Joseph Balsamo (54 page)
” Have you read much ? “
” Too much : but I shall re-read.”
The old man looked at Gilbert in astonishment.
” Yes ; I read all that fell in my way, whether good or bad ; I devoured all. Ah, if I had only had some one to direct me what I ought to forget, and what I ought to remember ! But excuse me, sir ; I was forgetting that, although your conversation is delightful to me, it does not therefore follow that mine must be so to you. You are herborizing, and I, perhaps, interfere with your occupation.”
Gilbert made a movement as if to withdraw, but at the same time with the greatest desire to be detained. The little gray eyes of the stranger were fixed on him, and they seemed to read his heart.
” No,” said he, ” my box is almost full ; I only want a few mosses ; I have been told that there are some very beautiful hair-mosses in this quarter.”
” Stay, stay,” said Gilbert. “I think I have seen what you want on a rock just now.”
” Far from this ? “
” Not more than fifty paces.”
” But how do you know that description of moss ? “
” I have lived almost all my life in the woods, sir ; and then the daughter of the gentleman at whose house I was brought up was fond of botany ; she had a herbal, and under each plant the name was written in her own hand. I have often looked at the plants and the writing, and then I knew them when I saw them again in the woods.”
” Then you felt a taste for botany ? “
” Oh, sir, whenever I heard Nicole say Nicole was the waiting-maid of Mademoiselle Andre when I heard Nicole say that her mistress had been trying in vain to
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find some particular plant I asked her to get me the form of that plant. Then, without knowing why I had asked for it, Mademoiselle Andre would frequently sketch it in a moment, and Nicole would bring the drawing to me. I would then scour the fields, meadows, and woods until I had found the plant in question. When found, I dug it up and planted it in the lawn, where Mademoiselle Andre could see it, and, full of joy, she would exclaim, on discovering it, ‘ How strange ! Here is the very plant which I have been searching for everywhere.’”
The old man looked at Gilbert with even more attention than he had yet bestowed on him ; and if Gilbert, on reflecting on the purport of what he had said, had not cast down his eyes and blushed, he would have seen that this attention was mingled with an expression of tender interest.
” “Well, young man,” said he, ” continue to study botany; it will lead by a short route to a knowledge of medicine. God has made nothing in vain, and one day or other the utility of each plant will be distinctly marked in the book of science. Learn first to know simples, afterward you can study their properties.”
” Are there not schools in Paris ? “
“Yes, and even some gratuitous ones. The school of surgery, for instance, is one of the benefits which we owe to the present reign.”
” I shall follow the course prescribed in it.”
“Nothing can be more easy, for your parents, seeing your inclinations, will no doubt provide you an adequate maintenance.”
” I have no parents ; but I am not afraid, I can provide for myself by my labor.”
” Certainly ; and as you have read Eousseau’s works, you know that he says that every man, even a prince, ought to be taught some manual trade.”
” I have not read ‘ Emile.’ I think it is in ‘ Emile ‘ he has made that recommendation ? “
” It is.”
” I have heard the Baron de Taverney turn that advice
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into ridicule, and regret that he had not made his son a carpenter. “
” And what did he make him ? “
” An officer.”
The old man smiled.
” Yes, our nobles are all so. Instead of teaching their children any trade by which life might be preserved, they teach them the trade of killing. When a revolution comes, and exile after revolution, they will be forced to beg their bread from foreigners, or sell them their swords, which is still worse. You, however, are not the son of a noble ; you know a trade, I presume ? “
” Sir, I have already told you I know nothing. Besides, I must confess that I have always had an invincible repugnance for all labors requiring strong, rough movements of the body.”
“Ah !” said the old man, “you are lazy.”
” Oh, no, I am not lazy. Instead of putting me to the labor of a mechanic, place me in a room half dark, and give me books, and you shall see whether I will not work day and night at the labor of my own choosing. “
The stranger looked at the young man’s white and slender hands.
“It is a sort of predisposition or instinct ‘ said he. ” Sometimes this repugnance for manual labor leads to a good result ; but it must be well directed. Well,” continued he, ” if you have not been at college, you have at least been at school ? “
Gilbert shook his head.
” You can read and write ? “
“My mother had jast time, before she died, to teach me to read. My poor mother, seeing that I was not strong, always said, He will never make a good workman ; he must be a priest or a learned man.’ When I showed any distaste for my lessons, she would say, ‘ Learn to read, Gilbert, and you will not have to cut wood, drive a team, or break stones.’ So I commenced to learn, but unfortunately I could scarcely read when she died.”
” And who taught you to write ? “
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“I taught myself.”
” You taught yourself ? “
” Yes, with a stick which I pointed, and with some sand which I made fine by putting it through a sieve. For two years I wrote the letters which are used in printing, copying them from a book. I did not know that there were any others than these, and could soon imitate them very well. But one day, about three years ago, when Mademoiselle Andre had gone to a convent, the steward handed me a letter from her for her father, and then I saw that there existed other characters. Monsieur de Taverney, having broken the seal, threw the cover away ; I picked it up very carefully, and when the postman came again I made him read me what was on it. It was, * To the Baron de Taverney Maison Eouge, at his Chateau, near Pierrefitte.’ Under each of these letters I put its corresponding printed letter, and found that I had nearly all the alphabet. Then I imitated the writing, and in a week had copied the address ten thousand times, perhaps, and had taught myself to write. You see, sir, that I am not extravagant in my expectations, since I can read and write have read all that I could have reflected on all that I read why may I not, perhaps, find a man who requires my pen, a blind man who wants eyes, or a dumb man who wants a tongue ? “
” But you forget that then you will have a master, and that is what you do not want. A secretary or a reader is only a sort of upper servant after all.”
” That is true,” replied Gilbert, a little downcast, ” but no matter, I must accomplish my object. I shall stir the paving-stones of Paris, I shall turn water-carrier if necessary, but I will attain my object, or I shall die in attempting it and that will also be accomplishing an object.”
” Well,” replied the stranger, “yon seem indeed full of ardor and courage excellent qualities.”
” But have yon not a profession yourself, sir ? You are dressed like a man employed in the finances.”
The old man smiled sadly.
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410 JOSEPH BALSAMO.
” I have a profession ‘ said he ; ” every man ought to have one, but mine is a complete stranger to everything connected with finance. A financier would not come out herborizing.”
” Are you a herborist by profession, then ? “
” Almost.”
” Then you are poor ? “
” Yes.”
“It is the poor who are charitable, for poverty makes them wise, and good advice is better than a louis-d’or. Give me your advice, then.”
” I shall do more than that.”
Gilbert smiled.
” I suspected that,” said he.
” On how much do you think you could live ?”
” Oh, very little.”
” But perhaps you do not know how expensive living is in Paris ? “
” Yesterday I saw Paris for the first time from the hills near Luciennes.”
” Then you are not aware that living in great towns is dear ? “
” How much does it cost ? Give me an idea.”
” Willingly. For instance, what costs a sou in the country costs three sous in Paris.”
” Well,” said Gilbert, ” if I got any kind of shelter to rest in after my work, I should only need for my food six sous a day.”
“Ah !” cried the stranger, “that is what I like, young man. Come with me to Paris, and I shall find you an independent profession by which you may live.”
“Oh, sir!” cried Gilbert, with rapture; then, after a moment’s reflection, ” But it must really be an occupation, I must not live on alms.”
“Do not be afraid of that, my child. I am not rich enough to bestow much in charity, and not foolish enough to do it without knowing the object better.”
This little sally of misanthropy pleased Gilbert instead of giving him offense. ” That is right ! ” said he. ” I
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like such language. I accept yonr offer and thank vou for it. What shall I have to do with you ? “
” So you decide upon coming to Paris with me ? “
” Yes, sir, if you have no objection.”
” Of course I have no objection, since I make you the offer.”
”Nothing but to work. But you shall regulate the quantity of your work yourself. You are young, you ought to be happy and free even idle if you like, after you have gained the privileges of leisure,” said the stranger, smiling in spite of himself ; then raising his eyes to heaven, he exclaimed, with a deep sigh, ” Oh, youth ! oh, vigor ! oh, freedom ! ” Then he rose with the assistance of his stick.
As he said these words, an expression of deep and poetic melancholy overspread his fine features.
” And now,” he continued, in a more cheerful voice, ” now that you have got an employment, will you object to help me to fill another box with plants ? I have some sheets of paper here in which we can class the others according to their orders. But, by the bye, are you hungry ? I have still some bread.”
“Keep it for the afternoon if yon please, sir.”
” Well, but at least eat the cherries, they will be troublesome to carry with us.”
” On that account I shall eat them. But allow me to carry your box ; you will then be more at your ease, and I think, thanks to habit, my legs will tire yours.”
” Ah, see ! you bring me good fortune. There is the vicris hieracio’ides which I sought in vain until now, and just under your foot take care ! the cerastium aquaticum. Stop, stop ! Do not gather them. Oh, you are not a herborist yet. The one is too moist to be gathered now, the other not advanced enough. We can get the vicris hieracio’ides in the afternoon when we pass this way, and the cerastium a week hence. Besides, I wish to show it growing to a friend whose patronage I mean to solicit for you. And now, shoAv me the place where you saw the beautiful mosses.”
Gilbert walked on, the old man followed him, and both disappeared in the shades of the forest.
4 12 JOSEPH BALSAMO.
CHAPTER XLIV.
MONSIEUR JACQUES.
GILBERT, delighted at his good fortune, which had hitherto befriended him in his utmost need, walked on, turning from time to time toward the stranger, who had, by a few words, made him at once so submissive and docile. In this manner he led him to the spot where the mosses grew ; they were really splendid specimens, and when the old man had made a collection of them they went in search of other plants.
Gilbert was a much better botanist than he thought himself. Accustomed to the woods from his infancy, he was familiar with all the plants that grew in them ; but he knew them only by their vulgar names. “When he named them in that manner his companion told him the corresponding scientific term, which Gilbert, on finding another plant of the same family, would endeavor to re-peat. If he miscalled the Greek or Latin term, the stranger repeated it in syllables and gave him its deriva-tion. Then he explained how it was adapted to the nature of the plant ; and thus Gilbert learned not only its botan-ical name, but the Greek or Latin one by which Pliny, Linnaeus, or Jussieu had distinguished it.
From time to time he said, ” What a pity, sir, that I cannot gain my six sous by botanizing every day with you ! Oh, I should never rest a moment, and indeed I should not want even the six sous ; a piece of bread such as you gave me this morning would be sufficient for the whole day. I have just drunk from a spring of excellent water, as good as that at Taverney, and last night I slept under a tree here, and I am sure that I slept better than I should have clone under the roof of a chateau.”
” My friend,” replied the stranger, with a smile, ” winter
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will come ; the plants will be withered, and the spring frozen ; the north wind will whistle through the naked trees, instead of this gentle breeze which agitates their leaves. You will then require a shelter, clothes, and fire, and you must be economical with your six sous that you may obtain them ‘
Gilbert sighed, gathered more plants, and asked more questions.
They spent thus the greater part of the day in the woods of Almay, Plessis-Piquet, and Clamart-sous-Mendon.
Gilbert, according to his usual custom, soon became familiar with his companion, who questioned him with admirable address ; but there was in the young man something distrustful and circumspect, and he revealed as little as possible of his past life.
At Chatillon the stranger bought some bread and milk, but it was with difficulty he prevailed upon Gilbert to take the half of his purchase. Then, refreshed, they set out for Paris, that they might enter it while it was yet daylight.
The young man’s heart beat high at the mere thought of being in Paris, and he could not conceal his emotion when, from the hill of Vanvres, he perceived St. Genevieve, the Invalides, Notre Dame, and that vast sea of houses whose rolling billows seemed to lave the declivities of Montmartres, Belleville, and Menil Montant.