He appeared to regard his speeches
as mere exercises which would be of use to him later on. It was this
that puzzled and disheartened Felicite. She would have liked to see her
son dictating the law to the Civil Court of Plassans. At last she came
to entertain a very unfavourable opinion of her first-born. To her
mind this lazy fellow would never be the one to shed any lustre on the
family. Pierre, on the contrary, felt absolute confidence in him,
not that he had more intuition than his wife, but because external
appearances sufficed him, and he flattered himself by believing in
the genius of a son who was his living image. A month prior to the
Revolution of February, 1848, Eugene became restless; some special
inspiration made him anticipate the crisis. From that time forward he
seemed to feel out of his element at Plassans. He would wander about the
streets like a distressed soul. At last he formed a sudden resolution,
and left for Paris, with scarcely five hundred francs in his pocket.
Aristide, the youngest son, was, so to speak, diametrically opposed
to Eugene. He had his mother's face, and a covetousness and slyness of
character prone to trivial intrigues, in which his father's instincts
predominated. Nature has need of symmetry. Short, with a pitiful
countenance suggesting the knob of a stick carved into a Punch's head,
Aristide ferretted and fumbled everywhere, without any scruples, eager
only to gratify himself. He loved money as his eldest brother loved
power.
Pages:
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109