THE COMPLETE WORKS OF ÉMILE ZOLA. Эмиль Золя

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СКАЧАТЬ the daytime at his office and in the evening enjoyed the tranquillity of the home of the young couple, taking Joseph on his knees and playing with him for hours together. Fine had been able to rent an extra room on the fourth floor from the landlord, and made it comfortable for the young man whose life was in common with that of the young household; he lodged and took his meals with his brother, never went out, and seemed to care for nothing beyond this domestic felicity.

      This peaceful and affectionate life lasted for several weeks, and to see such an united and happy family, no one would ever have thought that it had been a victim to the most violent commotion a few months before.

      Sometimes, however, Philippe’s voice took the brief and irritated accents of former days. When he thought of M. de Cazalis the fever seized him again, and he spoke of making Blanche’s uncle disgorge.

      “We are cowards,” he said one evening to Marius, “we don’t know how to avenge ourselves. I ought to go and slap that man in the face and demand my son’s fortune.”

      Marius, whose calm and well-balanced mind enabled him to take a more sober view of the position, was quite alarmed at his brother’s sudden outbursts of passion.

      “And what good would it do,” he answered, “if you were to slap your enemy in the face? He would have you imprisoned again, that is all.”

      “But that man’s a thief! He’s keeping money that does not belong to him; he’s perhaps spending it for his own purposes. Ah! you’re a happy fellow, Marius, to be able to think of such things without getting in a rage. For my part I feel inclined to wrest this property, which by right should go to Joseph, away from him.”

      “I beg you not to do any more headstrong things. We are living peacefully enough at present. Do not spoil our happiness.”

      “Then you want me to renounce on behalf of my child, his mother’s inheritance?”

      “Eh! I prefer that you should renounce this inheritance, at least for the moment, rather than trouble our life again. Let us remain on the defensive and not attack. We are too weak, and shall be smashed at the first shock.”

      “I would like to see my son wealthy and powerful. I feel ambitious for him if not for myself.”

      “Your son is happy, we love him and will bring him up as an honest man. Believe me, he wants nothing, there would perhaps be more reason to pity him if you succeeded in making him a rich heir.”

      Conversations such as these frequently occurred between Philippe and Marius. The latter felt that M. de Cazalis was too powerful to be attacked with any likelihood of success; he understood that the former deputy would assume the offensive at the first opportunity, and he wished to reserve all his power for the defence. His most earnest desire was to make Blanche’s uncle forget the existence of Joseph and Philippe.

      Besides, he was urged by many reasons to preach disinterestedness to his brother. He feared that the latter on becoming wealthy would go crazy again. What he was dreaming of, moreover, for his nephew, was the same tranquil existence of a clerk as his own, and he did not think that he could prepare him a more agreeable future.

      He frequently said to himself: “This child will be poor and happy as I am, he will find a Fine who will afford him the same pleasure as I enjoy.” At the bottom of his heart he had decided that he would never claim a sou from M. de Cazalis.

      When Philippe pressed him too much he spoke to him of Blanche, and said that a scandal would kill that poor girl, for M. de Cazalis would not consent to being deprived of several hundreds of thousands of francs without revolutionizing all Marseille.

      It was thus that he restrained his brother, and prevented him from making a scene which might have caused irreparable misfortune.

      Briefly, Marius proved to Philippe that the time had not arrived to be avenged and claim the inheritance, and from that moment the existence of the family was even more peaceful. They had only one anxiety, they felt M. de Cazalis hovering round them in the dark, and they took every precaution to protect little Joseph against the attempts they dreaded.

      In this way they reached the commencement of February. Marius had his mind at ease, he was pleased to see his brother put up with an obscure and modest mode of life, and believed him for ever cured of his ambitious dreams, There was nothing in the young man’s conduct to alarm him, he was saying to himself that he had overcome his evil genius, when all at once Philippe took to going out alone and to absenting himself from his office for entire days.

      Marius trembled at the thought of their happiness being disturbed. He followed his brother in order to ascertain where he went, and he learnt that he was a member of a secret society, which, subject to impulsion coming no doubt from Paris, was actively at work propagating Republican ideas. This discovery upset him, he was in despair again at seeing his brother compromise himself and supply M. de Cazalis with arms which he might turn to terrible account. When he ventured to sermonize the conspirator, the latter answered:

      “Listen, I promised you not to be guilty of any follies on my own account, but I had no intention in doing so, of renouncing my own opinions. The people’s time has come and I should be a man unworthy of consideration if I were not to labour for what I believe to be the good of all.”

      And he added with a smile:

      “In future I shall have but one love and her name will be ‘Liberty’.”

      Marius endeavoured in vain to keep him at home in the evening beside little Joseph. He would listen to nothing, and the young household were obliged to submit in silence and despair to the ruin of their happiness.

      The truth was that a peaceful life did not suit Philippe. He had been able to live for two months in bourgeois tranquillity, but he now began to feel sick at heart. What he required was violent excitement, an existence full of danger and agitation, and he dashed with delight into the peril offered by a revolution that was imminent. He had always been a man of action and an ultra democrat. Embittered by suffering, having to avenge himself of the nobility, he accepted the hope of an insurrection with lively joy. And so, he resumed his blunt manner, made himself the leader of a party, urged the working classes on blindly to revolt and prepared the indigent population for the barricades that he saw in perspective.

      On Friday, 25th February, a thunderclap burst upon Marseille. News came of the overthrow of Louis Philippe and the proclamation of the Republic at Paris.

      The city was astounded. This population of commercial people who were conservatives by instinct, having no care beyond their material interests, was entirely devoted to the dynasty of the Orléans who for fifteen years had favoured, in a large measure, the development of commerce and industry.

      The opinion predominating at Marseille was that the best government was that which allows speculators the greatest liberty of action. Consequently the inhabitants were greatly alarmed at the announcement of a crisis which would naturally put a stop to business and bring about numerous bankruptcies by causing the credit on which most of the commercial houses alone existed, to be stopped.

      Under these circumstances Marseille received news of the Republic as a deplorable commercial disaster. The city felt wounded at heart, in its prosperity, by the insurrectional movement at Paris. The majority were in despair at the idea of losing the five-franc pieces they had hoarded up, and there were but few who felt a tremor at the word “Liberty” or whom it drew from the heavy slumber of wealth.

      Philippe had been too confident when he thought he could sow and develop Republican ideas among his fellow townsmen. СКАЧАТЬ