She said that she wanted to get married. The Baroness did not take her statement seriously, and on the grocer calling one day, said in jest to Amenaide, "You want a husband, there's one."
But Amenaide was in earnest. She accepted the suggestion and, to the Baroness' surprise, insisted on taking the grocer as her husband. Reluctantly the good lady gave her consent, and in 1855 Amenaide Brecourt became the wife of the grocer Gras.
A union, so hasty and ill-considered, was not likely to be of long duration. With the help of the worthy3 Baroness the newly married couple started a grocery business. But Amenaide was too economical for her husband and mother-in-law. Quarrels ensued, recriminations. In a spirit of unamiable prophecy husband and wife foretold4 each other's future. "You will die in a hospital," said the wife. "You will land your carcase in prison," retorted the husband. In both instances they were correct in their anticipations5. One day the husband disappeared. For a short time Amenaide returned to her long-suffering protectress, and then she too disappeared.
When she is heard of again, Amenaide Brecourt has become Jeanne de la Cour. Jeanne de la Cour is a courtesan. She has tried commerce, acting6, literature, journalism7, and failed at them all. Henceforth men are to make her fortune for her. Such charms as she may possess, such allurements8 as she can offer, she is ready to employ without heart or feeling to accomplish her end. Without real passion, she has an almost abnormal, erotic sensibility, which serves in its stead. She cares only for one person, her sister. To her Jeanne de la Cour unfolded her philosophy of life. While pretending to love men, she is going to make them suffer. They are to be her playthings, she knows how to snare9 them: "All is dust and lies. So much the worse for the men who get in my way. Men are mere10 stepping-stones to me. As soon as they begin to fail or are played out, I put them scornfully aside. Society is a vast chess-board, men the pawns11, some white, some black; I move them as I please, and break them when they bore me."
The early years of Jeanne de la Cour's career as a Phryne were hardly more successful than her attempts at literature, acting and journalism. True to her philosophy, she had driven one lover, a German, to suicide, and brought another to his death by over-doses of cantharides. On learning of the death of the first, she reflected patriotically12, "One German the less in Paris!" That of the second elicited13 the matter-of-fact comment, "It was bound to happen; he had no moderation." A third admirer, who died in a hospital, was dismissed as "a fool who, in spite of all, still respects women." But, in ruining her lovers, she had ruined her own health. In 1865 she was compelled to enter a private asylum14. There she is described as "dark in complexion15, with dark expressive16 eyes, very pale, and of a nervous temperament17, agreeable, and pretty." She was suffering at the time of her admission from hysterical18 seizures19, accompanied by insane exaltation, convulsions and loss of speech. In speaking of her humble20 parents she said, "I don't know such people"; her manner was bombastic21, and she was fond of posing as a fine lady.
After a few months Jeanne de la Cour was discharged from the asylum as cured, and on the advice of her doctors went to Vittel.
There she assumed the rank of Baroness and recommenced her career, but this time in a more reasonable and businesslike manner. Her comments, written to her sister, on her fellow guests at the hotel are caustic22. She mocks at some respectable married women who are trying to convert her to Catholicism. To others who refuse her recognition, she makes herself so mischievous23 and objectionable that in self-defence they are frightened into acknowledging her. Admirers among men she has many, ex-ministers, prefects. It was at Vittel that occurred the incident of the wounded pigeon. There had been some pigeon-shooting. One of the wounded birds flew into the room of the Baroness de la Cour. She took pity on it, tended it, taught it not to be afraid of her and to stay in her room. So touching24 was her conduct considered by some of those who heard it, that she was nicknamed "the Charmer." But she is well aware, she writes to her sister, that with the true ingratitude25 of the male, the pigeon will leave her as soon as it needs her help no longer.
However, for the moment, "disfigured as it is, beautiful or ugly," she loves it. "Don't forget," she writes, "that a woman who is practical and foreseeing, she too enjoys her pigeon shooting, but the birds are her lovers."
Shortly after she left Vittel an event occurred which afforded Jeanne de la Cour the prospect26 of acquiring that settled position in life which, "practical and foreseeing," she now regarded as indispensable to her future welfare. Her husband, Gras, died, as she had foretold, in the Charity Hospital. The widow was free. If she could bring down her bird, it was now in her power to make it hers for life. Henceforth all her efforts were directed to that end. She was reaching her fortieth year, her hair was turning grey, her charms were waning27. Poverty, degradation28, a miserable29 old age, a return to the wretched surroundings of her childhood, such she knew to be the fate of many of her kind. There was nothing to be hoped for from the generosity30 of men. Her lovers were leaving her. Blackmail31, speculation32 on the Bourse, even the desperate expedient33 of a supposititious child, all these she tried as means of acquiring a competence34. But fortune was shy of the widow. There was need for dispatch. The time was drawing near when it might be man's unkind privilege to put her scornfully aside as a thing spent and done with. She must bring down her bird, and that quickly. It was at this critical point in the widow's career, in the year 1873, that she met at a public ball for the first time Georges de Saint Pierre.(16)
(16) For obvious reasons I have suppressed the real name of the widow's
lover.
Georges de Saint Pierre was twenty years of age when he made the acquaintance of the Widow Gras. He had lost his mother at an early age, and since then lived with relatives in the country. He was a young man of independent means, idle, of a simple, confiding35 and affectionate disposition36. Four months after his first meeting with the widow they met again. The end of the year 1873 saw the commencement of an intimacy37, which to all appearances was characterised by a more lasting38 and sincere affection than is usually associated with unions of this kind. There can be no doubt that during the three years the Widow Gras was the mistress of Georges de Saint Pierre, she had succeeded in subjugating39 entirely40 the senses and the affection of her young lover. In spite of the twenty years between them, Georges de Saint Pierre idolised his middle-aged41 mistress. She was astute42 enough to play not only the lover, but the mother to this motherless youth. After three years of intimacy he writes to her: "It is enough for me that you love me, because I don't weary you, and I, I love you with all my heart. I cannot bear to leave you. We will live happily together. You will always love me truly, and as for me, my loving care will ever protect you. I don't know what would become of me if I did not feel that your love watched over me." The confidence of Georges in the widow was absolute. When, in 1876, he spent six months in Egypt, he made her free of his rooms in Paris, she was at liberty to go there when she liked; he trusted her entirely, idolised her. Whatever her faults, he was blind to them. "Your form," he writes, "is ever before my eyes; I wish I could enshrine your pure heart in gold and crystal."
The widow's conquest, to all appearances, was complete. But Georges was very young. He had a family anxious for his future; they knew of his liaison43; they would be hopeful, no doubt, of one day breaking it off and of marrying him to some desirable young person. From the widow's point of view the situation lacked finality. How was that to be secured?
One day, toward the end of the year 1876, after the return of Georges from Egypt, the widow happened to be at the house of a friend, a ballet dancer. She saw her friend lead into the room a young man; he was sightless, and her friend with tender care guided him to a seat on the sofa. The widow was touched by the spectacle. When they were alone, she inquired of her friend the reason of her solicitude44 for the young man. "I love this victim of nature," she replied, "and look after him with every care. He is young, rich, without family, and is going to marry me. Like you, I am just on forty; my hair is turning grey, my youth vanishing. I shall soon be cast adrift on the sea, a wreck45. This boy is the providential spar to which I am going to cling that I may reach land in safety." "You mean, then," said the widow, "that you will soon be beyond the reach of want?" "Yes," answered the friend, "I needn't worry any more about the future."
"I congratulate you," said the widow, "and what is more, your lover will never see you grow old."
To be cast adrift on the sea and to have found a providential spar! The widow was greatly impressed by her friend's rare good fortune. Indeed, her experience gave the widow furiously to think, as she revolved46 in her brain various expedients47 by which Georges de Saint Pierre might become the "providential spar" in her own impending48 wreck. The picture of the blind young man tenderly cared for, dependent utterly49 on the ministrations of his devoted50 wife, fixed51 itself in the widow's mind; there was something inexpressibly pathetic in the picture, whilst its practical significance had its sinister52 appeal to one in her situation.
At this point in the story there appears on the scene a character as remarkable53 in his way as the widow herself, remarkable at least for his share in the drama that is to follow. Nathalis Gaudry, of humble parentage, rude and uncultivated, had been a playmate of the widow when she was a child in her parents' house.
They had grown up together, but, after Gaudry entered the army, had lost sight of each other. Gaudry served through the Italian war of 1859, gaining a medal for valour. In 1864 he had married.
Eleven years later his wife died, leaving him with two children. He came to Paris and obtained employment in an oil refinery54 at Saint Denis. His character was excellent; he was a good workman, honest, hard-working, his record unblemished. When he returned to Paris, Gaudry renewed his friendship with the companion of his youth. But Jeanne Brecourt was now Jeanne de la Cour, living in refinement55 and some luxury, moving in a sphere altogether remote from and unapproachable by the humble workman in an oil refinery. He could do no more than worship from afar this strange being, to him wonderfully seductive in her charm and distinction.
On her side the widow was quite friendly toward her homely56 admirer. She refused to marry him, as he would have wished, but she did her best without success to marry him to others of her acquaintance. Neither a sempstress nor an inferior actress could she persuade, for all her zeal57, to unite themselves with a hand in an oil mill, a widower58 with two children. It is typical of the widow's nervous energy that she should have undertaken so hopeless a task. In the meantime she made use of her admirer. On Sundays he helped her in her apartment, carried coals, bottled wine, scrubbed the floors, and made himself generally useful. He was supposed by those about the house to be her brother. Occasionally, in the absence of a maid, the widow allowed him to attend on her personally, even to assist her in her toilette and perform for her such offices as one woman would perform for another. The man soon came to be madly in love with the woman; his passion, excited but not gratified, enslaved and consumed him. To some of his fellow-workmen who saw him moody59 and preoccupied60, he confessed that he ardently61 desired to marry a friend of his childhood, not a working woman but a lady.
Such was the situation and state of mind of Nathalis Gaudry when, in November, 1876, he received a letter from the widow, in which she wrote, "Come at once. I want you on a matter of business. Tell your employer it is a family affair; I will make up your wages." In obedience62 to this message Gaudry was absent from the distillery from the 17th to the 23rd of November.
The "matter of business" about which the widow wished to consult with Gaudry turned out to be a scheme of revenge. She told him that she had been basely defrauded63 by a man to whom she had entrusted64 money. She desired to be revenged on him, and could think of no better way than to strike at his dearest affections by seriously injuring his son. This she proposed to do with the help of a knuckle-duster, which she produced and gave to Gaudry. Armed with this formidable weapon, Gaudry was to strike her enemy's son so forcibly in the pit of the stomach as to disable him for life. The widow offered to point out to Gaudry the young man whom he was to attack. She took him outside the young man's club and showed him his victim. He was Georges de Saint Pierre.
The good fortune of her friend, the ballet-dancer, had proved a veritable toxin65 in the intellectual system of the Widow Gras. The poison of envy, disappointment, suspicion, apprehension66 had entered into her soul. Of what use to her was a lover, however generous and faithful, who was free to take her up and lay her aside at will? But such was her situation relative to Georges de Saint Pierre. She remembered that the wounded pigeon, as long as it was dependent on her kind offices, had been compelled to stay by her side; recovered, it had flown away. Only a pigeon, maimed beyond hope of recovery, could she be sure of compelling to be hers for all time, tied to her by its helpless infirmity, too suffering and disfigured to be lured67 from its captivity68. And so, in accordance with her philosophy of life, the widow, by a blow in the pit of the stomach with a knuckle-duster, was to bring down her bird which henceforth would be tended and cared for by "the Charmer" to her own satisfaction and the admiration69 of all beholders.
For some reason, the natural reluctance70 of Gaudry, or perhaps a feeling of compunction in the heart of the widow, this plan was not put into immediate71 execution. Possibly she hesitated before adopting a plan more cruel, more efficacious. Her hesitation72 did not last long.
With the dawn of the year 1877 the vigilant73 apprehension of the widow was roused by the tone of M. de Saint Pierre's letters. He wrote from his home in the country, "I cannot bear leaving you, and I don't mean to. We will live together." But he adds that he is depressed74 by difficulties with his family, "not about money or business but of a kind he can only communicate to her verbally." To the widow it was clear that these difficulties must relate to the subject of marriage. The character of Georges was not a strong one; sooner or later he might yield to the importunities of his family; her reign75 would be ended, a modest and insufficient76 pension the utmost she could hope for. She had passed the meridian77 of her life as a charmer of men, her health was giving way, she was greedy, ambitious, acquisitive. In January she asked her nephew, who worked as a gilder78, to get her some vitriol for cleaning her copper79. He complied with her request.
During Jeanne de la Cour's brief and unsuccessful appearance as an actress she had taken part in a play with the rather cumbrous title, Who Puts out the Eyes must Pay for Them. The widow may have forgotten this event; its occurrence so many years before may have been merely a sinister coincidence. But the incident of the ballet-dancer and her sightless lover was fresh in her mind.
Early in January the widow wrote to Georges, who was in the country, and asked him to take her to the masked ball at the Opera on the 13th. Her lover was rather surprised at her request, nor did he wish to appear with her at so public a gathering80. "I don't understand," he writes, "why you are so anxious to go to the Opera. I can't see any real reason for your wanting to tire yourself out at such a disreputable gathering. However, if you are happy and well, and promise to be careful, I will take you. I would be the last person, my dear little wife, to deny you anything that would give you pleasure." But for some reason Georges was unhappy, depressed. Some undefined presentiment81 of evil seems to have oppressed him. His brother noticed his preoccupation.
He himself alludes82 to it in writing to his mistress: "I am depressed this evening. For a very little I could break down altogether and give way to tears. You can't imagine what horrid83 thoughts possess me. If I felt your love close to me, I should be less sad." Against his better inclination84 Georges promised to take the widow to the ball on the 13th. He was to come to Paris on the night of the 12th.
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1
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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baroness
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| n.男爵夫人，女男爵 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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foretold
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| v.预言，预示( foretell的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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anticipations
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| 预期( anticipation的名词复数 )； 预测； （信托财产收益的）预支； 预期的事物 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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7
journalism
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| n.新闻工作，报业 | |
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8
allurements
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| n.诱惑( allurement的名词复数 )；吸引；诱惑物；有诱惑力的事物 | |
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snare
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| n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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pawns
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| n.（国际象棋中的）兵( pawn的名词复数 )；卒；被人利用的人；小卒v.典当，抵押( pawn的第三人称单数 )；以（某事物）担保 | |
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patriotically
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| 爱国地；忧国地 | |
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elicited
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| 引出，探出( elicit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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15
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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18
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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seizures
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| n.起获( seizure的名词复数 )；没收；充公；起获的赃物 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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bombastic
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| adj.夸夸其谈的，言过其实的 | |
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caustic
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| adj.刻薄的，腐蚀性的 | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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ingratitude
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| n.忘恩负义 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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27
waning
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| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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30
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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blackmail
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| n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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34
competence
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| n.能力，胜任，称职 | |
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confiding
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| adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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subjugating
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| v.征服，降伏( subjugate的现在分词 ) | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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42
astute
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| adj.机敏的，精明的 | |
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43
liaison
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| n.联系，（未婚男女间的）暖昧关系，私通 | |
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44
solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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45
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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46
revolved
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想 | |
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expedients
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| n.应急有效的，权宜之计的( expedient的名词复数 ) | |
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48
impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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49
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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50
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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51
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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52
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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53
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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54
refinery
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| n.精炼厂，提炼厂 | |
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refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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56
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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widower
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| n.鳏夫 | |
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moody
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| adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的 | |
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preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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61
ardently
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| adv.热心地，热烈地 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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defrauded
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| v.诈取，骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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65
toxin
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| n.毒素，毒质 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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lured
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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69
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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70
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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vigilant
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| adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的 | |
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depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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meridian
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| adj.子午线的；全盛期的 | |
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78
gilder
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| 镀金工人 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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presentiment
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| n.预感，预觉 | |
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alludes
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| 提及，暗指( allude的第三人称单数 ) | |
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83
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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