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a daughter of eve-第2节

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girls themselves would have preferred a less virtuous and more amiable

mother。 This education bore its natural fruits。 Religion; imposed as a

yoke and presented under its sternest aspect; wearied with formal

practice these innocent young hearts; treated as sinful。 It repressed

their feelings; and was never precious to them; although it struck its

roots deep down into their natures。 Under such training the two Maries

would either have become mere imbeciles; or they must necessarily have

longed for independence。 Thus it came to pass that they looked to

marriage as soon as they saw anything of life and were able to compare

a few ideas。 Of their own tender graces and their personal value they

were absolutely ignorant。 They were ignorant; too; of their own

innocence; how; then; could they know life? Without weapons to meet

misfortune; without experience to appreciate happiness; they found no

comfort in the maternal jail; all their joys were in each other。 Their

tender confidences at night in whispers; or a few short sentences

exchanged if their mother left them for a moment; contained more ideas

than the words themselves expressed。 Often a glance; concealed from

other eyes; by which they conveyed to each other their emotions; was

like a poem of bitter melancholy。 The sight of a cloudless sky; the

fragrance of flowers; a turn in the garden; arm in arm;these were

their joys。 The finishing of a piece of embroidery was to them a

source of enjoyment。



Their mother's social circle; far from opening resources to their

hearts or stimulating their minds; only darkened their ideas and

depressed them; it was made up of rigid old women; withered and

graceless; whose conversation turned on the differences which

distinguished various preachers and confessors; on their own petty

indispositions; on religious events insignificant even to the

〃Quotidienne〃 or 〃l'Ami de la Religion。〃 As for the men who appeared

in the Comtesse de Granville's salon; they extinguished any possible

torch of love; so cold and sadly resigned were their faces。 They were

all of an age when mankind is sulky and fretful; and natural

sensibilities are chiefly exercised at table and on the things

relating to personal comfort。 Religious egotism had long dried up

those hearts devoted to narrow duties and entrenched behind pious

practices。 Silent games of cards occupied the whole evening; and the

two young girls under the ban of that Sanhedrim enforced by maternal

severity; came to hate the dispiriting personages about them with

their hollow eyes and scowling faces。



On the gloom of this life one sole figure of a man; that of a music…

master; stood vigorously forth。 The confessors had decided that music

was a Christian art; born of the Catholic Church and developed within

her。 The two Maries were therefore permitted to study music。 A

spinster in spectacles; who taught singing and the piano in a

neighboring convent; wearied them with exercises; but when the eldest

girl was ten years old; the Comte de Granville insisted on the

importance of giving her a master。 Madame de Granville gave all the

value of conjugal obedience to this needed concession;it is part of

a devote's character to make a merit of doing her duty。



The master was a Catholic German; one of those men born old; who seem

all their lives fifty years of age; even at eighty。 And yet; his

brown; sunken; wrinkled face still kept something infantile and

artless in its dark creases。 The blue of innocence was in his eyes;

and a gay smile of springtide abode upon his lips。 His iron…gray hair;

falling naturally like that of the Christ in art; added to his

ecstatic air a certain solemnity which was absolutely deceptive as to

his real nature; for he was capable of committing any silliness with

the most exemplary gravity。 His clothes were a necessary envelope; to

which he paid not the slightest attention; for his eyes looked too

high among the clouds to concern themselves with such materialities。

This great unknown artist belonged to the kindly class of the self…

forgetting; who give their time and their soul to others; just as they

leave their gloves on every table and their umbrella at all doors。 His

hands were of the kind that are dirty as soon as washed。 In short; his

old body; badly poised on its knotted old legs; proving to what degree

a man can make it the mere accessory of his soul; belonged to those

strange creations which have been properly depicted only by a German;

by Hoffman; the poet of that which seems not to exist but yet has

life。



Such was Schmucke; formerly chapel…master to the Margrave of Anspach;

a musical genius; who was now examined by a council of devotes; and

asked if he kept the fasts。 The master was much inclined to answer;

〃Look at me!〃 but how could he venture to joke with pious dowagers and

Jansenist confessors? This apocryphal old fellow held such a place in

the lives of the two Maries; they felt such friendship for the grand

and simple…minded artist; who was happy and contented in the mere

comprehension of his art; that after their marriage; they each gave

him an annuity of three hundred francs a year;a sum which sufficed

to pay for his lodging; beer; pipes; and clothes。 Six hundred francs a

year and his lessons put him in Eden。 Schmucke had never found courage

to confide his poverty and his aspirations to any but these two

adorable young girls; whose hearts were blooming beneath the snow of

maternal rigor and the ice of devotion。 This fact explains Schmucke

and the girlhood of the two Maries。



No one knew then; or later; what abbe or pious spinster had discovered

the old German then vaguely wandering about Paris; but as soon as

mothers of families learned that the Comtesse de Granville had found a

music…master for her daughters; they all inquired for his name and

address。 Before long; Schmucke had thirty pupils in the Marais。 This

tardy success was manifested by steel buckles to his shoes; which were

lined with horse…hair soles; and by a more frequent change of linen。

His artless gaiety; long suppressed by noble and decent poverty;

reappeared。 He gave vent to witty little remarks and flowery speeches

in his German…Gallic patois; very observing and very quaint and said

with an air which disarmed ridicule。 But he was so pleased to bring a

laugh to the lips of his two pupils; whose dismal life his sympathy

had penetrated; that he would gladly have made himself wilfully

ridiculous had he failed in being so by nature。



According to one of the nobler ideas of religious education; the young

girls always accompanied their master respectfully to the door。 There

they would make him a few kind speeches; glad to do anything to give

him pleasure。 Poor things! all they could do was to show him their

womanhood。 Until their marriage; music was to them another life within

their lives; just as; they say; a Russian peasant takes his dreams for

reality and his actual life for a troubled sleep。 With the instinct of

protecting their souls against the pettiness that threatened to

overwhelm them; against the all…pervading asceticism of their home;

they flung themselves into the difficulties of the musical art; and

spent themselves upon it。 Melody; harmony; and composition; three

daughters of heaven; whose choir was led by an old Catholic faun drunk

with music; were to these poor girls the compensation of their trials;

they made them; as it were; a rampart against their daily lives。

Mozart; Beethoven; Gluck; Paesiello; Cimarosa; Haydn; and certain

secondary geniuses; developed in their souls a passionate emotion

which never passed beyond the chaste enclosure of their breasts;

though it permeated that other creation through which; in spirit; they

winged their flight。 When they had executed some great work in a

manner that their master declared was almost faultless; they embraced

each other in ecstasy and the old man called them his Saint Cecilias。



The two Maries were not taken to a ball until they were sixteen years

of age; and then only four times a year in special houses。 They were

not allowed to leave their mother's side without instructions as to

their behavior with their partners; and so severe were those

instructions that they dared say only yes or no during a dance。 The

eye of the countess never left them; and she seemed to know from the

mere movement of their lips the words they uttered。 Even the ball…

dresses of these poor little things were piously irreproachable; their

muslin gowns came up to their chins with an endless number of thick

ruches; and the sleeves came down to their wrists。 Swathing in this

way their natural charms; this costume gave them a vague resemblance

to Egyptian hermae; though from these blocks of muslin rose enchanting

little heads of tender melancholy。 They felt themselves the objects of

pity; and inwardly resented it。 What woman; however innocent; does not

desire to excite envy?



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