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| Honoré de Balzac Albert Savarus IntraText CT - Text |
As soon as he received this letter the good Vicar-General wrote to the
General of the Carthusian order, and this was the letter he received
"Brother Albert to Monsieur l'Abbe de Grancey,
Vicar-General of the Diocese of Besancon.
"I recognized your tender soul, dear and well-beloved Vicar-
General, and your still youthful heart, in all that the reverend
Father General of our Order has just told me. You have understood
the only wish that lurks in the depths of my heart so far as the
things of the world are concerned--to get justice done to my
feelings by her who has treated me so badly! But before leaving me
at liberty to avail myself of your offer, the General wanted to
know that my vocation was sincere; he was so kind as to tell me
his idea, on finding that I was determined to preserve absolute
silence on this point. If I had yielded to the temptation to
rehabilitate the man of the world, the friar would have been
rejected by this monastery. Grace has certainly done her work,
but, though short, the struggle was not the less keen or the less
painful. Is not this enough to show you that I could never return
to the world?
"Hence my forgiveness, which you ask for the author of so much
woe, is entire and without a thought of vindictiveness. I will
pray to God to forgive that young lady as I forgive her, and as I
shall beseech Him to give Madame de Rhetore a life of happiness.
Ah! whether it be death, or the obstinate hand of a young girl
madly bent on being loved, or one of the blows ascribed to chance,
must we not all obey God? Sorrow in some souls makes a vast void
through which the Divine Voice rings. I learned too late the
bearings of this life on that which awaits us; all in me is worn
out; I could not serve in the ranks of the Church Militant, and I
lay the remains of an almost extinct life at the foot of the
"This is the last time I shall ever write. You alone, who loved
me, and whom I loved so well, could make me break the law of
oblivion I imposed on myself when I entered these headquarters of
Saint Bruno, but you are always especially named in the prayers of
"Everything is for the best perhaps," thought the Abbe de Grancey.
When he showed this letter to Rosalie, who, with a pious impulse,
kissed the lines which contained her forgiveness, he said to her:
"Well, now that he is lost to you, will you not be reconciled to your
mother and marry the Comte de Soulas?"
"Only if Albert should order it," said she.
"But you see it is impossible to consult him. The General of the Order
would not allow it."
"No Carthusian sees any visitor. Besides, no woman but the Queen of
France may enter a Carthusian monastery," said the Abbe. "So you have
no longer any excuse for not marrying young Monsieur de Soulas."
"I do not wish to destroy my mother's happiness," retorted Rosalie.
"Satan!" exclaimed the Vicar-General.
Towards the end of that winter the worthy Abbe de Grancey died. This
good friend no longer stood between Madame de Watteville and her
daughter, to soften the impact of those two iron wills.
The event he had foretold took place. In the month of August 1837
Madame de Watteville was married to Monsieur de Soulas in Paris,
whither she went by Rosalie's advice, the girl making a show of
kindness and sweetness to her mother. Madame de Watteville believed in
this affection on the part of her daughter, who simply desired to go
to Paris to give herself the luxury of a bitter revenge; she thought
of nothing but avenging Savarus by torturing her rival.
Mademoiselle de Watteville had been declared legally of age; she was,
in fact, not far from one-and-twenty. Her mother, to settle with her
finally, had resigned her claims on les Rouxey, and the daughter had
signed a release for all the inheritance of the Baron de Watteville.
Rosalie encouraged her mother to marry the Comte de Soulas and settle
all her own fortune on him.
"Let us each be perfectly free," she said.
Madame de Soulas, who had been uneasy as to her daughter's intentions,
was touched by this liberality, and made her a present of six thousand
francs a year in the funds as conscience money. As the Comtesse de
Soulas had an income of forty-eight thousand francs from her own
lands, and was quite incapable of alienating them in order to diminish
Rosalie's share, Mademoiselle de Watteville was still a fortune to
marry, of eighteen hundred thousand francs; les Rouxey, with the
Baron's additions, and certain improvements, might yield twenty
thousand francs a year, besides the value of the house, rents, and
preserves. So Rosalie and her mother, who soon adopted the Paris style
and fashions, easily obtained introductions to the best society. The
golden key--eighteen hundred thousand francs-- embroidered on
Mademoiselle de Watteville's stomacher, did more for the Comtesse de
Soulas than her pretensions /a la/ de Rupt, her inappropriate pride,
or even her rather distant great connections.