Works of Honore De Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac

  The Duchess

  Joseph!

  Vautrin (to Joseph)

  What happened upstairs?

  Joseph His lordship the marquis drew his sword, and being attacked from the rear, defended himself, and was twice slightly wounded. His grace the duke is with him now.

  The Duchess (to her aunt)

  Return to Albert’s room, I implore you. (To Joseph, pointing out

  Saint-Charles) I shall hold you responsible for this man’s detention.

  Vautrin (to Joseph)

  So shall I.

  Saint-Charles (to Vautrin)

  I see the situation, you have got ahead of me.

  Vautrin

  I bear no malice towards you, my dear fellow.

  Saint-Charles (to Joseph)

  Take me before the duke.

  (Exeunt.)

  SCENE THIRTEENTH.

  Vautrin and the Duchess.

  Vautrin (aside)

  He has a father, an ancestral family, a mother. What a climax! In whom

  shall I henceforth find an interest? Whom shall I be able to love?

  After ten years of paternity, the loss is irreparable.

  The Duchess (approaching Vautrin)

  What is it?

  Vautrin What is it? It is, that I can never give back to you your son, madame; it is, that I do not feel brave enough to survive his separation from me, nor his contempt for me. The loss of such as Raoul is irretrievable! My life has been bound up in his.

  The Duchess But could he feel affection for you, you a criminal whom one could at any moment give up —

  Vautrin To justice do you mean? I thought you would have been more tender. But you do not, I perceive, see the abyss in which I am dragging you, your son and the duke, and which all descend in company.

  The Duchess

  Oh! What have you made of my poor child?

  Vautrin

  A man of honor.

  The Duchess

  And he loves you?

  Vautrin

  He loves me still.

  The Duchess But has that wretch spoken the truth in revealing what you are and whence you come?

  Vautrin

  Yes, madame.

  The Duchess

  And have you taken care of my son?

  Vautrin Your son, our son — yes — have you not perceived that he is as pure as an angel?

  The Duchess Ah, may you receive a blessing for what you have done! May the world pardon you! Oh God! (she kneels) The voice of a mother must reach Thee, forgive, forgive this man. (She looks at Vautrin.) My tears shall bathe his hands! Oh! grant that he may repent! (Turning to Vautrin) You belong to me; I will change you! But people are deceived, you are no criminal, and, whatever you are, all mothers will give you their absolution!

  Vautrin

  Come, it is time to restore her son to her.

  The Duchess Did you still harbor the horrible thought of refusing him to his mother? But I have waited for him for two and twenty years.

  Vautrin And I, have I not been for ten years his father? Raoul is my very soul! Let me endure anguish, let men heap shame upon me; if he is happy and crowned with honor, I shall see it and my life will once more be bright.

  The Duchess

  I am overwhelmed. He loves like a mother.

  Vautrin The only tie that binds me to the world, to life, is this bright link, purer than gold.

  The Duchess

  And — without stain?

  Vautrin Ah! People know themselves only in their virtues, and are austere for others alone. But in myself I see but infamy — in him the heart of honor. And yet was he found by me on the highroad from Toulon to Marseilles, the route of the convict. He was twelve years old, without bread, and in rags.

  The Duchess

  Bare-foot, it may be?

  Vautrin

  Yes. But beautiful, with curly hair —

  The Duchess

  It was thus you saw him?

  Vautrin

  Poor angel, he was crying. I took him with me.

  The Duchess

  And you brought him up?

  Vautrin

  I stole the means to do so.

  The Duchess

  I should, perhaps, myself have done the like.

  Vautrin

  I did more!

  The Duchess

  He must have suffered much.

  Vautrin Never! I concealed from him the means I took to make his life happy and easy. I would not let him even suspect them — it would have blighted him. You may ennoble him by parchments, I have made him noble in heart.

  The Duchess

  And he was my son!

  Vautrin Yes, a son full of nobility, of winning grace, of high instincts; he needed but to have the way made clear to him.

  The Duchess (wringing the hand of Vautrin) You must needs be great indeed, who have so well performed a mother’s task!

  Vautrin And better than you mothers do! Often you love your babes amiss — Ah, you will spoil him for me even now! — He was of reckless courage; he wished to be a soldier, and the Emperor would have accepted him. I showed him the world and mankind under their true light — Yet now he is about to renounce me —

  The Duchess

  My son ungrateful?

  Vautrin

  NO, ‘tis mine I speak of.

  The Duchess

  Oh! give him back to me this very instant!

  Vautrin

  I and those two men upstairs — are we not all liable to prosecution?

  And ought not the duke to give us assurance of silence and release?

  The Duchess

  Those two men then are your agents? And you came —

  Vautrin But for me, of the two, natural and lawful son, there would not, in a few hours, have survived but one child. And they might perchance both have fallen — each by the other’s hand.

  The Duchess

  Ah! you are a providence of horror!

  Vautrin

  What would you have had me do?

  SCENE FOURTEENTH.

  The same persons, the Duke, Lafouraille, Buteux, Saint-Charles, and all the domestics.

  The Duke (pointing to Vautrin) Seize him! (Pointing to Saint-Charles) And obey no one but this gentleman.

  The Duchess But you owe to him the life of your Albert! It was he who gave the alarm.

  The Duke

  He!

  Buteux (to Vautrin)

  Ah! you have betrayed us! Why did you bring us here?

  Saint-Charles (to the duke)

  Does your grace hear them?

  Lafouraille (to Buteux)

  Cannot you keep silence? Have we any right to judge him?

  Buteux

  And yet he condemns us!

  Vautrin (to the duke) I would inform your grace that these two men belong to me, and I claim possession of them.

  Saint-Charles

  Why, these are the domestics of Monsieur de Frescas!

  Vautrin (to Saint-Charles)

  Steward of the Langeacs, hold your tongue! (He points to Lafouraille)

  This is Philip Boulard. (Lafouraille bows.) Will your grace kindly

  send every one out of the room?

  The Duke

  What! Do you dare give your orders in my house?

  The Duchess

  Ah! sir, he is master here.

  The Duke

  What! This wretch?

  Vautrin If his grace the duke wishes to have an audience present we will proceed to talk of the son of Dona Mendes.

  The Duke

  Silence!

  Vautrin

  Whom you are passing off as the son of —

  The Duke

  Once more I say, silence!

  Vautrin Your grace perceives, evidently, that there are too many people within hearing.

  The Duke

  All of you begone!

  Vautrin (to the duke) Set a watch on every outlet from your house, and let no one leave it, excepting these two men. (To Sai
nt-Charles) Do you remain here. (He draws a dagger and cuts the cords by which Lafouraille and Buteux are bound.) Take yourselves off by the postern; here is the key, and go to the house of mother Giroflee. (To Lafouraille) You must send Raoul to me.

  Lafouraille (as he leaves the room)

  Oh! our veritable emperor.

  Vautrin

  You shall receive money and passports.

  Buteux (as he goes out)

  After all, I shall have something for Adele!

  The Duke

  But how did you learn all these facts?

  Vautrin (handing some documents to the duke)

  These are what I took from your study.

  The Duke These comprise my correspondence, and the letters of the duchess to the Viscount de Langeac.

  Vautrin

  Who was shot at Mortagne, October, 1792, through the kind efforts of

  Charles Blondet, otherwise known as the Chevalier de Saint-Charles.

  Saint-Charles

  But your grace very well knows —

  Vautrin It was he himself who gave me these papers, among which you will notice the death certificate of the viscount, which proves that he and her grace the duchess never met after the Tenth of August, for he had then left the Abbaye for the Vendee, accompanied by Boulard, who seized the moment to betray and murder him.

  The Duke

  And so Fernand —

  Vautrin

  The child sent to Sardinia is undoubtedly your son.

  The Duke

  And her grace the duchess —

  Vautrin

  Is innocent.

  The Duke

  My God! (He sinks back into an armchair.) What have I done?

  The Duchess

  What a horrible proof — his death! And the assassin stands before us.

  Vautrin Monsieur le Duc de Montsorel, I have been a father to Fernand, and I have just saved your two sons, each from the sword of the other; you alone are the author of all this complication.

  The Duchess Stop! I know him better than you do, and he suffers at this moment all that I have suffered during twenty years. In the name of mercy, where is my son?

  The Duke

  What, Raoul de Frescas?

  Vautrin Fernand de Montsorel is on his way here. (To Saint-Charles) And what do you say about all this?

  Saint-Charles

  You are a hero; let me be your servant.

  Vautrin

  You are ambitious. Would you follow me?

  Saint-Charles

  Anywhere.

  Vautrin

  I can well believe it.

  Saint-Charles Ah! what a master mind you obtain in me, and what a loss to the government!

  Vautrin

  Go; and wait for me at the bureau of passports.

  (Exit Saint-Charles.)

  SCENE FIFTEENTH.

  The same persons, the Duchesse de Christoval, Inez and Mademoiselle de Vaudrey.

  Mademoiselle de Vaudrey

  Here they are!

  The Duchesse de Christoval My daughter, madame, has received a letter from Monsieur Raoul, in which this noble young man declares that he would rather give up Inez, than deceive us; he has related his whole life’s history. He is to fight a duel with your son to-morrow, and as Inez is the involuntary cause of this duel we are come to prevent it; for it is now entirely without ground or reason.

  The Duchesse de Montsorel

  There will be no duel, madame.

  Inez

  He will live then!

  The Duchesse de Montsorel

  And you shall marry the Marquis de Montsorel, my child.

  SCENE SIXTEENTH.

  The same persons, Raoul and Lafouraille. (The last named does not tarry.)

  Raoul (to Vautrin)

  What! Would you imprison me to prevent my fighting a duel?

  The Duke

  With your brother?

  Raoul

  My brother?

  The Duke

  Yes.

  The Duchesse de Montsorel

  You are, then, really my child! (She embrace Raoul.) Ladies, this is

  Fernand de Montsorel, my son, the —

  The Duke (taking Raoul by the hand, and interrupting his wife) The eldest son, who was carried off from us in childhood. Albert is now no more than Comte de Montsorel.

  Raoul

  For three days I have been in a dream! You, my mother! You, sir —

  The Duke

  Your father — yes!

  Raoul

  Among the very people who asked me to name my family —

  Vautrin

  Your family has been found.

  Raoul

  And — are you still to have a place in my life?

  Vautrin (to the Duchesse de Montsorel) What shall I say to you? (to Raoul) Remember, my lord marquis, that I have, in advance, absolved you from all charge of ingratitude. (To the duchess) The child will forget me; will the mother also?

  The Duchesse de Montsorel

  Never.

  The Duke

  But what are the misfortunes that plunged you into so dark an abyss?

  Vautrin

  Can any one explain misfortune?

  The Duchesse de Montsorel

  Dear husband, is it not in your power to obtain his pardon?

  The Duke

  The sentences under which he has served are irreversible.

  Vautrin That word reconciles me to you, it is a statesman’s word. Your grace should explain that transportation is the last expedient to which you can resort in overcoming us.

  Raoul

  Monsieur —

  Vautrin

  You are wrong; I am not even monsieur at present.

  Inez I think I understand that you are an outlaw, that my friend owes you a vast debt, and cannot discharge it. Beyond the sea, I have extensive lands, which require a man’s energy for their right administration; you shall go and exercise there your talents, and become —

  Vautrin Rich, under a new name? Child, can you not realize that in this world there are pitiless necessities? Yes, I could acquire a fortune, but who will give me the opportunity? (To the duke) The king could at your grace’s intercession grant me a pardon, but who then would take my hand in his?

  Raoul

  I would!

  Vautrin Ah! It was this I waited for before taking leave. You now have a mother. Farewell!

  SCENE SEVENTEENTH.

  The same persons, a police officer, guards and servants.

  (The window casements are flung open; and an officer enters; at the back of the stage are gendarmes.)

  The officer (to the duke) In the name of the king, of the law, I arrest Jacques Collin, convicted of having broken —

  (All persons present fling themselves between the armed force and

  Jacques, in order to give him opportunity for escaping.)

  The Duke

  Gentlemen, I take upon myself —

  Vautrin In your grace’s house the justice of the king must have free course. The matter lies between these gentlemen and me. (To the officer) I will follow you. (To the duchess) It was Joseph who brought the police; he is one of us; discharge him.

  Raoul

  Are we separated forever?

  Vautrin You will marry very shortly. Within a year, on a day of christening, scan carefully the faces of the poor at the church door; one will be there who wishes to be certain of your happiness. Till then, adieu. (To the officer) It is time for us to be moving.

  Final Curtain.

  THE RESOURCES OF QUINOLA

  Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley

  First Presented at the Theatre de l’Odeon, Paris March 19, 1842.

  CONTENTS

  PERSONS OF THE PROLOGUE

  PROLOGUE

  ACT I

  ACT II

  ACT III

  ACT IV

  ACT V

  AUTHOR’S PREFACE

  Had the author of the following play written it mere
ly for the purpose of winning for it the universal praise which the journals have lavished upon his romances, and which perhaps transcended their merits, The Resources of Quinola would still have been an excellent literary speculation; but, when he sees himself the object of so much praise and so much condemnation, he has come to the conclusion that it is much more difficult to make successfully a first venture on the stage than in the field of mere literature, and he has armed himself, accordingly, with courage, both for the present and for the future.

  The day will come when the piece will be employed by critics as a battering ram to demolish some piece at its first representation, just as they have employed all his novels and even his play entitled Vautrin, to demolish The Resources of Quinola.

  However tranquil may be his mood of resignation, the author cannot refrain from making here two suggestive observations.

  Not one among fifty feuilleton writers has failed to treat as a fable, invented by the author, the historic fact upon which is founded the present play.

  Long before M. Arago mentioned this incident in his history of steam, published in the Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes, the author, to whom the incident was known, had guessed in imagination the great drama that must have led up to that final act of despair, the catastrophe which necessarily ended the career of the unknown inventor, who, in the middle of the sixteenth century, built a ship that moved by steam in the harbor of Barcelona, and then scuttled it with his own hands in the presence of two hundred thousand spectators.

  This observation is sufficient answer to the derision which has been flung upon what was supposed to be the author’s hypothesis as to the invention of steam locomotion before the time of the Marquis of Worcester, Salomon de Caus and Papin.

  The second observation relates to the strange manner in which almost all the critics have mistaken the character of Lavradi, one of the personages in this comedy, which they have stigmatized as a hideous creation. Any one who reads the piece, of which no critic has given an exact analysis, will see that Lavradi, sentenced to be transported for ten years to the presides, comes to ask pardon of the king. Every one knows how freely the severest penalties were in the sixteenth century measured out for the lightest offences, and how warmly valets in a predicament such as Quinola’s, were welcomed by the spectators in the antique theatres.

  Many volumes might be filled with the laments of feuilletonists, who for nearly twenty years have called for comedies in the Italian, Spanish or English style. An attempt has been made to produce one, and the critics would rather eat their own words than miss the opportunity of choking off the man who has been bold enough to venture upon a pathway of such fertile promise, whose very antiquity lends to it in these days the charm of novelty.