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CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 7I must confess that if ever I was shaken it was by this cleverwoman's seductions; but a yet stronger voice, that of my heart towhich I gave heed, combatted her sophistries; I declared to Duboisthat I was determined never to allow myself to be corrupted. "Verywell!" she replied, "become what you wish, I abandon you to yoursorry fate; but if ever you get yourself hanged, which is an endyou cannot avoid, thanks to the fatality which inevitably saves thecriminal by sacrificing the virtuous, at least remember beforedying never to mention us."

While we were arguing thus, Dubois' four companions weredrinking with the poacher, and as wine disposes the malefactor'sheart to new crimes and causes him to forget his old, our banditsno sooner learned of my resolution than, unable to make me theiraccomplice, they decided to make me their victim; their principles,their manners, the dark retreat we were in, the security theythought they enjoyed, their drunkenness, my age, my innocenceÄ everything encouraged them. They get up from table, theyconfer in whispers, they consult Dubois, doings whose lugubriousmystery makes me shiver with horror, and at last there comes anorder to me then and there to satisfy the desires of each of thefour; if I go to it cheerfully, each will give me a crown to helpme along my way; if they must employ violence, the thing will bedone all the same; but the better to guard their secret, oncefinished with me they will stab me, and will bury me at the foot ofyonder tree.

I need not paint the effect this cruel proposition had upon me,Madame, you will have no difficulty understanding that I sank to myknees before Dubois, I besought her a second time to be myprotectress: the low creature did but laugh at my tears: "Oh by God!" quoth she, "here's an unhappy little one. What! you shudderbefore the obligation to serve four fine big boys one afteranother? Listen to me," she added, after some reflection, "my swayover these dear lads is sufficiently great for me to obtain areprieve for you upon condition you render yourself worthy of it.""Alas ! Madame, what must I do ?" I cried through my tears;"command me; I am ready." "Join us, throw in your lot with us, andcommit the same deeds, without show of the least repugnance; eitherthat, or I cannot save you from the rest." I did not think myselfin a position to hesitate; by accepting this cruel condition Iexposed myself to further dangers, to be sure, but they were theless immediate; perhaps I might be able to avoid them, whereasnothing could save me from those with which I was actually menaced."I will go everywhere with you, Madame," was my prompt answer toDubois, "everywhere, I promise you; shield me from the fury ofthese men and I shall never leave your side while I live.""Children," Dubois said to the four bandits, "this girl is one ofthe company, I am taking her into it; I ask you to do her no ill,don't put her stomach off the m‚tier during her first days init; you see how useful her age and face can be to us; let's employthem to our advantage rather than sacrifice them to ourpleasures."

But such is the degree of energy in man's passions nothing cansubdue them. The persons I was dealing with were in no state toheed reason: all four surrounded me, devoured me with their fieryglances, menaced me in a still more terrible manner; they wereabout to lay hands on me, I was about to become their victim. "Shehas got to go through with it," one of them declared, "it's toolate for discussion: was she not told she must give proof ofvirtues in order to be admitted into a band of thieves ? and once alittle used, won't she be quite as serviceable as she is while avirgin ?" I am softening their expressions, you understand, Madame,I am sweetening the scene itself; alas! their obscenities were suchthat your modesty might suffer at least as much from beholding themunadorned as did my shyness.

A defenseless and trembling victim, I shuddered; I had barelystrength to breathe; kneeling before the quartet, I raised myfeeble arms as much to supplicate the men as to melt Dubois'heart.... "An instant," said one who went by the name ofCoeur-de-fer and appeared to be the band's chief, a man ofthirty-six years, of a bull's strength and bearing the face of asatyr; "one moment, friends: it may be possible to satisfy everyoneconcerned; since this little girl's virtue is so precious to herand since, as Dubois states it very well, this quality otherwiseput into action could become worth something to us, let's leave itto her; but we have got to be appeased; our mood is warm, Dubois,and in the state we are in, d'ye know, we might perhaps cut yourown throat if you were to stand between us and our pleasures; let'shave Therese instantly strip as naked as the day she came into theworld, and next let's have her adopt one after the other all thepositions we are pleased to call for, and meanwhile Dubois willsate our hungers, we'll burn our incense upon the altars' entranceto which this creature refuses us."

"Strip naked!" I exclaimed, "Oh Heaven, what is it thou dothrequire of me? When I shall have delivered myself thus to youreyes, who will be able to answer for me?..." But Coeur-de-fer, whoseemed in no humor either to grant me more or to suspend hisdesires, burst out with an oath and struck me in a manner so brutalthat I saw full well compliance was my last resort. He put himselfin Dubois' hands, she having been put by his in a disorder more orless the equivalent of mine and, as soon as I was as he desired meto be, having made me crouch down upon all fours so that Iresembled a beast, Dubois took in hand a very monstrous object andled it to the peristyles of first one and then the other ofNature's altars, and under her guidance the blows it delivered tome here and there were like those of a battering ram thundering atthe gates of a besieged town in olden days. The shock of theinitial assault drove me back; enraged, Coeur-de-fer threatened mewith harsher treatments were I to retreat from these; Dubois isinstructed to redouble her efforts, one of the libertines grasps myshoulders and prevents me from staggering before the concussions:they become so fierce I am in blood and am able to avoid not aone.

"Indeed," stammers Coeur-de-fer, "in her place I'd prefer toopen the doors rather than see them ruined this way, but she won'thave it, and we're not far from the capitulation.... Vigorously ...vigorously, Dubois...." And the explosive eruption of thisdebauchee's flames, almost as violent as a stroke of lightning,flickers and dies upon ramparts ravaged without being breached. Thesecond had me kneel between his legs and while Dubois administeredto him as she had to the other, two enterprises absorbed his entireattention: sometimes he slapped, powerfully but in a very nervousmanner, either my cheeks or my breasts; sometimes his impure mouthfell to sucking mine. In an instant my face turned purple, my chestred.... I was in pain, I begged him to spare me, tears leapt frommy eyes; they roused him, he accelerated his activities; he bit mytongue, and the two strawberries on my breasts were so bruised thatI slipped backward, but was kept from falling. They thrust metoward him, I was everywhere more furiously harassed, and hisecstasy supervened....

The third bade me mount upon and straddle two somewhat separatedchairs and, seating himself betwixt them, excited by Dubois, lyingin his arms, he had me bend until his mouth was directly below thetemple of Nature; never will you imagine, Madame, what this obscenemortal took it into his head to do; willy-nilly, I was obliged tosatisfy his every need.... Just Heaven! what man, no matter howdepraved, can taste an instant of pleasure in such things.... I didwhat he wished, inundated him, and my complete submission procuredthis foul man an intoxication of which he was incapable withoutthis infamy. The fourth attached strings to all parts of me towhich it was possible to tie them, he held the ends in his handsand sat down seven or eight feet from my body; Dubois' touches andkisses excited him prodigiously; I was standing erect: 'twas bysharp tugs now on this string, now on some other that the savageirritated his pleasures; I swayed, I lost balance again and again,he flew into an ecstasy each time tottered; finally, he pulled allthe cords at once, I fell to the floor in front of him: such washis design: and my fore-head, my breast, my cheeks received theproofs of a delirium he owed to none but this mania.

That is what I suffered, Madame, but at least my honor wasrespected even though my modesty assuredly was not. Their calmrestored, the bandits spoke of regaining the road, and that samenight we reached Tremblai with the intention of approaching thewoods of Chantilly, where it was thought a few good prizes might beawaiting us. Nothing equaled my despair at being obliged toaccompany such persons, and I was determined to part with them assoon as I could do so without risk. The following day we fell hardby Louvres, sleeping under haystacks; I felt in need of Dubois'support and wanted to pass the night by her side; but it seemed shehad planned to employ it otherwise than protecting my virtue fromthe attacks I dreaded; three of the thieves surrounded her andbefore my very eyes the abominable creature gave herself to allthree simultaneously. The fourth approached me; it was the captain."Lovely Therese," said he, "I hope you shall not refuse me at leastthe pleasure of spending the night with you?" and as he perceive myextreme unwillingness, "fear not," he went on; "we'll have a chattogether, and I will attempt nothing without your consent. "OTherese," cried he, folding me in his arms, " 'tis all foolishness,don't you know, to be so pretentious with us. Why are you concernedto guard your purity in our midst? Even were we to agree to respectit, could it be compatible with the interests of the band? No needto hide it from you, my dear; for when we settle down in cities, wecount on you to snare us some dupes."

"Why, Monsieur," I replied, "since it is certain I should preferdeath to these horrors, of what use can I be to you, and why do youoppose my flight?" "We certainly do oppose it, my girl,"Coeur-de-fer rejoined, "you must serve either our pleasures or ourinterests; your poverty imposes the yoke upon you, and you have gotto adapt to it. But, Therese, and well you know it, there isnothing in this world that cannot be somehow arranged: so listen tome, and accept the management of your own fate: agree to live withme, dear girl, consent to belong to me and be properly my own, andI will spare you the baneful role for which you are destined." "I,Sir, I become the mistress of a -"

"Say the word, Therese, out with it: a scoundrel, eh? Oh, Iadmit it, but I have no other titles to offer you; that our sortdoes not marry you are doubtless well aware: marriage is one of thesacraments, Therese, and full of an undiscriminating contempt forthem all, with none do we ever bother. However, be a littlereasonable; that sooner or later you lose what is so dear to you isan indispensable necessity, hence would it not be better tosacrifice it to a single man who thereupon will become your supportand protector, is that not better, I say, than to be prostituted toeveryone?" "But why must it be," I replied, "that I have no otheralternative?" "Because, Therese, we have got you, and because thestronger is always the better reason; La Fontaine made the remarkages ago. Truthfully," he continued rapidly, "is it not aridiculous extravagance to assign, as you do, such a great value tothe most futile of all things? How can a girl be so dull-witted asto believe that virtue may depend upon the somewhat greater orlesser diameter of one of her physical parts ? What difference doesit make to God or man whether this part be intact or tampered with?I will go further: it being the intention of Nature that eachindividual fulfill on this earth all of the purposes for which hehas been formed, and women existing only to provide pleasure formen, it is plainly to outrage her thus to resist the intention shehas in your regard. It is to wish to be a creature useless in thisworld and consequently one contemptible.

This chimerical propriety, which they have had the absurdity topresent to you as a virtue and which, since infancy, far from beinguseful to Nature and society, is an obvious defiance of the one andthe other, this propriety, I say, is no more than a reprehensiblestubbornness of which a person as mettlesome and full ofintelligence as you should not wish to be guilty. No matter;continue to hear me out, dear girl, I am going to prove my desireto please you and to respect your weakness. I will not by any meanstouch that phantom, Therese, whose possession causes all yourdelight; a girl has more than one favor to give, and one can offerto Venus in many a temple; I will be content with the mostmediocre; you know, my dear, near the Cyprean altar, there issituate an obscure grot into whose solitude Love retires, the moreenergetically to seduce us: such will be the altar where I willburn my incense; no disadvantages there, Therese; if pregnanciesaffright you, 'tis not in this manner they can come about, neverwill your pretty figure be deformed this way; the maidenhead socherished by you will be preserved unimpaired, and whatever be theuse to which you decide to put it, you can propose it unattainted.Nothing can betray a girl from this quarter, however rude ormultiple the attacks may be; as soon as the bee has left offsucking the pollen, the rose's calix closes shut again; one wouldnever imagine it had been opened.

There exist girls who have known ten years of pleasure this way,even with several men, women who were just as much married asanyone else after it all, and on their wedding nights they provedquite as virgin as could be wished. How many fathers, what amultitude of brothers have thuswise abused their daughters andsisters without the latter having become on that account any theless worthy of a later hymeneal sacrifice! How many confessors havenot employed the same route to satisfaction, without parentsexperiencing the mildest disquiet; in one word, 'tis the mystery'sasylum, 'tis there where it connects itself with love by ties ofprudence.... Need I tell you further, Therese, that although thisis the most secret temple it is howbeit the most voluptuous; whatis necessary to happiness is found nowhere else, and that easyvastness native to the adjacent aperture falls far short of havingthe piquant charms of a locale into which one does not enterwithout effort, where one takes up one's abode only at the price ofsome trouble; women themselves reap an advantage from it, and thosewhom reason compels to know this variety of pleasure, never pineafter the others. Try it, Therese, try, and we shall both becontented."