Cousin Bette by de Balzac Honoré; Raphael Sylvia; Bellos David

Author:de Balzac, Honoré; Raphael, Sylvia; Bellos, David
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, UK
Published: 1992-04-13T04:00:00+00:00

62. Commentary on the story of Delilah

During dinner, Hulot was charming; he was pleased to see his son-in-law there and even more happy because he was certain of a reconciliation with Valèrie, whose fidelity he thought he had ensured by the promise of her husband’s succeeding to Coquet’s post.

Stidmann responded to the Baron’s affability with flashes of Parisian wit and the liveliness of the artist.

Steinbock did not want to be outshone by his friend. He too exerted himself and came out with flashes of wit. He made an impression and was pleased with himself. Madame Marneffe smiled at him several times, showing that she thoroughly understood him.

The good food and heady wines completed the effect of immersing Wenceslas in what must be called the slough of pleasure. Excited by a drop too much wine, he stretched out on a divan, under the spell of a feeling of well-being that was both physical and spiritual, and that Madame Marneffe brought to new heights by sitting down beside him, light, perfumed, lovely enough to damn the angels.

She bent over towards Wenceslas. She almost touched his ear. She spoke to him in a low voice.

‘We can’t talk business this evening, unless you’re willing to stay behind after the others have gone. You, Lisbeth, and I between us will arrange things to suit you.’

‘Oh, you’re an angel, Madame,’ said Wenceslas, also in low tones. ‘I was a great fool not to listen to Lisbeth.’

‘What did she tell you?’

‘She claimed in the Rue du Doyenné that you were in love with me.’

Madame looked at Wenceslas, seemed embarrassed, and got up abruptly.

A woman who is young and pretty never arouses in a man the idea of immediate success with impunity. This movement, that of a virtuous woman repressing a passion kept in the bottom of her heart, was a thousand times more eloquent than the most passionate declaration.

Wenceslas’s desire was thus so keenly stimulated that he redoubled his attentions to Valérie. A woman in the public eye is a woman desired. This is the source of the terrible power of actresses. Madame Marneffe, knowing that she was under scrutiny, behaved like an actress who is being acclaimed. She was charming and her triumph was complete.

‘I’m no longer surprised at my father-in-law’s follies,’ Wenceslas said to Lisbeth.

‘If you talk like that, Wenceslas,’ his cousin replied, ‘I’ll repent all my life that I got you the loan of those ten thousand francs. Are you going to be like all the others,’ she said, indicating the other guests, ‘madly in love with that creature? Just think, you would be your father-in-law’s rival. And anyway, think of all the sorrow you would cause Hortense.’

‘That’s true,’ said Wenceslas. ‘Hortense is an angel. I’d be a monster.’

‘One in the family is quite enough,’ replied Lisbeth.

‘Artists ought never to get married!’ exclaimed Steinbock.

‘Oh, that’s what I told you in the Rue du Doyenné. Your children are your groups, your statues, your great works.’

‘What are you talking about over there?’ asked Valérie, coming and joining Lisbeth.

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