Part 7
“What a destiny!” exclaimed Derville. “Taken out of the Foundling Hospital to die in the Infirmary for the Aged, after helping Napoleon between whiles to conquer Egypt and Europe.--Do you know, my dear fellow,” Derville went on after a pause, “there are in modern society three men who can never think well of the world--the priest, the doctor, and the man of law? And they wear black robes, perhaps because they are in mourning for every virtue and every illusion. The most hapless of the three is the lawyer. When a man comes in search of the priest, he is prompted by repentance, by remorse, by beliefs which make him interesting, which elevate him and comfort the soul of the intercessor whose task will bring him a sort of gladness; he purifies, repairs and reconciles. But we lawyers, we see the same evil feelings repeated again and again, nothing can correct them; our offices are sewers which can never be cleansed.
“How many things have I learned in the exercise of my profession! I have seen a father die in a garret, deserted by two daughters, to whom he had given forty thousand francs a year! I have known wills burned; I have seen mothers robbing their children, wives killing their husbands, and working on the love they could inspire to make the men idiotic or mad, that they might live in peace with a lover. I have seen women teaching the child of their marriage such tastes as must bring it to the grave in order to benefit the child of an illicit affection. I could not tell you all I have seen, for I have seen crimes against which justice is impotent. In short, all the horrors that romancers suppose they have invented are still below the truth. You will know something of these pretty things; as for me, I am going to live in the country with my wife. I have a horror of Paris.”
“I have seen plenty of them already in Desroches’ office,” replied Godeschal.
PARIS, February-March 1832.
ADDENDUM
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
Bonaparte, Napoleon The Vendetta The Gondreville Mystery Domestic Peace The Seamy Side of History A Woman of Thirty
Crottat, Alexandre Cesar Birotteau A Start in Life A Woman of Thirty Cousin Pons
Derville Gobseck A Start in Life The Gondreville Mystery Father Goriot Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
Desroches (son) A Bachelor’s Establishment A Start in Life A Woman of Thirty The Commission in Lunacy The Government Clerks A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life The Firm of Nucingen A Man of Business The Middle Classes
Ferraud, Comtesse The Government Clerks
Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie A Bachelor’s Establishment A Start in Life The Commission in Lunacy The Middle Classes Cousin Pons
Grandlieu, Vicomtesse de Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life Gobseck
Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier The Chouans The Seamy Side of History The Gondreville Mystery Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life The Ball at Sceaux The Lily of the Valley The Government Clerks
Murat, Joachim, Prince The Vendetta The Gondreville Mystery Domestic Peace The Country Doctor
Navarreins, Duc de A Bachelor’s Establishment The Muse of the Department The Thirteen Jealousies of a Country Town The Peasantry Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life The Country Parson The Magic Skin The Gondreville Mystery The Secrets of a Princess Cousin Betty
Vergniaud, Louis The Vendetta