Honoré Balzac - The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts

The General

No, you're only Godard.

Godard

Godard de Rimonville.

The General

Godard for short.

Godard

General, you are trying my patience.

The General As for me, it would try my patience to see a man, even if he were my son-in-law, deny his father; and your father, a right honest man, used himself to drive his beeves from Caen to Poissy, and all along the road was known as Godard – Father Godard.

Godard

He was highly thought of.

The General He was, in his own class. But I see what's the matter; as his cattle provided you with an income of forty thousand francs, you are counting upon other animals to give you the name of De Rimonville.

Godard Now come, General, you had better consult Mlle. Pauline; she belongs to her own epoch – that she does. We are now in the year 1829 and Charles X. is king. She would sooner hear the valet call out, as she left a ballroom, "the carriage of Madame de Rimonville," than, "the carriage of Madame Godard."

The General Well, if such silliness as this pleases my daughter, it makes no difference to me. For, after all, you would be the one they'd poke fun at, my dear Godard.

Godard

De Rimonville.

The General Godard, you are a good fellow, you are young, you are rich, you say that you won't pay your court to women, but that your wife shall be the queen of your house. Well, if you gain her consent you can have mine; for bear in mind, Pauline will only marry the man she loves, rich or poor. There may be one exception, but that doesn't concern you. I would prefer to attend her funeral rather than take her to the registry office to marry a man who was a son, grandson, brother, nephew, cousin or connection of one of the four or five wretches who betrayed – you know what my religion is —

Godard

Betrayed the Emperor. Yes, everyone knows your creed, General.

The General God, first of all; then France or the Emperor – It is all the same to me. Lastly, my wife and children! Whoever meddles with my gods becomes my enemy; I would kill him like a hare, remorselessly. My catechism is short, but it is good. Do you know why, in the year 1816, after their cursed disbanding of the army of the Loire, I took my little motherless child and came here, I, colonel of the Young Guard, wounded at Waterloo, and became a cloth manufacturer of Louviers?

Godard

I suppose you didn't wish to hold office under them.

The General

No, because I did not wish to die as a murderer on the scaffold.

Godard

What do you mean?

The General If I had met one of those traitors, I should have finished his business for him. Even to-day, after some fifteen years, my blood boils if I read their names in the newspaper or anyone mentions them in my presence. And indeed, if I should meet one of them, nothing would prevent me from springing at his throat, tearing him to pieces, strangling him —

Godard

You would do right. (Aside) I must humor him.

The General Yes, sir, I would strangle him! And if my son-in-law were to ill-treat my dear child, I would do the same to him.

Godard

Ah!

The General I shouldn't wish him to be altogether under her thumb. A man ought to be king in his own house, as I am here.

Godard (aside)

Poor man! How he deceives himself!

The General

Did you speak?

Godard I said, General, that your threat had no terrors for me! When one has nothing but a wife to love, he loves her well.

The General Quite right, my dear Godard. And now with regard to the marriage settlement?

Godard

Oh, yes!

The General

My daughter's portion consists of —

Godard

Consists of —

The General It comprises her mother's fortune and the inheritance of her uncle Boncoeur. It will be undivided, for I give up my rights to it. This will amount to three hundred and fifty thousand francs and a year's interest, for Pauline is twenty-two.

Godard This will make up three hundred and sixty-seven thousand five hundred francs.

The General

No.

Godard

Why not?

The General

It will be more!

Godard

More?

The General

Four hundred thousand francs. (Godard seems astonished.) I make up the difference! But when I die there will be nothing more coming to her.

Do you understand?

Godard

I do not understand.

The General

I am very much attached to little Napoleon.

Godard

You mean the young Duke of Reichstadt?

The General No, my son whom they would enter in the register only under the name of Leon; but I had inscribed here (he places his hand upon his heart) the name of Napoleon! Do you see I must provide for him and his mother?

Godard (aside)

Especially for his mother; she'll take care of that!

The General

What are you saying? If you don't agree with me, out with it!

Godard (aside) If I did so, we should find ourselves in the law courts. (Aloud) I agree, and will back you in everything, General.

The General

Good for you! And I'll tell you why, my dear Godard.

Godard

De Rimonville.

The General Godard, I prefer Godard. I'll tell you why. After having commanded the grenadiers of the Young Guard, I, General Comte de Grandchamp, now weave the cloth for their uniforms.

Godard This is very commendable! You should keep on storing up, General, so that your widow may not be left without a fortune.

The General

She is an angel, Godard!

Godard

De Rimonville.

The General Godard, she is an angel, to whom you are indebted for the education of your intended, whom she has moulded after her own image. Pauline is a pearl, a jewel; she has never left this home; she is as pure and innocent as she was in her cradle.

Godard

General, let me admit that Mlle. Pauline is beautiful!

The General

I am quite sure of that.

Godard She is very beautiful; but there are numbers of beautiful girls in Normandy, some of them very rich, much richer than she is. Well now, you'll scarcely believe how the mothers and fathers of these heiresses run after me! It is scarcely decent. But it amuses me immensely; I visit their chateaus; they overwhelm me with attentions —

The General

I said he was conceited!

Godard Oh, I am quite aware that it is not for my sake! I don't delude myself as to that; it is for my unmortgaged pastures; for my savings, and for my habit of living within my income. Do you know what it is that makes me seek an alliance with you above all others?

The General

No.

Godard

There are certain rich would-be fathers-in-law who promise to obtain from his Majesty a decree, by which I shall be created Comte de

Rimonville and Peer of France.

The General

You?

Godard

Yes, I.

The General Have you won any battles? Have you saved your country? Have you added to its glory? This is pitiful!

Godard Pitiful? (Aside) What shall I say? (Aloud) We differ in our views on this subject, but do you know why I prefer your adorable Pauline?

The General

I suppose it is because you love her.

Godard That is a matter of course; but it is also on account of the harmony, the tranquillity, the happiness which reign here! It is so delightful to enter a family of high honor, of pure, sincere, patriarchal manners! I am a man of observation.

The General

That is to say, you are inquisitive.

Godard Curiosity, General, is the mother of observation. I know the seamy side of the whole department.

The General

Really?

Godard Yes, really! In all the families of which I have spoken to you, I have seen some shabbiness or other. The public sees the decent exterior of irreproachable mothers of family, of charming young persons, of good fathers, of model uncles; they are admitted to the sacrament without confession, they are entrusted with the investments of others. But just learn their inner side, and it is enough to startle a police magistrate.