Chapter 18

“Great heavens! don’t call down blessings on _me_!” cried Petit-Claud. “It fills me with remorse; but to-day, I think, I have made full reparation. If I am a magistrate, it is entirely owing to you; and if anybody is to feel grateful, it is I. Good-bye.”

As time went on, Kolb changed his opinion of Séchard senior; and as for the old man, he took a liking to Kolb when he found that, like himself, the Alsacien could neither write nor read a word, and that it was easy to make him tipsy. The old “bear” imparted his ideas on vine culture and the sale of a vintage to the ex-cuirassier, and trained him with a view to leaving a man with a head on his shoulders to look after his children when he should be gone; for he grew childish at the last, and great were his fears as to the fate of his property. He had chosen Courtois the miller as his confidant. “You will see how things will go with my children when I am under ground. Lord! it makes me shudder to think of it.”

Old Séchard died in the month of March, 1929, leaving about two hundred thousand francs in land. His acres added to the Verberie made a fine property, which Kolb had managed to admiration for some two years.

David and his wife found nearly a hundred thousand crowns in gold in the house. The department of the Charente had valued old Séchard’s money at a million; rumor, as usual, exaggerating the amount of a hoard. Eve and David had barely thirty thousand francs of income when they added their little fortune to the inheritance; they waited awhile, and so it fell out that they invested their capital in Government securities at the time of the Revolution of July.

Then, and not until then, could the department of the Charente and David Séchard form some idea of the wealth of the tall Cointet. Rich to the extent of several millions of francs, the elder Cointet became a deputy, and is at this day a peer of France. It is said that he will be Minister of Commerce in the next Government; for in 1842 he married Mlle. Popinot, daughter of M. Anselme Popinot, one of the most influential statesmen of the dynasty, deputy and mayor of an arrondissement in Paris.

David Séchard’s discovery has been assimilated by the French manufacturing world, as food is assimilated by a living body. Thanks to the introduction of materials other than rags, France can produce paper more cheaply than any other European country. Dutch paper, as David foresaw, no longer exists. Sooner or later it will be necessary, no doubt, to establish a Royal Paper Manufactory; like the Gobelins, the Sèvres porcelain works, the Savonnerie, and the Imprimerie royale, which so far have escaped the destruction threatened by _bourgeois_ vandalism.

David Séchard, beloved by his wife, father of two boys and a girl, has the good taste to make no allusion to his past efforts. Eve had the sense to dissuade him from following his terrible vocation; for the inventor like Moses on Mount Horeb, is consumed by the burning bush. He cultivates literature by way of recreation, and leads a comfortable life of leisure, befitting the landowner who lives on his own estate. He has bidden farewell for ever to glory, and bravely taken his place in the class of dreamers and collectors; for he dabbles in entomology, and is at present investigating the transformations of insects which science only knows in the final stage.

Everybody has heard of Petit-Claud’s success as attorney-general; he is the rival of the great Vinet of Provins, and it is his ambition to be President of the Court-Royal of Poitiers.

Cérizet has been in trouble so frequently for political offences that he has been a good deal talked about; and as one of the boldest _enfants perdus_ of the Liberal party he was nicknamed the “Brave Cérizet.” When Petit-Claud’s successor compelled him to sell his business in Angoulême, he found a fresh career on the provincial stage, where his talents as an actor were like to be turned to brilliant account. The chief stage heroine, however, obliged him to go to Paris to find a cure for love among the resources of science, and there he tried to curry favor with the Liberal party.

As for Lucien, the story of his return to Paris belongs to the _Scenes of Parisian_ life.

ADDENDUM

Note: Eve and David is the part three of a trilogy. Part one is entitled Two Poets and part two is A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. In other addendum référénces parts one and three are usually combined under the title Lost Illusions.

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Cérizet Two Poets A Man of Business Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life The Middle Classes

Chardon, Madame (nee Rubempré) Two Poets Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Châtelet, Sixte, Baron du Two Poets A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life The Thirteen

Châtelet, Marie-Louise-Anais de Nègrepelisse, Baronne du Two Poets A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Government Clerks

Cointet, Boniface Two Poets The Firm of Nucingen The Member for Arcis

Cointet, Jean Two Poets

Collin, Jacques Father Goriot A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life The Member for Arcis

Conti, Gennaro Beatrix

Courtois Two Poets

Courtois, Madame Two Poets

Hautoy, Francis du Two Poets

Herrera, Carlos Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Marron Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Marsay, Henri de The Thirteen The Unconscious Humorists Another Study of Woman The Lily of the Valley Father Goriot Jealousies of a Country Town Ursule Mirouet A Marriage Settlement A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Letters of Two Brides The Ball at Sceaux Modeste Mignon The Secrets of a Princess The Gondreville Mystery A Daughter of Eve

Métivier The Government Clerks The Middle Classes

Milaud The Muse of the Department

Nucingen, Baron Frederic de The Firm of Nucingen Father Goriot Pierrette Cesar Birotteau A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life Another Study of Woman The Secrets of a Princess A Man of Business Cousin Betty The Muse of the Department The Unconscious Humorists

Nucingen, Baronne Delphine de Father Goriot The Thirteen Eugenie Grandet Cesar Birotteau Melmoth Reconciled A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Commission in Lunacy Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life Modeste Mignon The Firm of Nucingen Another Study of Woman A Daughter of Eve The Member for Arcis

Petit-Claud Two Poets

Pimentel, Marquis and Marquise de Two Poets

Postel Two Poets

Prieur, Madame Two Poets

Rastignac, Baron and Baronne de (Eugène’s parents) Father Goriot Two Poets

Rastignac, Eugène de Father Goriot A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life The Ball at Sceaux The Commission in Lunacy A Study of Woman Another Study of Woman The Magic Skin The Secrets of a Princess A Daughter of Eve The Gondreville Mystery The Firm of Nucingen Cousin Betty The Member for Arcis The Unconscious Humorists

Rubempré, Lucien-Chardon de Two Poets A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Government Clerks Ursule Mirouet Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Séchard, Jerome-Nicholas Two Poets

Séchard, David Two Poets A Distinguished Provincial At Paris Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Séchard, Madame David Two Poets A Distinguished Provincial At Paris Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Senonches, Jacques de Two Poets

Senonches, Madame Jacques de Two Poets

Touches, Mademoiselle Felicite des Beatrix A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Bachelor’s Establishment Another Study of Woman A Daughter of Eve Honorine Beatrix The Muse of the Department

Victorine Massimilla Doni Letters of Two Brides Gaudissart II