Works of Honore De Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac

  Faustine Fontanares, if I love you distractedly, it is perhaps because of that delightful simplicity, which is the badge of genius —

  Fontanares (aside)

  Her smile freezes me to the heart.

  Faustine

  That gold you speak of — is it already in your possession?

  Fontanares

  It is here.

  Faustine And would I have let them give that to you, if I thought you would ever receive it? To-morrow you will find all your creditors standing between you and the possession of that sum, which you owe to them. What can you accomplish without gold? Your struggle will begin over again! But your work, O great, but simple man, has not been dispersed in fragments; it is all mine; my instrument, Mathieu Magis, has acquired possession of it. I hold it at my feet, in my palace. I am the only one who would not rob you either of your glory, or of your fortune, for what would this be, but to rob myself?

  Fontanares

  It is you, then, cursed Venetian woman!

  Faustine Yes — since the moment you insulted me, upon this spot, I have directed everything; it is at my bidding that Magis, and Sarpi, and your creditors, and the landlord of the Golden Sun, and the workmen have acted! But ah! How great a love underlay this simulated hatred. Tell me, have you never been roused from your slumber by a falling teardrop, the pearl of my repentance, while I was gazing at you with admiration — you — the martyr that I worshiped?

  Fontanares

  No! you are not a woman —

  Faustine

  Ah! There is more than woman, in a woman who loves as I do.

  Fontanares

  And, as you are not a woman, I could kill you.

  Faustine What of that, provided it were your hand that did it? (Aside) He hates me!

  Fontanares

  I am seeking for —

  Faustine

  Is it anything I can find for you?

  Fontanares

  — A punishment great enough for your crime.

  Faustine Can there be any punishment which a woman who loves can feel? Come, try me.

  Fontanares You love me, Faustine. Am I all of life to you? Do you really make my grief your own?

  Faustine

  One pang of yours becomes a thousand pangs to me!

  Fontanares If then I die, you will die also. ‘Tis plain, therefore, although your life is not worthy to be set against the love that I have lost, my course is taken.

  Faustine

  Ah!

  Fontanares With crossed arms I will await the day of my arrest. At the same stroke the soul of Marie and my soul shall rise to heaven.

  Faustine (flinging herself at the feet of Fontanares) O Alfonso! Here, at your feet, I will remain till you have promised me —

  Fontanares

  Leave me, shameless courtesan! (He spurns her.)

  Faustine You have spoken this openly and in public; but remember, men oftentimes insult that which they are destined eventually to adore.

  SCENE SEVENTEENTH

  The same persons and Don Fregose.

  Don Fregose Silence! Wretched journeyman! I refrain from transfixing your heart with my sword, only because I intend you to pay more dearly for this insult.

  Faustine Don Fregose! I love this man; whether he makes of me his slave or his wife, my love shall be the aegis of his life.

  Fontanares Am I to be the victim of fresh persecutions, my lord? I am overwhelmed with joy. Deal me a thousand blows; they will be multiplied a thousand fold, she says, in her heart. I am ready!

  SCENE EIGHTEENTH

  The same persons and Quinola.

  Quinola

  Sir!

  Fontanares

  And you also have betrayed me; you!

  Quinola Off goes Monipodio, wafted towards Africa with recommendations on his hands and feet.

  Fontanares

  What of that?

  Quinola Under the pretext of robbing you, I have concealed in a cellar a second machine, for I took care that two should be made, while we only paid for one.

  Fontanares Thus it is that a true friend renders despair impossible. (He embraces Quinola.) (To Fregose) My lord, write to the king and build, overlooking the harbor, an amphitheatre for two hundred thousand spectators; in ten days I will fulfill my promise, and Spain shall behold a ship propelled by steam in the face of wind and waves. I will wait until there is a storm that I may show how I can prevail against it.

  Faustine (to Quinola)

  You have manufactured a machine —

  Quinola

  No, I have manufactured two, as a provision against ill-luck.

  Faustine

  What devils have you called in to assist you?

  Quinola

  The three children of Job: Silence, Patience and Perseverance.

  (Exeunt Fontanares and Quinola.)

  SCENE NINETEENTH

  Faustine and Don Fregose.

  Don Fregose (aside)

  She is hateful, and yet I do not cease to love her.

  Faustine

  I must have my revenge. Will you assist me?

  Don Fregose

  Yes, and we will yet succeed in bringing him to ruin.

  Faustine

  Ah! you love me in spite of all, don’t you?

  Curtain to the Fourth Act.

  ACT V

  SCENE FIRST

  (The setting is the terrace of the town-hall of Barcelona, on each side of which are pavilions. The terrace looks on the sea and ends in a balcony in the centre of the stage; the open sea and the masts of vessels form the scenery. At the right of the spectator appear a large arm-chair and seats set before a table. The murmur of an immense crowd is heard. Leaning over the balcony Faustine gazes at the steamship. Lothundiaz stands on the left, in a condition of utter stupefaction; Don Fregose is seated on the right with his secretary, who is drawing up a formal account of the experiment. The Grand Inquisitor is stationed in the middle of the stage.)

  Lothundiaz, the Grand Inquisitor and Don Fregose.

  Don Fregose I am undone, ruined, disgraced! Even if I were to fall at the feet of the king, I should gain no pity from him.

  Lothundiaz At what price have I purchased my patent of nobility! My son has been killed in an ambuscade in Flanders, and my daughter is dying; her husband, the governor of Roussillon, refused her permission to be present at the triumph of this devil of a Fontanares. How well she spoke when she said that I should repent of my willful blindness!

  The Grand Inquisitor (to Don Fregose) The Holy Office has reminded the king of your past services; you will be sent as viceroy to Peru, where you will be able to repair your fortunes; but first finish your work here; let us crush this discoverer and check the progress of his dangerous innovation.

  Don Fregose But how can we do so? The orders of the king must be obeyed, at least ostensibly.

  The Grand Inquisitor

  We have taken such measures that obedience may be rendered both to the

  Holy Office and to the king. You have only to do as you are bidden.

  (To Lothundiaz) Count Lothundiaz, as the first municipal officer of

  Barcelona, you must offer to Don Ramon, in the name of the city, a

  crown of gold in honor of his discovery, whose result will secure to

  Spain the domination of the sea.

  Lothundiaz (in astonishment)

  To Don Ramon!

  The Grand Inquisitor and Don Fregose

  To Don Ramon.

  Don Fregose

  You must address a eulogy to him.

  Lothundiaz

  But —

  The Grand Inquisitor

  It is the wish of the Holy Office that you do so.

  Lothundiaz (kneeling)

  Pardon!

  Don Fregose

  What is that the people are calling out?

  (A cry is heard, “Long live Don Ramon!”)

  Lothundiaz Long live Don Ramon! Yes, indeed, and so much the better, for I shall be avenged for t
he wrong which I have done to myself.

  SCENE SECOND

  The same persons, Don Ramon, Mathieu Magis, the landlord of the Golden

  Sun, Coppolus, Carpano, Esteban, Girone, and all the people.

  (All form a semicircle, in the centre of which is Don Ramon.)

  The Grand Inquisitor In the name of the king of Spain, Castile and the Indies, I must express to you, Don Ramon, the congratulations of all upon the success of your mighty genius. (He leads him to the arm-chair.)

  Don Ramon After all, he is but the hand, I am the head. The original idea is superior to the work of realizing it. (To the crowd) In such a moment as this, modesty would be an insult to the honors which I have attained through midnight vigils, and a man should openly show himself proud of his achievement.

  Lothundiaz In the name of the city of Barcelona, Don Ramon, I have the honor to offer you this crown, due to your perseverance, as the author of an invention which will give you immortality.

  SCENE THIRD

  The same persons and Fontanares (his garments soiled with the work of his experiment).

  Don Ramon I accept these honors, on condition that they be shared by the courageous artisan who has so well assisted me in my enterprise.

  Faustine

  What modesty!

  Fontanares

  Is this meant for a joke?

  All

  Long live Don Ramon!

  Coppolus In the name of the merchants of Catalonia, Don Ramon, we have come to beg your acceptance of this silver crown, a token of their gratitude for a discovery which is likely to prove a new source of prosperity to them.

  All

  Long live Don Ramon!

  Don Ramon It is with the keenest pleasure that I see that commerce recognizes the future developments of steam navigation.

  Fontanares Let my laborers come forth! You, the children of the people, whose hands have completed my work, bear witness for me! It was from me only that you received the models. Say now, whether it was Don Ramon or I who originated the new power which the sea has felt to-day?

  Esteban

  By my faith, you would have been in a pretty fix without Don Ramon!

  Mathieu Magis It was two years ago, in the course of a conversation with Don Ramon, that he begged me to furnish funds for this experiment.

  Fontanares (to Fregose) My lord, what strange delusion has fallen upon the people and burgesses of Barcelona? I arrive here in the midst of the acclamations with which Don Ramon is being greeted. Yes, I arrive bearing the traces of the vigils and sweat of this great enterprise, and I find you contentedly sanctioning the most shameful act of robbery that can be perpetrated in the face of heaven and earth. (Murmurs from the crowd.) Alone and unprotected I have risked my life on this enterprise. I was the first who pledged its accomplishment to the king, and unaided I have kept my pledge, and yet here in my place I find Don Ramon — an ignoramus.

  (More crowd murmurs.)

  Don Fregose An old soldier knows very little about scientific matters and must accept plain facts. All Catalonia conceded to Don Ramon the priority in this invention, and everybody here declares that without him you would have accomplished nothing. It is my duty to inform his majesty, the king, of these circumstances.

  Fontanares

  The priority! Where are the proofs of this?

  The Grand Inquisitor They are as follows: In his treatise on the casting of cannons Don Ramon speaks of a certain invention called Thunder, made by Leonardo da Vinci, your master, and says that it might be applied to the navigation of a ship.

  Don Ramon

  Ah! young man, acknowledge that you had read my treatises!

  Fontanares (aside)

  I would sacrifice all my glory for one hour of vengeance!

  SCENE FOURTH

  The same persons and Quinola.

  Quinola (aside to Fontanares)

  Senor, the fruit was too fair, and a worm has been found in it!

  Fontanares

  What do you mean?

  Quinola Hell has belched back upon us, I know not how — Monipodio, all on fire for revenge; he is on board the ship with a band of devils, and swears to scuttle it, unless you guarantee him ten thousand sequins.

  Fontanares (kneels) Thanks, thanks for that. O ocean, whom I once longed to subdue, thou art the sole protector that is left to me; thou shalt keep my secret to eternity! (To Quinola) See that Monipodio steers for the open sea and there scuttles the ship.

  Quinola What is this? Do I understand you aright? Which of us two has lost his head?

  Fontanares

  Do as I bid you.

  Quinola

  But, my dear master —

  Fontanares

  My life and yours are equally at stake.

  Quinola

  Obey, without understanding why? For the first time I’ll risk it.

  (Exit.)

  SCENE FIFTH

  The same persons, with the exception of Quinola.

  Fontanares (to Don Fregose) My lord! Putting aside the question of priority, which can easily be decided, may I be permitted to withdraw my name from this debate, begging of you to accept the statement which is here drawn up and contains the justification before the king our master?

  Don Ramon

  You acknowledge then my claim?

  Fontanares I will acknowledge anything you like, even to the point that O plus O is a binomial!

  Don Fregose (after consulting with the Grand Inquisitor) Your demand is perfectly legitimate; we will forward a copy of your statement, preserving here the original.

  Fontanares I have, then, escaped with my life. Let me ask all of you here present, if you look upon Don Ramon as the real inventor of the vessel which has been propelled by steam before the eyes of two hundred thousand Spaniards?

  All

  We do.

  (Quinola makes his appearance.)

  Fontanares Very good. Don Ramon has accomplished this prodigy. Don Ramon can begin his work again. (A loud explosion is heard.) The prodigy is no longer in existence. The employment of such a force is not without danger, and the danger which Don Ramon had not foreseen, has manifested itself, at the very moment while Don Ramon was receiving your congratulations! (Cries in the distance; everybody rushes to the balcony and gazes seaward.) I am avenged!

  Don Fregose

  What will the king say?

  The Grand Inquisitor France is all ablaze, the low countries in revolt, Calvin is stirring up all Europe; the king has too much business on his hands to worry himself about the loss of a ship. This new invention and the Reformation would have been too much at one time for the world! Now for some years the rapacity of maritime peoples has been checked.

  (Exeunt omnes.)

  SCENE SIXTH

  Quinola, Fontanares and Faustine.

  Faustine

  Alfonso, I have done you much wrong.

  Fontanares Marie is dead, senora; I do not know the meaning of the words right and wrong, nowadays.

  Quinola

  There is a man for you.

  Faustine

  Forgive me, and I will devote myself to your future.

  Fontanares Forgiveness! That word has been erased from my heart. There are situations in which the heart either breaks or turns to bronze. I am scarcely twenty-five years old, but to-day you have changed me into a man of fifty. You have lost to me one world, now you owe me another —

  Quinola

  Let us turn our attention to politics.

  Faustine

  And is not my love, Alfonso, worth a world?

  Fontanares Yes, for you are a magnificent instrument of ruin and devastation. Yet it will be by means of you that I shall crush all those who have been an obstacle in my pathway; I take you, not for my wife, but for my slave, and you shall serve me.

  Faustine

  Serve you blindly.

  Fontanares But without hope that there will be any return — need I say of what? All here (he strikes his hand upon his heart) is of b
ronze. You have taught me what this world is made of. O world of self-interest, of trickery, of policy and of perfidy, I defy you to the combat!

  Quinola

  Senor?

  Fontanares

  What is it?

  Quinola

  Am I in it with you?

  Fontanares You? You are the only one who has still a place in my heart. We three will stand together; we will go —

  Faustine

  Where?

  Fontanares

  We will go to France.

  Faustine Let us start at once; I know these Spaniards, and they are sure to plot your death.

  Quinola The resources of Quinola are at the bottom of the sea. Be kind enough to excuse his faults; he will doubtless do better at Paris. Verily, I believe that hell is paved with good inventions.

  Final Curtain.

  PAMELA GIRAUD

  Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley

  Presented for the First Time at Paris at the

  Theatre de la Gaite, September 26, 1843

  CONTENTS

  PERSONS OF THE PLAY

  ACT I

  ACT II

  ACT III

  ACT IV

  ACT V

  PERSONS OF THE PLAY

  General de Verby

  Dupre, a lawyer

  Rousseau, a wealthy merchant

  Jules Rousseau, his son

  Joseph Binet

  Giraud, a porter

  Chief of Special Police

  Antoine, servant to the Rousseaus

  Pamela Giraud

  Madame du Brocard, a widow; aunt of Jules Rousseau

  Madame Rousseau

  Madame Giraud

  Justine, chambermaid to Madame Rousseau

  Sheriff

  Magistrate

  Police Officers

  Gendarmes

  SCENE: Paris

  TIME: During the Napoleonic plots under Louis XVIII. (1815-1824)

  ACT I

  SCENE FIRST

  (Setting is an attic and workshop of an artificial flower-maker. It is poorly lighted by means of a candle placed on the work-table. The ceiling slopes abruptly at the back allowing space to conceal a man. On the right is a door, on the left a fireplace. Pamela is discovered at work, and Joseph Binet is seated near her.)