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mean to live the life of a country gentleman at Lanstrac。 I'll

transport my belongings to Bordeaux into my father's old mansion; and

I'll spend three months of the year in Paris in this house; which I

shall keep。〃



〃Will you marry?〃



〃I will marry。〃



〃I'm your friend; as you know; my old Paul;〃 said de Marsay; after a

moment's silence; 〃and I say to you: settle down into a worthy father

and husband and you'll be ridiculous for the rest of your days。 If you

could be happy and ridiculous; the thing might be thought of; but you

will not be happy。 You haven't a strong enough wrist to drive a

household。 I'll do you justice and say you are a perfect horseman; no

one knows as well as you how to pick up or thrown down the reins; and

make a horse prance; and sit firm to the saddle。 But; my dear fellow;

marriage is another thing。 I see you now; led along at a slapping pace

by Madame la Comtesse de Manerville; going whither you would not;

oftener at a gallop than a trot; and presently unhorsed!yes;

unhorsed into a ditch and your legs broken。 Listen to me。 You still

have some forty…odd thousand francs a year from your property in the

Gironde。 Good。 Take your horses and servants and furnish your house in

Bordeaux; you can be king of Bordeaux; you can promulgate there the

edicts that we put forth in Paris; you can be the correspondent of our

stupidities。 Very good。 Play the rake in the provinces; better still;

commit follies; follies may win you celebrity。 Butdon't marry。 Who

marries now…a…days? Only merchants; for the sake of their capital; or

to be two to drag the cart; only peasants who want to produce children

to work for them; only brokers and notaries who want a wife's 'dot' to

pay for their practice; only miserable kings who are forced to

continue their miserable dynasties。 But we are exempt from the pack;

and you want to shoulder it! And why DO you want to marry? You ought

to give your best friend your reasons。 In the first place; if you

marry an heiress as rich as yourself; eighty thousand francs a year

for two is not the same thing as forty thousand francs a year for one;

because the two are soon three or four when the children come。 You

haven't surely any love for that silly race of Manerville which would

only hamper you? Are you ignorant of what a father and mother have to

be? Marriage; my old Paul; is the silliest of all the social

immolations; our children alone profit by it; and don't know its price

until their horses are nibbling the flowers on our grave。 Do you

regret your father; that old tyrant who made your first years

wretched? How can you be sure that your children will love you? The

very care you take of their education; your precautions for their

happiness; your necessary sternness will lessen their affection。

Children love a weak or a prodigal father; whom they will despise in

after years。 You'll live betwixt fear and contempt。 No man is a good

head of a family merely because he wants to be。 Look round on all our

friends and name to me one whom you would like to have for a son。 We

have known a good many who dishonor their names。 Children; my dear

Paul; are the most difficult kind of merchandise to take care of。

Yours; you think; will be angels; well; so be it! Have you ever

sounded the gulf which lies between the lives of a bachelor and a

married man? Listen。 As a bachelor you can say to yourself: 'I shall

never exhibit more than a certain amount of the ridiculous; the public

will think of me what I choose it to think。' Married; you'll drop into

the infinitude of the ridiculous! Bachelor; you can make your own

happiness; you enjoy some to…day; you do without it to…morrow;

married; you must take it as it comes; and the day you want it you

will have to go without it。 Marry; and you'll grow a blockhead; you'll

calculate dowries; you'll talk morality; public and religious; you'll

think young men immoral and dangerous; in short; you'll become a

social academician。 It's pitiable! The old bachelor whose property the

heirs are waiting for; who fights to his last breath with his nurse

for a spoonful of drink; is blest in comparison with a married man。

I'm not speaking of all that will happen to annoy; bore; irritate;

coerce; oppose; tyrannize; narcotize; paralyze; and idiotize a man in

marriage; in that struggle of two beings always in one another's

presence; bound forever; who have coupled each other under the strange

impression that they were suited。 No; to tell you those things would

be merely a repetition of Boileau; and we know him by heart。 Still;

I'll forgive your absurd idea if you will promise me to marry 〃en

grand seigneur〃; to entail your property; to have two legitimate

children; to give your wife a house and household absolutely distinct

from yours; to meet her only in society; and never to return from a

journey without sending her a courier to announce it。 Two hundred

thousand francs a year will suffice for such a life and your

antecedents will enable you to marry some rich English woman hungry

for a title。 That's an aristocratic life which seems to me thoroughly

French; the only life in which we can retain the respect and

friendship of a woman; the only life which distinguishes a man from

the present crowd;in short; the only life for which a young man

should even think of resigning his bachelor blessings。 Thus

established; the Comte de Manerville may advise his epoch; place

himself above the world; and be nothing less than a minister or an

ambassador。 Ridicule can never touch him; he has gained the social

advantages of marriage while keeping all the privileges of a

bachelor。〃



〃But; my good friend; I am not de Marsay; I am plainly; as you

yourself do me the honor to say; Paul de Manerville; worthy father and

husband; deputy of the Centre; possibly peer of France;a destiny

extremely commonplace; but I am modest and I resign myself。〃



〃Yes; but your wife;〃 said the pitiless de Marsay; 〃will she resign

herself?〃



〃My wife; my dear fellow; will do as I wish。〃



〃Ah! my poor friend; is that where you are? Adieu; Paul。 Henceforth; I

refuse to respect you。 One word more; however; for I cannot agree

coldly to your abdication。 Look and see in what the strength of our

position lies。 A bachelor with only six thousand francs a year

remaining to him has at least his reputation for elegance and the

memory of success。 Well; even that fantastic shadow has enormous value

in it。 Life still offers many chances to the unmarried man。 Yes; he

can aim at anything。 But marriage; Paul; is the social 'Thus far shalt

thou go and no farther。' Once married you can never be anything but

what you then areunless your wife should deign to care for you。〃



〃But;〃 said Paul; 〃you are crushing me down with exceptional theories。

I am tired of living for others; of having horses merely to exhibit

them; of doing all things for the sake of what may be said of them; of

wasting my substance to keep fools from crying out: 'Dear; dear! Paul

is still driving the same carriage。 What has he done with his fortune?

Does he squander it? Does he gamble at the Bourse? No; he's a

millionaire。 Madame such a one is mad about him。 He sent to England

for a harness which is certainly the handsomest in all Paris。 The

four…horse equipages of Messieurs de Marsay and de Manerville were

much noticed at Longchamps; the harness was perfect'in short; the

thousand silly things with which a crowd of idiots lead us by the

nose。 Believe me; my dear Henri; I admire your power; but I don't envy

it。 You know how to judge of life; you think and act as a statesman;

you are able to place yourself above all ordinary laws; received

ideas; adopted conventions; and acknowledged prejudices; in short; you

can grasp the profits of a situation in which I should find nothing

but ill…luck。 Your cool; systematic; possibly true deductions are; to

the eyes of the masses; shockingly immoral。 I belong to the masses。 I

must play my game of life according to the rules of the society in

which I am forced to live。 While putting yourself above all human

things on peaks of ice; you still have feelings; but as for me; I

should freeze to death。 The life of that great majority; to which I

belong in my commonplace way; is made up of emotions of which I now

have need。 Often a man coquets with a dozen women and obtains none。

Then; whatever be his strength; his cleverness; his knowledge of the

world; he undergoes convulsions; in which he is crushed as between two

gates。 For my part; I like the peaceful chances and changes of life; I

want that wholesome existence in which we find a woman always at our

side。〃



〃A trifle indecorous; your marriage!〃 exclaimed de Marsay。



Paul was not to be put out of countenance; and continued: 〃Laugh if

you like; I shall feel myself a happy man when my valet enters my room

in the morning and says: 'Madame is awaiting monsieur for breakfast';

happier still at night

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