The Man with the broken Ear by Edmond About (phonics books .TXT) 📕

Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by HENRY HOLT, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York.


DEDICATION OF THE FIRST EDITION.[A]

DEAR LEYPOLDT:

You have not forgotten that nearly two years ago, before our business connection was thought of, this identical translation was 'respectfully declined' by you with that same courtesy, the exercise of which in frequent similar cases, each one of us now tries so hard to shove on the other's shoulders. I hope that your surprise on reading this note of dedication will not interfere with your forgiving the pertinacity with which, through it, I still strive to make the book yours .

H. H.

451 BROOME STREET, May 16, 1867.

[Footnote A: Published by Leypoldt & Holt.]


The Translator has placed a few explanatory Notes at the end of the volume. They are referred to by numbers in the text.


CHAPTER I.

WHEREIN THEY KILL THE FATTED CALF TO CELEBRATE THE RETURN OF A FRUGAL SON.


On the 18th of May, 1859, M. Renault, formerly professor of physics and chemistry, now a landed proprietor at Fontainebleau, and member of the Municipal Council of that charming little city, himself carried to the post-office the following letter:--


"To Monsieur Leon Renault, Civil Engineer, Berlin, Prussia.

(To be kept at the Post-Office till called for.)

"MY DEAR CHILD:


"The good news you sent us from St. Petersburg caused
us the greatest joy. Your poor mother had been ailing
since winter, but I had not spoken to you about it from
fear of making you uneasy while so far from home. As
for myself, I had not been very well; and there was yet
a third person (guess the name if you can!) who was
languishing from not seeing you. But content yourself,
my dear Leon: we have been recuperating more and more
since the time of your return is almost fixed. We begin
to believe that the mines of the Ural will not swallow
up that which is dearer to us than all the world. Thank
God! that fortune which you have so honorably and so
quickly made will not have cost your life, nor even
your health, since you tell us you have been growing
fat off there in the desert. If you have not finished
up all your business out there, so much the worse for
you: there are three of us who have sworn that you
shall never go back again. You will not find it hard to
accede, for you will be happy among us. Such, at least,
is the opinion of Clementine.... I forget that I was
pledged not to name her. Master Bonnivet, our excellent
neighbor, has not rested content with investing your
funds in a good mortgage, but has also drawn up, in his
leisure moments, a most edifying little indenture,
which now lacks nothing but your signature. Our worthy
mayor has ordered, on your account, a new official
scarf, which is on the way from Paris. You will have
the first benefit of it. Your apartment (which will
soon belong to a plural 'you') is elegant, in
proportion to your present fortune. You are to
occupy....; but the house has changed so in three
years, that my description would be incomprehensible to
you. M. Audret, the architect of the imperial chateau,
directed the work. He actually wanted to construct me a
laboratory worthy of Thénard or Duprez. I earnestly
protested against it, and said that I was not yet
worthy of one, as my celebrated work on the
Condensation of Gases had only reached the fourth
chapter. But as your mother was in collusion with the
old scamp of a friend, it has turned out that science
has henceforth a temple in our house--a regular
sorcerer's den, according to the picturesque expression
of your old Gothon: it lacks nothing, not even a
four-horse-power steam engine. Alas! what can I do with
it? I am confident, nevertheless, that the expenditure
will not be altogether lost to the world. You are not
going to sleep upon your laurels. Oh, if I had only had
your fortune when I had your youth! I would have
dedicated my days to pure science, instead of losing
the best part of them among those poor young men who
got nothing from my lectures but an opportunity to read
Paul de Kock. I would have been ambitious!--I would
have striven to connect my name with the discovery of
some great general law, or at least with the invention
of some very useful apparatus. It is too late now; my
eyes are worn out, and the brain itself refuses to
work. Take your turn, my boy! You are not yet
twenty-six, the Ural mines have given you the
wherewithal to live at ease, and, for yourself alone,
you have no further wants to satisfy; the time has come
to work for humanity. That you will do so, is the
strongest wish and dearest hope of your doting old
father, who loves you and who waits for you with open
arms.

"J. RENAULT.

"P. S. According to my calculations, this letter ought
to reach Berlin two or three days before you. You have
been already informed by the papers of the 7th inst. of
the death of the illustrious Humboldt. It is a cause of
mourning to science and to humanity. I have had the
honor of writing to that great man several times in my
life, and he once deigned to reply, in a letter which I
piously cherish. If you happen to have an opportunity to
buy some personal souvenir of him, a bit of his
handwriting or some fragment of his collections, you
will bring me a real pleasure."

A month after the departure of this letter, the son so eagerly looked for returned to the paternal mansion. M. and Mme. Renault, who went to meet him at the depot, found him taller, stouter, and better-looking in every way. In fact, he was no longer merely a remarkable boy, but a man of good and pleasing proportions. Leon Renault was of medium height, light hair and complexion, plump and well made. His large blue eyes, sweet voice, and silken beard indicated a nature sensitive rather than powerful. A very white, round, and almost feminine neck contrasted singularly with a face bronzed by exposure. His teeth were beautiful, very delicate, a little inclined backward, and very evenly shaped. When he pulled off his gloves, he displayed two small and rather pudgey hands, quite firm and yet pleasantly soft, neither hot nor cold, nor dry nor damp, but agreeable to the touch and cared-for to perfection.

As he was, his father and mother would not have exchanged him for the Apollo Belvedere. They embraced him rapturously, overwhelming him with a thousand questions, most of which he, of course, failed to answer. Some old friends of the family, a doctor, an architect, and a notary, had run to the depot with the good old people; each one of them in turn gave him a hug, and asked him if he was well, and if he had had a pleasant journey. He listened patiently and even joyfully to this common-place music whose words did not signify much, but whose melody went to the heart because it came from the heart.

They had been there a good quarter of an hour, the train had gone puffing on its way, the omnibuses of the various hotels had started one after another at a good trot up the street leading to the city, and the June sun seemed to enjoy lighting up this happy group of excellent people. But Madame Renault cried out all at once that the poor child must be dying of hunger, and that it was barbarous to keep him waiting for his dinner any longer. There was no use in his protesting that he had breakfasted at Paris, and that the voice of hunger appealed to him less strongly than that of joy. They all got into two carriages, the son beside his mother, the father opposite, as if he could not keep his eyes off his boy. A wagon came behind with the trunks, long boxes, chests, and the rest of the traveller's baggage. At the entrance of the town, the hackmen cracked their whips, the baggage-men followed the example, and this cheerful clatter drew the people to their doors and woke up for an instant the quietude of the streets. Madame Renault threw her glances right and left, searching out the spectators of her triumph, and saluting with most cordial affability people she hardly knew at all. And more than one mother saluted her, too, without knowing her; for there is no mother indifferent to such kinds of happiness, and, moreover, Leon's family was liked by everybody. And the neighbors, meeting each other, said with a satisfaction free from jealousy:

"That is Renault's son, who has been at work three years in the Russian mines, and now has come to share his fortune with his old parents."

Leon also noticed several familiar faces, but not all that he wished to see. For he bent over an instant to his mother's ear, saying: "And Clementine?" This word was pronounced so low and so close that M. Renault himself could not tell whether it was a word or a kiss. The good lady smiled tenderly, and answered but a single word: "Patience!" As if patience were a virtue very common among lovers!

The door of the house was wide open, and old Gothon was standing on the threshold.