LES MISERABLES - VOL 1- FANTINE (Completed)

Chapter 9

In order to furnish an idea of the private establishment of the Bishop of D——, and of the manner in which those two sainted women subordinated their actions, their thoughts, their feminine instincts even, which are easily alarmed, to the habits and purposes of the Bishop, without his even taking the trouble of speaking in order to explain them, we cannot do better than transcribe in this place a letter from Mademoiselle Baptistine to Madame the Vicomtess de Boischevron, the friend of her childhood. This letter is in our possession.

D——, Dec. 16, 18—.MY GOOD MADAM: Not a day passes without our speaking of you. It is ourestablished custom; but there is another reason besides. Just imagine,while washing and dusting the ceilings and walls, Madam Magloire hasmade some discoveries; now our two chambers hung with antique paperwhitewashed over, would not discredit a château in the style of yours.Madam Magloire has pulled off all the paper. There were things beneath.My drawing-room, which contains no furniture, and which we use forspreading out the linen after washing, is fifteen feet in height,eighteen square, with a ceiling which was formerly painted and gilded,and with beams, as in yours. This was covered with a cloth while thiswas the hospital. And the woodwork was of the era of our grandmothers.But my room is the one you ought to see. Madam Magloire has discovered,under at least ten thicknesses of paper pasted on top, some paintings,which without being good are very tolerable. The subject is Telemachusbeing knighted by Minerva in some gardens, the name of which escapesme. In short, where the Roman ladies repaired on one single night. Whatshall I say to you? I have Romans, and Roman ladies [here occurs anillegible word], and the whole train. Madam Magloire has cleaned it alloff; this summer she is going to have some small injuries repaired, andthe whole revarnished, and my chamber will be a regular museum. She hasalso found in a corner of the attic two wooden pier-tables of ancientfashion. They asked us two crowns of six francs each to regild them, butit is much better to give the money to the poor; and they are very uglybesides, and I should much prefer a round table of mahogany.I am always very happy. My brother is so good. He gives all he has tothe poor and sick. We are very much cramped. The country is trying inthe winter, and we really must do something for those who are in need.We are almost comfortably lighted and warmed. You see that these aregreat treats.My brother has ways of his own. When he talks, he says that a bishopought to be so. Just imagine! the door of our house is never fastened.Whoever chooses to enter finds himself at once in my brother's room. Hefears nothing, even at night. That is his sort of bravery, he says.He does not wish me or Madame Magloire feel any fear for him. He exposeshimself to all sorts of dangers, and he does not like to have us evenseem to notice it. One must know how to understand him.He goes out in the rain, he walks in the water, he travels in winter. Hefears neither suspicious roads nor dangerous encounters, nor night.Last year he went quite alone into a country of robbers. He wouldnot take us. He was absent for a fortnight. On his return nothing hadhappened to him; he was thought to be dead, but was perfectly well, andsaid, "This is the way I have been robbed!" And then he opened a trunkfull of jewels, all the jewels of the cathedral of Embrun, which thethieves had given him.When he returned on that occasion, I could not refrain from scolding hima little, taking care, however, not to speak except when the carriagewas making a noise, so that no one might hear me.At first I used to say to myself, "There are no dangers which will stophim; he is terrible." Now I have ended by getting used to it. I make asign to Madam Magloire that she is not to oppose him. He risks himselfas he sees fit. I carry off Madam Magloire, I enter my chamber, I prayfor him and fall asleep. I am at ease, because I know that if anythingwere to happen to him, it would be the end of me. I should go to thegood God with my brother and my bishop. It has cost Madam Magloiremore trouble than it did me to accustom herself to what she terms hisimprudences. But now the habit has been acquired. We pray together, wetremble together, and we fall asleep. If the devil were to enter thishouse, he would be allowed to do so. After all, what is there for usto fear in this house? There is always some one with us who is strongerthan we. The devil may pass through it, but the good God dwells here.This suffices me. My brother has no longer any need of saying a word tome. I understand him without his speaking, and we abandon ourselves tothe care of Providence. That is the way one has to do with a man whopossesses grandeur of soul.I have interrogated my brother with regard to the information which youdesire on the subject of the Faux family. You are aware that he knowseverything, and that he has memories, because he is still a verygood royalist. They really are a very ancient Norman family of thegeneralship of Caen. Five hundred years ago there was a Raoul de Faux, aJean de Faux, and a Thomas de Faux, who were gentlemen, and one of whomwas a seigneur de Rochefort. The last was Guy-Étienne-Alexandre, and wascommander of a regiment, and something in the light horse of Bretagne.His daughter, Marie-Louise, married Adrien-Charles de Gramont, son ofthe Duke Louis de Gramont, peer of France, colonel of the French guards,and lieutenant-general of the army. It is written Faux, Fauq, andFaoucq.Good Madame, recommend us to the prayers of your sainted relative,Monsieur the Cardinal. As for your dear Sylvanie, she has done well innot wasting the few moments which she passes with you in writing to me.She is well, works as you would wish, and loves me.That is all that I desire. The souvenir which she sent through youreached me safely, and it makes me very happy. My health is not so verybad, and yet I grow thinner every day. Farewell; my paper is at an end,and this forces me to leave you. A thousand good wishes.BAPTISTINE.P.S. Your grand nephew is charming. Do you know that he will soon befive years old? Yesterday he saw some one riding by on horseback whohad on knee-caps, and he said, "What has he got on his knees?" He is acharming child! His little brother is dragging an old broom about theroom, like a carriage, and saying, "Hu!"

As will be perceived from this letter, these two women understood how to mould themselves to the Bishop's ways with that special feminine genius which comprehends the man better than he comprehends himself. The Bishop of D——, in spite of the gentle and candid air which never deserted him, sometimes did things that were grand, bold, and magnificent, without seeming to have even a suspicion of the fact. They trembled, but they let him alone. Sometimes Madame Magloire essayed a remonstrance in advance, but never at the time, nor afterwards. They never interfered with him by so much as a word or sign, in any action once entered upon. At certain moments, without his having occasion to mention it, when he was not even conscious of it himself in all probability, so perfect was his simplicity, they vaguely felt that he was acting as a bishop; then they were nothing more than two shadows in the house. They served him passively; and if obedience consisted in disappearing, they disappeared. They understood, with an admirable delicacy of instinct, that certain cares may be put under constraint. Thus, even when believing him to be in peril, they understood, I will not say his thought, but his nature, to such a degree that they no longer watched over him. They confided him to God.

Moreover, Baptistine said, as we have just read, that her brother's end would prove her own. Madame Magloire did not say this, but she knew it.