Joseph Balsamo (57 page)
Gilbert blushed, but did not answer this interrogation.
” But all women,” said he, “are not like those of whom I read. How many are proud, haughty, disdainful, whom it would be only folly to love ! “
“And yet, young man,” replied the other, “such occasions have more than once presented themselves to Rousseau.”
” That is true, sir ; pardon me for having detained you ; but there are some subjects which intoxicate me, and some thoughts which make me almost mad.”
” Come, come, I fear you are in love ! ” said the old man.
Instead of replying, Gilbert commenced to make up the bags again, with the help of the pins, and fill them with the kidney-beans. Jacques looked on.
” You have not been very splendidly lodged,” said he, ” but, after all, you have had what was necessary, and if you had been earlier up, you might have inhaled through your window the perfume of the garden trees which, in the midst of the disagreeable odors that infest a great town, is certainly very agreeable. The gardens of the Rue Jnssienne are just below, and to breathe in the morning the fragrance of their flowers and shrubs is to a poor captive a happiness for all the rest of the day.”
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“It certainly conveys an agreeble sensation to me,” said Gilbert, ” but I am too much accustomed to those things to pay any particular attention to them.”
” Say, rather, that you have not yet been long enough the inhabitant of a town to know how much the country is to be regretted. But you have done ; let us go down.”
And motioning Gilbert to precede him, he shut the door and put on the padlock.
This time Jacques led his companion directly to the room which Therese the evening before had named the study. Its furniture was composed of glass cases, containing butterflies, plants, and minerals, a bookcase of walnut-tree wood, a long, narrow table, with a green-and- black baize cover, worn out by constant use, on which were a number of manuscripts arranged in good order, and four armchairs, stuffed and covered with hair-cloth. Every article was waxed and shining, irreproachable as to neatness and cleanliness, but chilling to the eye and the heart, so dim and gray was the light admitted through the drab curtains, and so far removed from comfort were the cold ashes on the black hearth.
A little harpsichord of rosewood on four straight legs, the strings of which vibrated as the carriages passed in the street, and the slight ticking of a time-piece placed over the fireplace, were all that seemed to give life to this species of tomb.
But Gilbert entered it with profoimd respect. The furniture seemed to him almost sumptuous, since it was, as nearly as possible, the same as that of the chateau of Taverney, and the polished floor, above all, struck him with awe.
” Sit down,” said Jacques, pointing to a second little table placed in the recess of a window, ‘ and I shall explain what occupation I intend for you.”
Gilbert eagerly obeyed.
” Do you know what this is ? ” asked the old man, showing him some paper ruled with lines at equal distances.
” Certainly,” said he ; ” it is music paper.”
” Well, when one of these leaves has been filled up prop-
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erly by me, that is, when I have copied on it as much music as it will contain, I have earned ten sous ; that is the price which I fixed myself. Do you think you can learn to copy music ? “
” Oh, yes, sir ! I think so.”
” But does not all this little black dotting of spots joined together by single, double, and triple strokes, swim be-fore your eyes ? “
” Yes, sir. At the first glance I cannot distinguish them well, but on looking more closely I shall be able to separate one note from another ; for instance, here is a Fa.”
”And the note above that, crossing the second line ?”
” That is Sol ‘
” Then you can read music ?”
” I know only the names of the notes ; I do not understand their value.”
.“Do you know when they are minums, crotchets, quavers, and semiquavers ?”
“Oh, yes ; I know that.”
” And that mark ? “
‘< It is a rest.”
” And that ? “
“A sharp.”
” And that ? “
“Aflat.”
” Very well. And so, with this ignorance of yours,” said Jacques, his eye beginning to darken with distrust which seemed natural to him, ” with this ignorance of yours, you speak of music as you spoke of botany, and as you would have spoken of love, had I not cut you short.”
” Oh, sir,” replied Gilbert, blushing, ” do not ridicule me!”
” No, my child ; I am only surprised at you. Music is an art which is seldom learned until after other studies, and you told me yon had received no education ; in fact, that you had been taught nothing.”
” That is the truth, sir.”
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” But you could not have found out of yourself that this black point was a Fa.”
” Sir,” said Gilbert, looking down with an embarrassed air, ” in the house where I lived there was a a young lady who played on the harpsichord.”
” Oh ! the same who studied botany ?”
” Yes, sir ; and she played very well.”
” Indeed ?
” Yes ; and I adore music.”
ft All that does not account for your knowing the notes.”
”Sir, Rousseau says that the man who enjoys the effect without seeking to know the cause, allows half his powers to lie dormant.”
“Yes; but he also says that man in acquiring that knowledge loses his joyousness, his innocence, and his natural instincts.”
” AY hat matters it if he find in the search itself an enjoyment equal to all the pleasures which he loses ?”
Jacques turned toward him, still more surprised. Ha ! ” said ho, “you are not only a botanist and a musician, but also a logician.”
“Ah, sir, I am unfortunately neither a musician, a botanist, nor a logician. I can distinguish one note from another, one sign from another, that is all.”
” You can sol, fa, then ? “
” No not in the least, sir.”
” Well, no matter. Will you try to copy this ? Here is some ruled paper, but take care of wasting it, it is very dear ; and now I think of it, it would be better for you to take some common paper, rule it yourself, and make a trial on it.”
” Oh, sir, I shall do whatever you recommend. But allow me to say that this is not an occupation for my whole lifetime. It would be much better to become a public writer than copy music which I do not understand.”
“Young man, young man, you speak without reflection. Is it by night that a public writer gains his bread?”
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“No, certainly.”
” Well, listen to me : with practise a man can copy in two or three hours at night five or even six of these pages ; for that he will get three francs. A man can live on that sum ; you will not contradict that, you, who would be content with six sous ? Thus, you see, with two hours’ work at night you could earn sufficient to enable you to attend the school of surgery, of medicine, and of botany.”
” Oh,” cried Gilbert, ” now I understand, and I thank you from my very heart.” And so saying, he seized eagerly the paper which the old man offered him.
CHAPTER XLVI.
WHO M. JACQUES WAS.
GILBERT set to work with the greatest ardor, and his paper was soon covered with careful copies of wha f , was placed before him. The old man looked at him for some time, and then sat down at the other table to correct; printed sheets like those of which the bags containing the kidney-beans had been made.
They had passed three hourg in this way, and the time-piece had just struck nine, when Therese entered hurriedly. Jacques raised his head.
“Quick! quick!” said she, “come into the other room. Here is another prince come to visit you. When will this procession of grandees be over ? I only hope he will not take it into his head to breakfast with us, as the Duke de Chartres did the other day ‘
” Who is the prince ? ” asked Jacques, in a low voice.
” Monseigneur the Prince de Conte.”
At this name Gilbert let fall on his paper a sol which looked much more like a dinner-plate than a note.
” A prince ! a grandee ! ” he muttered to himself.
Jacques left the study, smiling ; Therese followed, and closed the door behind her.
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Then Gilbert looked around, and finding that he was alone, sat bolt upright with astonishment.
“But where am I, then ?” exclaimed he. “Princes, highnesses, calling on Monsieur Jacques ! The Duke de Chartres, the Prince de Conte, calling on a copier of music !”
He approached the door to listen; his heart beat strangely.
The first greetings were over between Jacques and the prince, and the latter was speaking.
” I should have liked,” he said, ” to take you with me.”
“Why so, monseigneur ?” asked Jacques.
” To introduce yon to the dauphiness. A new era is opening for philosophy, my dear philosopher.”
” A thousand thanks for your kindness, my lord, but it is impossible for me to accompany you.”
*’ Yet six years ago you accompanied Madame de Pompadour to Fontainebleau.”
“I was six years younger then. Now I am chained to my armchair by infirmities.”
“And by misanthropy.”
“And if it were so, my lord, you must allow that the world is not worth the trouble of putting one’s self out of the way for it.”
” Well, I shall let you off for St. Denis, and the grand ceremonial, but I must take you to Muette, where her royal highness will sleep the night after to-morrow.”
” Then her royal highness arrives at St. Denis the day after to-morrow ? “
“Yes, with all her retinue. Come, two leagues are easily traveled. Report bespeaks her highness an excellent musician ; a pupil of Gluck’s.”
Gilbert heard no more.
The day after to-morrow the dauphiness and all her retinue would be at St. Denis ; these words suggested only one idea to him, that the next day but one Andre would be two leagues distant from him.
Of the two feelings which he experienced, the stronger overcame the weaker. Love put an end to curiosity. For
DUMAS VOL. VI. S
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a moment it seemed to him as if he had not room to breathe. He ran to a window to open it, but it was fastened inside with a padlock, no doubt to prevent those on the opposite side of the street from ever having an opportunity of seeing what passed in the study.
He sank on his chair.
“Oh, I will never listen at doors again,” said he ; “I must not try to penetrate the secrets of this man, apparently so humble, whom a prince calls his friend and wishes to present to the future Queen of France, to the daughter of emperors, whom Mademoiselle Aiidree addressed almost kneeling at her feet. And yet, perhaps, I might hear something of Mademoiselle Andre. IS’o, no ; I should seem like a lackey ; La Brie used to listen at doors.”
And he courageously retired from the door. But his hands trembled so much that he could not write, and in-deed he required some more exciting pursuit to divert his thoughts ; he therefore seized a book on the other table.
” ‘The Confessions ! ’” he read, with joyful surprise, ” ‘ embellished with a likeness of the author, Jean Jacques Rousseau,’ and I have never yet seen a likeness of Rousseau ! ” and he hastily turned the silk paper which covered the engraving.
No sooner did it meet his eye than he uttered a cry of amazement. At that moment Jacques opened the door.
Gilbert compared his face with the likeness in the book which he held in his hand, then, pale and trembling, he let the volume fall, exclaiming, ” I am in the house of Jean Jacques Rousseau ! “
“Let me see, my child, how you have copied your music,” said Rousseau, smiling, and inwardly better pleased with this involuntary homage than with many of the thousand triumphs of his glorious life. And passing by the trembling Gilbert, he approached the table and commenced to examine his work.
” Your notes are not badly formed,” said he, ” but they are carelessly joined together. Here, there should be a rest to make the time complete. Then, see, the bars
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which divide it are not quite straight. Make the semi-breves by two semicircles ; it is not important that they should join. The note made perfectly round is ungraceful, and the stalk does not join with it so well. Yes, my friend, you are indeed in the house of Jean Jacques Rousseau.”
” Oh, pardon me, sir, for all the foolish words which !. have uttered ! ” exclaimed Gilbert, clasping his hands and ready to fall on his knees.
” Was it necessary that a prince should come to visit me,” said Rousseau, shrugging his shoulders, ” to enable yon to discover in me the unhappy, persecuted philosopher of Geneva ? Poor child ! Happy in your ignorance of persecution ! “
” Oh, yes, lam happy, very happy ! But it is in seeing you, in knowing you, in being near you ! “
” Thanks, my child, thanks. But it is not enough to be happy ; you must work. Now that you have made a trial, take this rondeau and copy it on some proper music-paper ; it is short and easy above all things, observe neatness. But how did you discover “
Gilbert, with a swelling heart, took up the volume and pointed to the portrait.
” Oh, yes ; my likeness burned in effigy on the first page of the ‘ Emile ! ‘ However, the auto-da-fe diffuses light as well as the rays of the sun.”
” Ah, sir, my wildest dreams never exceeded this ! To live with you. My highest ambition never hoped for more ! “
” You cannot live with me, my friend,” said Jean Jacques, “for I do not take pupils. As for guests, you perceive that I am not rich enough to entertain them certainly not to receive them as regular inmates.”
A cold perspiration stood on Gilbert’s forehead. Rousseau took his hand.
” However,” said he, “do not despair. From the mo-ment I first saw you, I have been studying your character. In it there is much which requires to be corrected, but there is also much to esteem. Learn to subdue your in-
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clinations. Distrust your pride, that gnawing worm which is the bane of philosophy. Copy music, and wait patiently for better times.”
