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A Distinguished Provincial at Paris By: Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) |
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(Lost Illusions, Part II)
By Honore De Balzac
Translated By Ellen Marriage PREPARER'S NOTE A Distinguished Provincial at Paris is part two of a trilogy. Part one,
Two Poets, begins the story of Lucien, his sister Eve, and his friend
David in the provincial town of Angouleme. Part two is centered on
Lucien's Parisian life. Part three, Eve and David, reverts to the
setting of Angouleme. In many references parts one and three are
combined under the title Lost Illusions and A Distinguished Provincial
at Paris is given its individual title. Following this trilogy Lucien's
story is continued in another book, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. A DISTINGUISHED PROVINCIAL AT PARIS
PART I Mme. de Bargeton and Lucien de Rubempre had left Angouleme behind, and
were traveling together upon the road to Paris. Not one of the party who
made that journey alluded to it afterwards; but it may be believed
that an infatuated youth who had looked forward to the delights of
an elopement, must have found the continual presence of Gentil, the
man servant, and Albertine, the maid, not a little irksome on the way.
Lucien, traveling post for the first time in his life, was horrified to
see pretty nearly the whole sum on which he meant to live in Paris for
a twelvemonth dropped along the road. Like other men who combine great
intellectual powers with the charming simplicity of childhood, he openly
expressed his surprise at the new and wonderful things which he saw, and
thereby made a mistake. A man should study a woman very carefully before
he allows her to see his thoughts and emotions as they arise in him.
A woman, whose nature is large as her heart is tender, can smile upon
childishness, and make allowances; but let her have ever so small
a spice of vanity herself, and she cannot forgive childishness, or
littleness, or vanity in her lover. Many a woman is so extravagant a
worshiper that she must always see the god in her idol; but there are
yet others who love a man for his sake and not for their own, and adore
his failings with his greater qualities. Lucien had not guessed as yet that Mme. de Bargeton's love was grafted
on pride. He made another mistake when he failed to discern the meaning
of certain smiles which flitted over Louise's lips from time to
time; and instead of keeping himself to himself, he indulged in the
playfulness of the young rat emerging from his hole for the first time. The travelers were set down before daybreak at the sign of the
Gaillard Bois in the Rue de l'Echelle, both so tired out with the
journey that Louise went straight to bed and slept, first bidding Lucien
to engage the room immediately overhead. Lucien slept on till four
o'clock in the afternoon, when he was awakened by Mme. de Bargeton's
servant, and learning the hour, made a hasty toilet and hurried
downstairs. Louise was sitting in the shabby inn sitting room. Hotel accommodation
is a blot on the civilization of Paris; for with all its pretensions to
elegance, the city as yet does not boast a single inn where a well to do
traveler can find the surroundings to which he is accustomed at home.
To Lucien's just awakened, sleep dimmed eyes, Louise was hardly
recognizable in this cheerless, sunless room, with the shabby
window curtains, the comfortless polished floor, the hideous furniture
bought second hand, or much the worse for wear. Some people no longer look the same when detached from the background
of faces, objects, and surroundings which serve as a setting, without
which, indeed, they seem to lose something of their intrinsic worth.
Personality demands its appropriate atmosphere to bring out its values,
just as the figures in Flemish interiors need the arrangement of light
and shade in which they are placed by the painter's genius if they
are to live for us. This is especially true of provincials. Mme. de
Bargeton, moreover, looked more thoughtful and dignified than was
necessary now, when no barriers stood between her and happiness... Continue reading book >>
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