Dinner was announced. Rastignac gave his arm to Mme. de Nucingen, she led the way into a pretty dining-room, and again he saw the luxury of the table which he had admired in his cousin's house.
"Come and dine with me on opera evenings, and we will go to the Italiens afterwards," she said.
"I should soon grow used to the pleasant life if it could last, but I am a poor student, and I have my way to make."
"Oh! you will succeed," she said laughing. "You will see. All that you wish will come to pass. _I_ did not expect to be so happy."
It is the wont1 of women to prove the impossible by the possible, and to annihilate2 facts by presentiments3. When Mme. de Nucingen and Rastignac took their places in her box at the Bouffons, her face wore a look of happiness that made her so lovely that every one indulged in those small slanders4 against which women are defenceless; for the scandal that is uttered lightly is often seriously believed. Those who know Paris, believe nothing that is said, and say nothing of what is done there.
Eugene took the Baroness5' hand in his, and by some light pressure of the fingers, or a closer grasp of the hand, they found a language in which to express the sensations which the music gave them. It was an evening of intoxicating6 delight for both; and when it ended, and they went out together, Mme. de Nucingen insisted on taking Eugene with her as far as the Pont Neuf, he disputing with her the whole of the way for a single kiss after all those that she had showered upon him so passionately7 at the Palais-Royal; Eugene reproached her with inconsistency.
"That was gratitude," she said, "for devotion that I did not dare to hope for, but now it would be a promise."
"And will you give me no promise, ingrate8?"
He grew vexed9. Then, with one of those impatient gestures that fill a lover with ecstasy10, she gave him her hand to kiss, and he took it with a discontented air that delighted her.
"I shall see you at the ball on Monday," she said.
As Eugene went home in the moonlight, he fell to serious reflections. He was satisfied, and yet dissatisfied. He was pleased with an adventure which would probably give him his desire, for in the end one of the prettiest and best-dressed women in Paris would be his; but, as a set-off, he saw his hopes of fortune brought to nothing; and as soon as he realized this fact, the vague thoughts of yesterday evening began to take a more decided11 shape in his mind. A check is sure to reveal to us the strength of our hopes. The more Eugene learned of the pleasures of life in Paris, the more impatient he felt of poverty and obscurity. He crumpled12 the banknote in his pocket, and found any quantity of plausible13 excuses for appropriating it.
He reached the Rue14 Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve at last, and from the stairhead he saw a light in Goriot's room; the old man had lighted a candle, and set the door ajar, lest the student should pass him by, and go to his room without "telling him all about his daughter," to use his own expression. Eugene, accordingly, told him everything without reserve.
"Then they think that I am ruined!" cried Father Goriot, in an agony of jealousy15 and desperation. "Why, I have still thirteen hundred livres a year! MON DIEU! Poor little girl! why did she not come to me? I would have sold my rentes; she should have had some of the principal, and I would have bought a life-annuity with the rest. My good neighbor, why did not YOU come to tell me of her difficulty? How had you the heart to go and risk her poor little hundred francs at play? This is heart-breaking work. You see what it is to have sons-in-law. Oh! if I had hold of them, I would wring16 their necks. MON DIEU! CRYING! Did you say she was crying?"
"With her head on my waistcoat," said Eugene.
"Oh! give it to me," said Father Goriot. "What! my daughter's tears have fallen there--my darling Delphine, who never used to cry when she was a little girl! Oh! I will buy you another; do not wear it again; let me have it. By the terms of her marriagecontract, she ought to have the use of her property. To-morrow morning I will go and see Derville; he is an attorney. I will demand that her money should be invested in her own name. I know the law. I am an old wolf, I will show my teeth."
"Here, father; this is a banknote for a thousand francs that she wanted me to keep out of our winnings. Keep them for her, in the pocket of the waistcoat."
Goriot looked hard at Eugene, reached out and took the law student's hand, and Eugene felt a tear fall on it.
"You will succeed," the old man said. "God is just, you see. I know an honest man when I see him, and I can tell you, there are not many men like you. I am to have another dear child in you, am I? There, go to sleep; you can sleep; you are not yet a father. She was crying! and I have to be told about it!--and I was quietly eating my dinner, like an idiot, all the time--I, who would sell the Father, Son and Holy Ghost to save one tear to either of them."
"An honest man!" said Eugene to himself as he lay down. "Upon my word, I think I will be an honest man all my life; it is so pleasant to obey the voice of conscience." Perhaps none but believers in God do good in secret; and Eugene believed in a God.
The next day Rastignac went at the appointed time to Mme. de Beauseant, who took him with her to the Duchesse de Carigliano's ball. The Marechale received Eugene most graciously. Mme. de Nucingen was there. Delphine's dress seemed to suggest that she wished for the admiration17 of others, so that she might shine the more in Eugene's eyes; she was eagerly expecting a glance from him, hiding, as she thought, this eagerness from all beholders. This moment is full of charm for one who can guess all that passes in a woman's mind. Who has not refrained from giving his opinion, to prolong her suspense18, concealing19 his pleasure from a desire to tantalize20, seeking a confession21 of love in her uneasiness, enjoying the fears that he can dissipate by a smile? In the course of the evening the law student suddenly comprehended his position; he saw that, as the cousin of Mme. de Beauseant, he was a personage in this world. He was already credited with the conquest of Mme. de Nucingen, and for this reason was a conspicuous22 figure; he caught the envious23 glances of other young men, and experienced the earliest pleasures of coxcombry24. People wondered at his luck, and scraps25 of these conversations came to his ears as he went from room to room; all the women prophesied26 his success; and Delphine, in her dread27 of losing him, promised that this evening she would not refuse the kiss that all his entreaties28 could scarcely win yesterday.
Rastignac received several invitations. His cousin presented him to other women who were present; women who could claim to be of the highest fashion; whose houses were looked upon as pleasant; and this was the loftiest and most fashionable society in Paris into which he was launched. So this evening had all the charm of a brilliant debut29; it was an evening that he was to remember even in old age, as a woman looks back upon her first ball and the memories of her girlish triumphs.
The next morning, at breakfast, he related the story of his success for the benefit of Father Goriot and the lodgers30. Vautrin began to smile in a diabolical31 fashion.
"And do you suppose," cried that cold-blooded logician32, "that a young man of fashion can live here in the Rue Neuve-SainteGenevieve, in the Maison Vauquer--an exceedingly respectable boarding-house in every way, I grant you, but an establishment that, none the less, falls short of being fashionable? The house is comfortable, it is lordly in its abundance; it is proud to be the temporary abode33 of a Rastignac; but, after all, it is in the Rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve, and luxury would be out of place here, where we only aim at the purely34 patriarchalorama. If you mean to cut a figure in Paris, my young friend," Vautrin continued, with half-paternal jocularity, "you must have three horses, a tilbury for the mornings, and a closed carriage for the evening; you should spend altogether about nine thousand francs on your stables. You would show yourself unworthy of your destiny if you spent no more than three thousand francs with your tailor, six hundred in perfumery, a hundred crowns to your shoemaker, and a hundred more to your hatter. As for your laundress, there goes another thousand francs; a young man of fashion must of necessity make a great point of his linen35; if your linen comes up to the required standard, people often do not look any further. Love and the Church demand a fair altar-cloth. That is fourteen thousand francs. I am saying nothing of losses at play, bets, and presents; it is impossible to allow less than two thousand francs for pocket money. I have led that sort of life, and I know all about these expenses. Add the cost of necessaries next; three hundred louis for provender36, a thousand francs for a place to roost in. Well, my boy, for all these little wants of ours we had need to have twenty-five thousand francs every year in our purse, or we shall find ourselves in the kennel37, and people laughing at us, and our career is cut short, good-bye to success, and goodbye to your mistress! I am forgetting your valet and your groom38! Is Christophe going to carry your billets-doux for you? Do you mean to emplo
y the stationery39 you use at present? Suicidal policy! Hearken to the wisdom of your elders!" he went on, his bass40 voice growing louder at each syllable41. "Either take up your quarters in a garret, live virtuously42, and wed43 your work, or set about the thing in a different way."
Vautrin winked44 and leered in the direction of Mlle. Taillefer to enforce his remarks by a look which recalled the late tempting45 proposals by which he had sought to corrupt46 the student's mind.
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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annihilate
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| v.使无效；毁灭；取消 | |
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presentiments
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| n.（对不祥事物的）预感( presentiment的名词复数 ) | |
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slanders
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| 诽谤，诋毁( slander的名词复数 ) | |
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baroness
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| n.男爵夫人，女男爵 | |
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intoxicating
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| a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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ingrate
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| n.忘恩负义的人 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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wring
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| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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tantalize
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| vt.使干着急，逗弄 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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envious
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| adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的 | |
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coxcombry
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| n.（男子的）虚浮，浮夸，爱打扮 | |
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scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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prophesied
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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debut
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| n.首次演出，初次露面 | |
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lodgers
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| n.房客，租住者( lodger的名词复数 ) | |
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diabolical
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| adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的 | |
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logician
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| n.逻辑学家 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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provender
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| n.刍草；秣料 | |
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kennel
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| n.狗舍，狗窝 | |
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groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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stationery
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| n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封 | |
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bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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virtuously
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| 合乎道德地，善良地 | |
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wed
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| v.娶，嫁，与…结婚 | |
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44
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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45
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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