Part 49

“No, monsieur; I will not be seen in the same carriage by your side--I am still a convict. It is my wish to serve the Law; I will not begin by discrediting it. Go back to the Countess; I will be there soon after you. Tell her Lucien’s best friend is coming to see her, the Abbe Carlos Herrera; the anticipation of my visit will make an impression on her and favor the cure. You will forgive me for assuming once more the false part of a Spanish priest; it is to do so much good!”

“I shall find you there at about four o’clock,” said Monsieur de Granville, “for I have to wait on the King with the Keeper of the Seals.”

Jacques Collin went off to find his aunt, who was waiting for him on the Quai aux Fleurs.

“So you have given yourself up to the authorities?” said she.

“Yes.”

“It is a risky game.”

“No; I owed that poor Theodore his life, and he is reprieved.”

“And you?”

“I--I shall be what I ought to be. I shall always make our set shake in their shoes.--But we must get to work. Go and tell Paccard to be off as fast as he can go, and see that Europe does as I told her.”

“That is a trifle; I know how to deal with la Gonore,” said the terrible Jacqueline. “I have not been wasting my time here among the gilliflowers.”

“Let Ginetta, the Corsican girl, be found by to-morrow,” Jacques Collin went on, smiling at his aunt.

“I shall want some clue.”

“You can get it through Manon la Blonde,” said Jacques.

“Then we meet this evening,” replied the aunt, “you are in such a deuce of a hurry. Is there a fat job on?”

“I want to begin with a stroke that will beat everything that Bibi-Lupin has ever done. I have spoken a few words to the brute who killed Lucien, and I live only for revenge! Thanks to our positions, he and I shall be equally strong, equally protected. It will take years to strike the blow, but the wretch shall have it straight in the heart.”

“He must have vowed a Roland for your Oliver,” said the aunt, “for he has taken charge of Peyrade’s daughter, the girl who was sold to Madame Nourrisson, you know.”

“Our first point must be to find him a servant.”

“That will be difficult; he must be tolerably wide-awake,” observed Jacqueline.

“Well, hatred keeps one alive! We must work hard.”

Jacques Collin took a cab and drove at once to the Quai Malaquais, to the little room he lodged in, quite separate from Lucien’s apartment. The porter, greatly astonished at seeing him, wanted to tell him all that had happened.

“I know everything,” said the Abbe. “I have been involved in it, in spite of my saintly reputation; but, thanks to the intervention of the Spanish Ambassador, I have been released.”

He hurried up to his room, where, from under the cover of a breviary, he took out a letter that Lucien had written to Madame de Serizy after that lady had discarded him on seeing him at the opera with Esther.

Lucien, in his despair, had decided on not sending this letter, believing himself cast off for ever; but Jacques Collin had read the little masterpiece; and as all that Lucien wrote was to him sacred, he had treasured the letter in his prayer-book for its poetical expression of a passion that was chiefly vanity. When Monsieur de Granville told him of Madame de Serizy’s condition, the keen-witted man had very wisely concluded that this fine lady’s despair and frenzy must be the result of the quarrel she had allowed to subsist between herself and Lucien. He knew women as magistrates know criminals; he guessed the most secret impulses of their hearts; and he at once understood that the Countess probably ascribed Lucien’s death partly to her own severity, and reproached herself bitterly. Obviously a man on whom she had shed her love would never have thrown away his life!--To know that he had loved her still, in spite of her cruelty, might restore her reason.

If Jacques Collin was a grand general of convicts, he was, it must be owned, a not less skilful physician of souls.

This man’s arrival at the mansion of the Serizys was at once a disgrace and a promise. Several persons, the Count, and the doctors were assembled in the little drawing-room adjoining the Countess’ bedroom; but to spare him this stain on his soul’s honor, the Comte de Bauvan dismissed everybody, and remained alone with his friend. It was bad enough even then for the Vice-President of the Privy Council to see this gloomy and sinister visitor come in.

Jacques Collin had changed his dress. He was in black with trousers, and a plain frock-coat, and his gait, his look, and his manner were all that could be wished. He bowed to the two statesmen, and asked if he might be admitted to see the Countess.

“She awaits you with impatience,” said Monsieur de Bauvan.

“With impatience! Then she is saved,” said the dreadful magician.

And, in fact, after an interview of half an hour, Jacques Collin opened the door and said:

“Come in, Monsieur le Comte; there is nothing further to fear.”

The Countess had the letter clasped to her heart; she was calm, and seemed to have forgiven herself. The Count gave expression to his joy at the sight.

“And these are the men who settle our fate and the fate of nations,” thought Jacques Collin, shrugging his shoulders behind the two men. “A female has but to sigh in the wrong way to turn their brain as if it were a glove! A wink, and they lose their head! A petticoat raised a little higher, dropped a little lower, and they rush round Paris in despair! The whims of a woman react on the whole country. Ah, how much stronger is a man when, like me, he keeps far away from this childish tyranny, from honor ruined by passion, from this frank malignity, and wiles worthy of savages! Woman, with her genius for ruthlessness, her talent for torture, is, and always will be, the marring of man. The public prosecutor, the minister--here they are, all hoodwinked, all moving the spheres for some letters written by a duchess and a chit, or to save the reason of a woman who is more crazy in her right mind than she was in her delirium.”

And he smiled haughtily.

“Ay,” said he to himself, “and they believe in me! They act on my information, and will leave me in power. I shall still rule the world which has obeyed me these five-and-twenty years.”

Jacques Collin had brought into play the overpowering influence he had exerted of yore over poor Esther; for he had, as has often been shown, the mode of speech, the look, the action which quell madmen, and he had depicted Lucien as having died with the Countess’ image in his heart.

No woman can resist the idea of having been the one beloved.

“You now have no rival,” had been this bitter jester’s last words.

He remained a whole hour alone and forgotten in that little room. Monsieur de Granville arrived and found him gloomy, standing up, and lost in a brown study, as a man may well be who makes an 18th Brumaire in his life.

The public prosecutor went to the door of the Countess’ room, and remained there a few minutes; then he turned to Jacques Collin and said:

“You have not changed your mind?”

“No, monsieur.”

“Well, then, you will take Bibi-Lupin’s place, and Calvi’s sentence will be commuted.”

“And he is not to be sent to Rochefort?”

“Not even to Toulon; you may employ him in your service. But these reprieves and your appointment depend on your conduct for the next six months as subordinate to Bibi-Lupin.”

Within a week Bibi-Lupin’s new deputy had helped the Crottat family to recover four hundred thousand francs, and had brought Ruffard and Godet to justice.

The price of the certificates sold by Esther Gobseck was found in the courtesan’s mattress, and Monsieur de Serizy handed over to Jacques Collin the three hundred thousand francs left to him by Lucien de Rubempre.

The monument erected by Lucien’s orders for Esther and himself is considered one of the finest in Pere-Lachaise, and the earth beneath it belongs to Jacques Collin.

After exercising his functions for about fifteen years Jacques Collin retired in 1845.

DECEMBER 1847.

ADDENDUM

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Ajuda-Pinto, Marquis Miguel d’ Father Goriot The Secrets of a Princess Beatrix

Bauvan, Comte Octave de Honorine

Beaumesnil, Mademoiselle The Middle Classes A Second Home

Beaupre, Fanny A Start in Life Modeste Mignon The Muse of the Department

Bianchon, Horace Father Goriot The Atheist’s Mass Cesar Birotteau The Commission in Lunacy Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Bachelor’s Establishment The Secrets of a Princess The Government Clerks Pierrette A Study of Woman Honorine The Seamy Side of History The Magic Skin A Second Home A Prince of Bohemia Letters of Two Brides The Muse of the Department The Imaginary Mistress The Middle Classes Cousin Betty The Country Parson In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following: Another Study of Woman La Grande Breteche

Bibi-Lupin (chief of secret police, called himself Gondureau) Father Goriot

Bixiou, Jean-Jacques The Purse A Bachelor’s Establishment The Government Clerks Modeste Mignon The Firm of Nucingen The Muse of the Department Cousin Betty The Member for Arcis Beatrix A Man of Business Gaudissart II. The Unconscious Humorists Cousin Pons

Blondet, Emile Jealousies of a Country Town A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Modeste Mignon Another Study of Woman The Secrets of a Princess A Daughter of Eve The Firm of Nucingen The Peasantry

Bouvard, Doctor Ursule Mirouet

Braschon Cesar Birotteau

Bridau, Philippe A Bachelor’s Establishment

Cachan Lost Illusions

Camusot de Marville Cousin Pons Jealousies of a Country Town The Commission in Lunacy

Camusot de Marville, Madame The Vendetta Cesar Birotteau Jealousies of a Country Town Cousin Pons

Cerizet Lost Illusions A Man of Business The Middle Classes

Chardon, Madame (nee Rubempre) Lost Illusions

Chatelet, Sixte, Baron du Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Thirteen

Chaulieu, Henri, Duc de Letters of Two Brides Modeste Mignon A Bachelor’s Establishment The Thirteen

Collin, Jacqueline Cousin Betty The Unconscious Humorists

Collin, Jacques Father Goriot Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Member for Arcis

Corentin The Chouans The Gondreville Mystery The Middle Classes

Crottat, Monsieur and Madame Cesar Birotteau

Dauriat A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Modeste Mignon

Derville Gobseck A Start in Life The Gondreville Mystery Father Goriot Colonel Chabert

Desplein The Atheist’s Mass Cousin Pons Lost Illusions The Thirteen The Government Clerks Pierrette A Bachelor’s Establishment The Seamy Side of History Modeste Mignon Honorine

Desroches (son) A Bachelor’s Establishment Colonel Chabert A Start in Life A Woman of Thirty The Commission in Lunacy The Government Clerks A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Firm of Nucingen A Man of Business The Middle Classes

Espard, Charles-Maurice-Marie-Andoche, Comte de Negrepelisse, Marquis d’ The Commission in Lunacy

Espard, Chevalier d’ The Commission in Lunacy The Secrets of a Princess

Espard, Jeanne-Clementine-Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, Marquise d’ The Commission in Lunacy A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Letters of Two Brides Another Study of Woman The Gondreville Mystery The Secrets of a Princess A Daughter of Eve Beatrix

Estourny, Charles d’ Modeste Mignon A Man of Business

Falleix, Jacques The Government Clerks The Thirteen

Finot, Andoche Cesar Birotteau A Bachelor’s Establishment A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Government Clerks A Start in Life Gaudissart the Great The Firm of Nucingen

Fouche, Joseph The Chouans The Gondreville Mystery

Gaillard, Theodore A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Beatrix The Unconscious Humorists

Gaillard, Madame Theodore Jealousies of a Country Town A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Bachelor’s Establishment Beatrix The Unconscious Humorists

Gaudissart, Felix Cousin Pons Cesar Birotteau Honorine Gaudissart the Great

Givry Letters of Two Brides The Lily of the Valley

Gobseck, Esther Van Gobseck The Firm of Nucingen A Bachelor’s Establishment

Gobseck, Sarah Van Gobseck Cesar Birotteau The Maranas The Member for Arcis

Godeschal, Marie A Bachelor’s Establishment A Start in Life Cousin Pons

Grandlieu, Duc Ferdinand de The Gondreville Mystery The Thirteen A Bachelor’s Establishment Modeste Mignon

Grandlieu, Duchesse Ferdinand de Beatrix A Daughter of Eve

Grandlieu, Mademoiselle de A Bachelor’s Establishment

Grandlieu, Vicomtesse de Colonel Chabert Gobseck

Grandlieu, Vicomte Juste de Gobseck

Grandlieu, Vicomtesse Juste de Gobseck A Daughter of Eve

Granville, Vicomte de The Gondreville Mystery A Second Home Farewell (Adieu) Cesar Birotteau A Daughter of Eve Cousin Pons

Granville, Baron Eugene de A Second Home

Grindot Cesar Birotteau Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Start in Life Beatrix The Middle Classes Cousin Betty

Herrera, Carlos Lost Illusions

Katt The Middle Classes

La Peyrade, Charles-Marie-Theodose de The Middle Classes

La Peyrade, Madame de The Middle Classes

Lebrun Cousin Pons

Lenoncourt-Givry, Duchesse de The Lily of the Valley Letters of Two Brides

Louchard Cousin Pons

Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier The Chouans The Seamy Side of History The Gondreville Mystery The Ball at Sceaux The Lily of the Valley Colonel Chabert The Government Clerks

Lousteau, Etienne A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Bachelor’s Establishment A Daughter of Eve Beatrix The Muse of the Department Cousin Betty A Prince of Bohemia A Man of Business The Middle Classes The Unconscious Humorists

Lupeaulx, Clement Chardin des The Muse of the Department Eugenie Grandet A Bachelor’s Establishment A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Government Clerks Ursule Mirouet

Madeleine Cousin Pons

Marron Lost Illusions

Massol The Magic Skin A Daughter of Eve Cousin Betty The Unconscious Humorists

Maufrigneuse, Duc de The Secrets of a Princess A Start in Life A Bachelor’s Establishment

Maufrigneuse, Duchesse de The Secrets of a Princess Modeste Mignon Jealousies of a Country Town The Muse of the Department Letters of Two Brides Another Study of Woman The Gondreville Mystery The Member for Arcis

Meynardie, Madame The Thirteen

Mirbel, Madame de Letters of Two Brides The Secrets of a Princess

Montcornet, Marechal, Comte de Domestic Peace Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Peasantry A Man of Business Cousin Betty

Nathan, Raoul Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Secrets of a Princess A Daughter of Eve Letters of Two Brides The Seamy Side of History The Muse of the Department A Prince of Bohemia A Man of Business The Unconscious Humorists

Nathan, Madame Raoul The Muse of the Department Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Government Clerks A Bachelor’s Establishment Ursule Mirouet Eugenie Grandet The Imaginary Mistress A Prince of Bohemia A Daughter of Eve The Unconscious Humorists

Navarreins, Duc de A Bachelor’s Establishment Colonel Chabert The Muse of the Department The Thirteen Jealousies of a Country Town The Peasantry The Country Parson The Magic Skin The Gondreville Mystery The Secrets of a Princess Cousin Betty

Nourrisson, Madame Cousin Betty The Unconscious Humorists

Nucingen, Baron Frederic de The Firm of Nucingen Father Goriot Pierrette Cesar Birotteau Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Another Study of Woman The Secrets of a Princess A Man of Business Cousin Betty The Muse of the Department The Unconscious Humorists

Nucingen, Baronne Delphine de Father Goriot The Thirteen Eugenie Grandet Cesar Birotteau Melmoth Reconciled Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Commission in Lunacy Modeste Mignon The Firm of Nucingen Another Study of Woman A Daughter of Eve The Member for Arcis

Peyrade The Gondreville Mystery

Poiret, the elder The Government Clerks Father Goriot A Start in Life The Middle Classes

Poiret, Madame (nee Christine-Michelle Michonneau) Father Goriot The Middle Classes

Portenduere, Vicomte Savinien de The Ball at Sceaux Ursule Mirouet Beatrix

Rastignac, Eugene de Father Goriot A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Ball at Sceaux The Commission in Lunacy A Study of Woman Another Study of Woman The Magic Skin The Secrets of a Princess A Daughter of Eve The Gondreville Mystery The Firm of Nucingen Cousin Betty The Member for Arcis The Unconscious Humorists

Rhetore, Duc Alphonse de A Bachelor’s Establishment A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Letters of Two Brides Albert Savarus The Member for Arcis

Rubempre, Lucien-Chardon de Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Government Clerks Ursule Mirouet

Schmucke, Wilhelm A Daughter of Eve Ursule Mirouet Cousin Pons

Sechard, David Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial At Paris

Sechard, Madame David Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial At Paris

Selerier Father Goriot

Serizy, Comte Hugret de A Start in Life A Bachelor’s Establishment Honorine Modeste Mignon

Serizy, Comtesse de A Start in Life The Thirteen Ursule Mirouet A Woman of Thirty Another Study of Woman The Imaginary Mistress

Tours-Minieres, Bernard-Polydor Bryond, Baron des The Seamy Side of History

Vernou, Felicien A Bachelor’s Establishment Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Daughter of Eve Cousin Betty

Vivet, Madeleine Cousin Pons

End of Project Gutenberg’s Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life, by Honore de Balzac