had

lost; his brusque; rough speech; his hard glance; and his depression;

frightened them。 A life of debauch and the abuse of liquors debased;

day by day; a countenance that was once so handsome。 The veins of the

face were swollen with blood; the features became coarse; the eyes

lost their lashes and grew hard and dry。 No longer careful of his

person; Philippe exhaled the miasmas of a tavern and the smell of

muddy boots; which; to an observer; stamped him with debauchery。



〃You ought;〃 said Madame Descoings to Philippe during the last days of

December; 〃you ought to get yourself new…clothed from head to foot。〃



〃And who is to pay for it?〃 he answered sharply。 〃My

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