Vautrin | Page 5

a warm
heart, and a cool head; in all matters that concern the sentiments on
which they live, men of that temper act promptly in carrying out their
ideas.
The Duchess But, dear aunt, do you know at what price he has granted
me the life of Fernand? Haven't I paid dearly for the assurance that his
days were not to be shortened? If I had persisted in maintaining my
innocence I should have brought certain death upon him; I have
sacrificed my good name to save my son. Any mother would have done
as much. You were taking care of my property here; I was alone in a
foreign land, and was the prey of ill-health, fever, and with none to
counsel me, and I lost my head; for since that time it has constantly
occurred to me that the duke would never have carried out his threats.
In making the sacrifice I did, I knew that Fernand would be poor and
destitute, without a name, and dwelling in an unknown land; but I knew
also that his life would be safe, and that some day I should recover him,
even if I had to search the whole world over! I felt so cheerful as I
came in that I forgot to give you the certificate of Fernand's birth,

which the Spanish ambassador's wife has at last obtained for me; carry
it about with you until you can place it in the hands of your confessor.
Mademoiselle de Vaudrey The duke must certainly have learnt the
measures you have taken in this matter, and woe be to your son! Since
his return he has been very busy, and is still busy about something.
The Duchess If I shake off the disgrace with which he has tried to cover
me, if I give up shedding tears in silence, be assured that nothing can
bend me from my purpose. I am no longer in Spain or England, at the
mercy of a diplomat crafty as a tiger, who during the whole time of our
emigration was reading the thoughts of my heart's inmost recesses, and
with invisible spies surrounding my life as by a network of steel;
turning my secrets into jailers, and keeping me prisoner in the most
horrible of prisons, an open house! I am in France, I have found you
once more, I hold my place at court, I can speak my mind there; I shall
learn what has become of the Vicomte de Langeac, I should prove that
since the Tenth of August[*] we have never met, I shall inform the king
of the crime committed by a father against a son who is the heir of two
noble houses. I am a woman, I am Duchesse de Montsorel, I am a
mother! We are rich, we have a virtuous priest for an adviser; right is
on our side, and if I have demanded the certificate of my son's birth--
[*] A noteworthy date in French history, August 10, 1792; the day of
the storming of the Tuileries.--J. W. M.
SCENE NINTH. The same persons, and the Duc de Montsorel (who
enters as the duchess pronounces the last sentence).
The Duke It is only for the purpose of handing it to me.
The Duchess Since when have you ventured to enter my apartment
without previously sending me word and asking my leave?
The Duke Since you broke the agreement we made. You swore to take
no steps to find this--your son. This was the sole condition on which I
promised to let him live.
The Duchess And is it not much more honorable to violate such an oath,
than to remain faithful to all others?
The Duke We are henceforth both of us released from our
engagements.
The Duchess Have you, up to the present day, respected yours?
The Duke I have, madame.
The Duchess Listen to him, aunt, and bear witness to this declaration.

Mademoiselle de Vaudrey But has it never occurred to you, my dear sir,
that Louise is innocent?
The Duke Of course you think so, Mademoiselle de Vaudrey. And what
would not I give to share your opinion! The duchess has had twenty
years in which to prove to me her innocence.
The Duchess For twenty years you have wrung my heart without pity
and without intermission.
The Duke Madame, unless you hand me this certificate, your Fernand
will have serious cause for alarm. As soon as you returned to France
you secured the document, and are trying to employ it as a weapon
against me. You desire to obtain for your son a fortune and a name
which do not belong to him; to secure his admission into a family,
whose race has up to my time been kept pure by wives of stainless