登陆注册
15483500000099

第99章 IX. THE FINAL CONSEQUENCES(3)

Half a century after the events we have just related, Madame Ceres died surrounded with respect and veneration, in the eighty-ninth year of her age.

She had long been the widow of a statesman whose name she bore with dignity.

Her modest and quiet funeral was followed by the orphans of the parish and the sisters of the Sacred Compassion.

The deceased left all her property to the Charity of St. Orberosia.

"Alas!" sighed M. Monnoyer, a canon of St. Mael, as he received the pious legacy, "it was high time for a generous benefactor to come to the relief of our necessities. Rich and poor, learned and ignorant are turning away from us.

And when we try to lead back these misguided souls, neither threats nor promises, neither gentleness nor violence, nor anything else is now successful. The Penguin clergy pine in desolation; our country priests, reduced to following the humblest of trades, are shoeless, and compelled to live upon such scraps as they can pick up. In our ruined churches the rain of heaven falls upon the faithful, and during the holy offices they can hear the noise of stones falling from the arches. The tower of the cathedral is tottering and will soon fall. St. Orberosia is forgotten by the Penguins, her devotion abandoned, and her sanctuary deserted. On her shrine, bereft of its gold and precious stones, the spider silently weaves her web."

Hearing these lamentations, Pierre Mille, who at the age of ninety-eight years had lost nothing of his intellectual and moral power, asked, the canon if he did not think that St. Orberosia would one day rise out of this wrongful oblivion.

"I hardly dare to hope so," sighed M. Monnoyer.

"It is a pity!" answered Pierre Mille. "Orberosia is a charming figure and her legend is a beautiful one. I discovered the other day by the merest chance, one of her most delightful miracles, the miracle of Jean Violle. Would you like to hear it, M. Monnoyer?"

"I should be very pleased, M. Mille."

"Here it is, then, just as I found it in a fifteenth-century manuscript "Cecile, the wife of Nicolas Gaubert, a jeweller on the Pont-au-Change, after having led an honest and chaste life for many years, and being now past her prime, became infatuated with Jean Violle, the Countess de Maubec's page, who lived at the Hotel du Paon on the Place de Greve. He was not yet eighteen years old, and his face and figure were attractive. Not being able to conquer her passion, Cecile resolved to satisfy it. She attracted the page to her house, loaded him with caresses, supplied him with sweetmeats and finally did as she wished with him.

"Now one day, as they were together in the jeweller's bed, Master Nicholas came home sooner than he was expected. He found the bolt drawn, and heard his wife on the other side of the door exclaiming, 'My heart! my angel! my love!'

Then suspecting that she was shut up with a gallant, he struck great blows upon the door and began to shout 'Slut! hussy! wanton! open so that I may cut off your nose and ears!' In this peril, the jeweller's wife besought St.

Orberosia, and vowed her a large candle if she helped her and the little page, who was dying of fear beside the bed, out of their difficulty.

"The saint heard the prayer. She immediately changed Jean Violle into a girl.

Seeing this, Cecile was completely reassured, and began to call out to her husband: 'Oh! you brutal villain, you jealous wretch! Speak gently if you want the door to be opened.' And scolding in this way, she ran to the wardrobe and took out of it an old hood, a pair of stays, and a long grey petticoat, in which she hastily wrapped the transformed page. Then when this was done, 'Catherine, dear Catherine,' said she, loudly, 'open the door for your uncle; he is more fool than knave, and won't do you any harm." The boy who had become a girl, obeyed. Master Nicholas entered the room and found in it a young maid whom he did not know, and his wife in bed. 'Big booby,' said the latter to him, 'don't stand gaping at what you see. just as I had come to bed because had a stomach ache, I received a visit from Catherine, the daughter of my sister Jeanne de Palaiseau, with whom we quarrelled fifteen years ago. Kiss your niece. She is well worth the trouble.' The jeweller gave Violle a hug, and from that moment wanted nothing so much as to be alone with her a moment, so that he might embrace her as much as he liked. For this reason he led her without any delay down to the kitchen, under the pretext of giving her some walnuts and wine, and he was no sooner there with her than he began to caress her very affectionately. He would not have stopped at that if St. Orberosia had not inspired his good wife with the idea of seeing what he was about. She found him with the pretended niece sitting on his knee. She called him a debauched creature, boxed his ears, and forced him to beg her pardon. The next day Violle resumed his previous form."

Having heard this story the venerable Canon Monnoyer thanked Pierre Mille for having told it, and, taking up his pen, began to write out a list of horses that would win at the next race meeting. For he was a book-maker's clerk.

In the mean time Penguinia gloried in its wealth. Those who produced the things necessary for life, wanted them; those who did not produce them had more than enough. "But these," as a member of the Institute said, "are necessary economic fatalities." The great Penguin people had no longer either traditions, intellectual culture, or arts. The progress of civilisation manifested itself among them by murderous industry, infamous speculation, and hideous luxury. Its capital assumed, as did all the great cities of the time, a cosmopolitan and financial character. An immense and regular ugliness reigned within it. The country enjoyed perfect tranquillity. It had reached its zenith.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 被打造的女婿:身不由己

    被打造的女婿:身不由己

    人在江湖,身不由己。又所謂时势造英雄,天时,地利,人和,缺一不可。
  • 一杯苦茶浮生若梦

    一杯苦茶浮生若梦

    一杯苦茶品尽世间沧桑人生苦短浮生若梦妖也好神也罢不过是相生相成故事便由我一个没落的王展开四个人的旅途身上背负的是千年前的羁绊重要的是现在你肯听我讲借你一杯浮生陪我共饮这三百年的世事
  • 天行旧记

    天行旧记

    世间万物皆逃不过天道,六界至尊的上神亦是如此,只她较他人多了选择的余地。仙何如?魔何如?妖何如?鬼何如?人……何如?天道运转自有其律,佛曰因果,世间万物繁衍生息、湮灭消亡皆是走向了最终归处。天道无情,万物有情,如此便造就出世间百态,若为此故,愿醉看繁华,不诉离殇。
  • 只道是雾梦

    只道是雾梦

    在匆忙的人生中经历了多少故事,已经历风霜的心底有多少抹不尽的的记忆,而那记忆里全都是一个叫靳辰的影子。
  • 赌魔大主宰

    赌魔大主宰

    赌神?神你个毛线!也不知是倒霉还是幸运,居然被一个雷劈成了双瞳。他,赌城里一个没背景、没学历、没女人的三无小混混,却意外偶遇复仇归来的赌魔。“我可以教你赌术,但你不许对人说我是你师父!”“为毛?”“丢不起这个人!”好!既然你们都看不起老子,老子就给你们来场称霸赌坛的主宰狂想曲!…………望亲们笑纳并收藏,尽管在爽中畅读!交流群:419100905(花果山)
  • 陈爷说科学

    陈爷说科学

    科学的世界充满了神奇,许多人对周围的现象感到十分的好奇与疑惑。让陈爷谈论谈论周围的简单现象,引发出诸多神奇的科学道理。我会尽量通过简单现象来理论,即便无科学基础也可以看得懂!
  • 绝美魔妃,凤舞九天

    绝美魔妃,凤舞九天

    君紫语,21世纪杀手无冕之王。却被最爱的妹妹背叛。她,紫羽大陆的废材小姐,当她成了她强势归来,看她如何大发光彩。却遇到了一个自称喜欢自己的人,她又该怎么办。(男强女强,胜者为王,败者暖床)
  • 你比夏天更寂寞

    你比夏天更寂寞

    才短短一年的时间里,那个160多斤的丑女为了让她的好哥们喜欢上她,居然在短短一年的时间里瘦到了80斤,没人知道江楠这一年的时间里发生了什么,但她所做的一切都是为了能够骄傲的站在他的身边!如果他是落难王子的话,她就是王子的女骑士~
  • 最遥远的距离

    最遥远的距离

    “我们之间,相隔40075.7千米,这是地球上最远的距离了吧?”“恩,你一路向南,我一路向北。”“待我们回到原地,我们就缔结‘契约’。”“好……”那么,出发吧……【紫妖家族成员】
  • 隔壁男神请闭眼:二手娇妻太难追

    隔壁男神请闭眼:二手娇妻太难追

    他嚣张地将一张白纸黑字的合约扔在她的面前,她清楚的看见纸上写着,蓝天归还她,别墅,车,钱,全都归她,就连他这个人也归她。“你这是什么意思?”她什么时候签下这份合约?“默想带着我的球跑。”她倒!她压根就没有怀孕!她霸气十足走入教堂,将合约扔在他的面前,大声吆喝,“你不是我的人吗?”“默想跟我扯淡。”她倒!她到底跟他怎么了!这一场六年的恋爱,谁是谁的谁?