第38章

The count, though rather tall and constitutionally slender, had of late acquired some protuberance of stomach, but he "restrained it to the majestic," as Brillat-Savarin once said.His clothes were always so well made, that he kept about his whole person an air of youth, something active and agile, due no doubt to his habits of exercise,--fencing, riding, and hunting.Maxime possessed all the physical graces and elegances of aristocracy, still further increased by his personally superior bearing.His long, Bourbonine face was framed by whiskers and a beard, carefully kept, elegantly cut, and black as jet.

This color, the same as that of his abundant hair, he now obtained by an Indian cosmetic, very costly and used in Persia, the secret of which he kept to himself.He deceived the most practised eye as to the white threads which for some time past had invaded his hair.The remarkable property of this dye, used by Persians for their beards only, is that it does not render the features hard; it can be shaded by indigo to harmonize well with the individual character of the skin.

It was this operation that Madame Mollot may have seen,--though people in Arcis, by way of a jest, still ask themselves what it was that Madame Mollot saw.

Maxime had a very handsome forehead, blue eyes, a Greek nose, a pleasant mouth, and a well-cut chin; but the circle of his eyes was now marked with numberless lines, so fine that they might have been traced by a razor and not visible at a little distance.His temples had similar lines.The face was also slightly wrinkled.His eyes, like those of gamblers who have sat up innumerable nights, were covered with a glaze, but the glance, though it was thus weakened, was none the less terrible,--in fact, it terrified; a hidden heat was felt beneath it, a lava of passions not yet extinct.The mouth, once so fresh and rosy, now had colder tints; it was straight no longer, but inclined to the right,--a sinuosity that seemed to indicate falsehood.

Vice had twisted the lips, but the teeth were white and handsome.

These blemishes disappeared on a general view of his face and person.

His figure was so attractive that no young man could compete with Maxime when on horseback in the Bois, where he seemed younger and more graceful than the youngest and most graceful among them.The privilege of eternal youth has been possessed by several men in our day.

The count was all the more dangerous because he seemed to be easy and indolent, never showing the iron determination which he had about all things.This apparent indifference, which enabled him to abet a popular sedition for the purpose of strengthening the authority of a prince with as much ability as he would have bestowed upon a court intrigue, had a certain grace.People never distrust calmness and uniformity of manner, especially in France, where we are accustomed to a great deal of movement and stir about the smallest things.

The count, who was dressed in the fashion of 1839, wore a black coat, a cashmere waistcoat of dark blue embroidered with tiny flowers of a lighter blue, black trousers, gray silk stockings, and varnished leather shoes.His watch, placed in one of his waistcoat pockets, was fastened by an elegant chain to a button-hole.

"Rastignac," he said, accepting the cup of tea which the pretty Madame de Rastignac offered him, "will you come with me to the Austrian ambassador's?""My dear fellow, I am too recently married not to go home with my wife.""That means that later--" said the young countess, turning round and looking at her husband.

"Later is the end of the world," replied Maxime."But I shall certainly win my cause if I take Madame for a judge."With a charming gesture, the count invited the pretty countess to come nearer to him.After listening a few moments and looking at her mother, she said to Rastignac:--"If you want to go to the embassy with Monsieur de Trailles, mamma will take me home."A few moments later the Baronne de Nucingen and the Comtesse de Rastignac went away together.Maxime and Rastignac followed a little later, and when they were both seated in the count's carriage, the latter said:--"What do you want of me, Maxime? Why do you take me by the throat in this way? What did you say to my wife?""I told her I had something to say to you.You are a lucky fellow, you are! You have ended by marrying the only heiress of the Nucingen millions--after twenty years at hard labor.""Maxime!"

"But I! here am I, exposed to the doubts of everybody.A miserable coward like du Tillet dares to ask if I have the courage to kill myself! It is high time for me to settle down.Does the ministry want to get rid of me, or does it not? You ought to know.At any rate, you must find out," continued Maxime, making a gesture with his hand to silence Rastignac."Here is my plan: listen to it.You ought to serve me, for I have served you, and can serve you again.The life I live now is intolerable; I want an escape from it.Help me to a marriage which shall bring me half a million.Once married, appoint me minister to some wretched little republic in America.I'll stay there long enough to make my promotion to the same post in Germany legitimate.If I am worth anything, they will soon take me out of it; if I am not worth anything, they can dismiss me.Perhaps I may have a child.If so, I shall be stern with him; his mother will be rich; I'll make him a minister, perhaps an ambassador.""Here is my answer," said Rastignac."An incessant battle is going on --greater than common people who are not in it have any idea of--between power in its swaddling-clothes and power in its childhood.