Justine

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4Until she reached the age of twenty-six, Madame de Lorsange madefurther brilliant conquests: she wrought the financial downfall ofthree foreign ambassadors, four Farmersgeneral, two bishops, acardinal, and three knights of the King's Order; but as it israrely one stops after the first offense, especially when it hasturned out very happily, the unhappy Juliette blackened herselfwith two additional crimes similar to the first: one in order toplunder a lover who had entrusted a considerable sum to her, ofwhich the man's family had no intelligence; the other in order tocapture a legacy of one hundred thousand crowns another one of herlovers granted her in the name of a third, who was charged to payher that amount after his death. To these horrors Madame deLorsange added three or four infanticides. The fear of spoiling herpretty figure, the desire to conceal a double intrigue, allcombined to make her resolve to stifle the proof of her debauchesin her womb; and these mis-deeds, like the others, unknown, did notprevent our adroit and ambitious woman from finding new dupes everyday. It is hence true that prosperity may attend conduct of thevery worst, and that in the very thick of disorder and corruption,all of what mankind calls happiness may shed itself bountifullyupon life; but let this cruel and fatal truth cause no alarm; lethonest folk be no more seriously tormented by the example we aregoing to present of disaster everywhere dogging the heels ofVirtue; this criminal felicity is deceiving, it is seeming only;independently of the punishment most certainly reserved byProvidence for those whom success in crime has seduced, do they notnourish in the depths of their soul a worm which unceasingly gnaws,prevents them from finding joy in these fictive gleams ofmeretricious well-being, and, instead of delights, leaves naught intheir soul but the rending memory of the crimes which have led themto where they are?

With what regards the luckless one fate persecutes, he has hisheart for his comfort, and the interior ecstasies virtues procurebring him speedy restitution for the injustice of men. Such was thestate of affairs with Madame de Lorsange when Monsieur de Corville,fifty, a notable wielding the influence and possessing theprivileges described further above, resolved entirely to sacrificehimself for this woman and to attach her to himself forever.Whether thanks to diligent attention, whether to maneuver, whetherto policy on the part of Madame de Lorsange, he succeeded, andthere had passed four years during which he dwelt with her,entirely as if with a legitimate wife, when the acquisition of avery handsome property not far from Montargis obliged both of themto go and spend some time in the Bourbonnais. One evening, when theexcellence of the weather had induced them to prolong their strollbeyond the bounds of their estate and toward Montargis, toofatigued, both, to attempt to return home as they had left, theyhalted at the inn where the coach from Lyon stops, with theintention of sending a man by horse to fetch them a carriage. In acool, low-ceilinged room in this house, looking out upon acourtyard, they took their ease and were resting when the coach wejust mentioned drew up at the hostelry. It is a commonplaceamusement to watch the arrival of a coach and the passengers'descent: one wagers on the sort of persons who are in it, and ifone has gambled upon a w***e, an officer, a few abbots and a monk,one is almost certain to win. Madame de Lorsange rises, Monsieur deCorville follows her; from the window they see the well-joltedcompany reel into the inn. There seemed to be no one left in thecarriage when an officer of the mounted constabulary, stepping tothe ground, received in his arms, from one of his comrades poisedhigh on top of the coach, a girl of twenty-six or twenty-seven,dressed in a worn calico jacket and swathed to the eyes in a greatblack taffeta mantle.

She was bound hand and foot like a criminal, and in such aweakened state, she would surely have fallen had her guards notgiven her support. A cry of surprise and horror escaped from Madamede Lorsange: the girl turned and revealed, together with theloveliest figure imaginable, the most noble, the most agreeable,the most interesting visage, in brief, there were there all thecharms of a sort to please, and they were rendered yet a thousandtimes more piquant by that tender and touching air innocencecontributes to the traits of beauty. Monsieur de Corville and hismistress could not suppress their interest in the miserable girl.They approached, they demanded of one of the troopers what theunhappy creature had done. "She is accused of three crimes,"replied the constable, "'tis a question of murder, theft and arson;but I wish to tell your lordship that my comrade and I have neverbeen so reluctant to

take a criminal into custody; she's the most gentle thing, d'yeknow, and seems to be the most honest too." "Oh, la," said Monsieurde Corville, "it might easily be one of those blunders so frequentin the lower courts... and where were these crimes committed ?"

"At an inn several leagues from Lyon, it's at Lyon she wastried; in accordance with custom she's going to Paris forconfirmation of the sentence and then will be returned to Lyon tobe executed." Madame de Lorsange, having heard these words, said inlowered voice to Monsieur de Corville, that she fain would havefrom the girl's own lips the story of her troubles, and Monsieur deCorville, who was possessed of the same desire, expressed it to thepair of guards and identified himself. The officers saw no reasonnot to oblige, everyone decided to stay the night at

Montargis; comfortable accomodations were called for; Monsieurde Corville declared he would be responsible for the prisoner, shewas unbound, and when she had been given something to eat, Madamede Lorsange, unable to control her very great curiosity, anddoubtless saying to herself, "This creature, perhaps innocent, is,however, treated like a criminal, whilst about me all isprosperity...

I who am soiled with crimes and horrors"; Madame de Lorsange Isay, as soon as she observed the poor girl to be somewhat restored,to some measure reassured by the caresses they hastened to bestowupon her, besought her to tell how it had fallen out that she, withso very sweet a face, found herself in such a dreadful plight. "Torecount you the story of my life, Madame," this lovely one indistress said to the Countess, "is to offer you the most strikingexample of innocence oppressed, is to accuse the hand of Heaven, isto bear complaint against the Supreme Being's will, is, in a sense,to rebel against His sacred designs... I dare not..." Tearsgathered in this interesting girl's eyes and, after having givenvent to them for a moment, she began her recitation in these terms.Permit me to conceal my name and birth, Madame; without beingillustrious, they are distinguished, and my origins did not destineme to the humiliation to which you see me reduced. When very youngI lost my parents; provided with the slender inheritance they hadleft me, I thought I could expect a suitable position and, refusingto accept all those which were not, I gradually spent, at Pariswhere I was born, the little I possessed; the poorer I became, themore I was despised; the greater became my need of support, theless I was able to hope for it; but from amongst all the severitiesto which I was exposed at the beginning of my woeful career, fromamongst all the terrible proposals that were made me, I will citeto you what befell me at the home of Monsieur Dubourg, one of thecapital's richest tradesmen.

The woman with whom I had lodgings had recommended him to me assomeone whose influence and wealth might be able to meliorate theharshness of my situation; after having waited a very long time inthis man's antechamber, I was admitted; Monsieur Dubourg, agedfortyeight, had just risen out of bed, and was wrapped in adressing gown which barely hid his disorder; they were about toprepare his coiffure; he dismissed his servants and asked me what Iwanted with him. "Alas, Monsieur," I said, greatly confused, "I ama poor orphan not yet fourteen years old and I have already becomefamiliar with every nuance of misfortune; I implore yourcommiseration, have pity upon me, I beseech you," and then I toldin detail of all my ills, the difficulty I was having to find aplace, perhaps I even mentioned how painful it was for me to haveto take one, not having been born for a menial's condition. Mysuffering throughout it all, how I exhausted the little substance Ihad... failure to obtain work, my hope he would facilitate mattersand help me find the wherewithal to live; in sum, I said everythingthat is dictated by the eloquence of wretchedness, always swift torise in a sensitive soul.... After having listened to me with manydistractions and much yawning, Monsieur Dubourg asked whether I hadalways been well-behaved. "I should be neither so poor nor soembarrassed, Monsieur," I answered him, "had I wished to cease tobe." "But," said Dubourg upon hearing that, "but what right haveyou to expect the wealthy to relieve you if you are in no wayuseful to them?" "And of what service are you speaking, Monsieur? Iasked nothing more than to render those decency and my years willpermit me fulfill."

"The services of a child like yourself are of no great use in ahousehold," Dubourg replied to me. "You have neither the age northe appearance to find the place you are seeking. You would bebetter advised to occupy yourself with giving men pleasure and tolabor to discover someone who will consent to take care of you; thevirtue whereof you make such a conspicuous display is worthless inthis world; in vain will you genuflect before its altars, itsridiculous incense will nourish you not at all. The thing whichleast flatters men, that which makes the least favorable impressionupon them, for which they have the most supreme contempt, is goodbehavior in your s*x; here on earth, my child, nothing but whatbrings in gain or insures power is accounted; and what does thevirtue of women profit us I It is their wantonness which serves andamuses us; but their chastity could not interest us less. When, tobe brief, persons of our sort give, it is never except to receive;well, how may a little girl like yourself show gratitude for whatone does for her if it is not by the most complete surrender of allthat is desired of her body!" "Oh, Monsieur," I replied, grownheavy of heart and uttering a sigh, "then uprightness andbenevolence are to be found in man no longer!" "Precious little,"Dubourg rejoined. "How can you expect them still to exist after allthe wise things that have been said and written about them? We haverid ourselves of this mania of obliging others gratuitously; it wasrecognized that charity's pleasures are nothing but sops thrown topride, and we turned our thoughts to stronger sensations; it hasbeen noticed, for example, that with a child like you, it isinfinitely preferable to extract, by way of dividends upon one'sinvestment, all the pleasures lechery is able to offer Ä muchbetter these delights than the very insipid and futile ones said tocome of the disinterested giving of help; his reputation for beinga liberal man, an alms-giving and generous man, is not, even at theinstant when he most enjoys it, comparable to the slightest sensualpleasure."