Sons of the Soil

H >> Honore de Balzac >> Sons of the Soil


Pere Guerbet, the collector of Soulanges, was the wit, that is to say,
the jovial companion of the little town, and a hero in Madame Soudry's
salon. Soudry's speech gives a fair idea of the opinion which now grew
up against the master of Les Aigues from Conches to Ville-aux-Fayes,
and wherever else the public mind could be reached and poisoned by
Gaubertin.

The installation of Sibilet took place in the autumn of 1817. The year
1818 went by without the general being able to set foot at Les Aigues,
for his approaching marriage with Mademoiselle de Troisville, which
was celebrated in January, 1819, kept him the greater part of the
summer near Alencon, in the country-house of his prospective
father-in-law. General Montcornet possessed, besides Les Aigues and a
magnificent house in Paris, some sixty thousand francs a year in the
Funds and the salary of a retired lieutenant-general. Though Napoleon
had made him a count of the Empire and given him the following arms, a
field quarterly, the first, azure, bordure or, three pyramids argent;
the second, vert, three hunting horns argent; the third, gules, a
cannon or on a gun-carriage sable, and, in chief, a crescent or; the
fourth, or, a crown vert, with the motto (eminently of the middle
ages!), "Sound the charge,"--Montcornet knew very well that he was the
son of a cabinet-maker in the faubourg Saint-Antoine, though he was
quite ready to forget it. He was eaten up with the desire to be a peer
of France, and dreamed of his grand cordon of the Legion of honor, his
Saint-Louis cross, and his income of one hundred and forty thousand
francs. Bitten by the demon of aristocracy, the sight of the blue
ribbon put him beside himself. The gallant cuirassier of Essling would
have licked up the mud on the Pont-Royal to be invited to the house of
a Navarreins, a Lenoncourt, a Grandlieu, a Maufrigneuse, a d'Espard, a
Vandenesse, a Verneuil, a Herouville, or a Chaulieu.

From 1818, when the impossibility of a change in favor of the
Bonaparte family was made clear to him, Montcornet had himself
trumpeted in the faubourg Saint-Germain by the wives of some of his
friends, who offered his hand and heart, his mansion and his fortune
in return for an alliance with some great family.

After several attempts, the Duchesse de Carigliano found a match for
the general in one of the three branches of the Troisville family,
--that of the viscount in the service of Russia ever since 1789, who had
returned to France in 1815. The viscount, poor as a younger son, had
married a Princess Scherbellof, worth about a million, but the arrival
of two sons and three daughters kept him poor. His family, ancient and
formerly powerful, now consisted of the Marquis de Troisville, peer of
France, head of the house and scutcheon, and two deputies, with
numerous offspring, who were busy, for their part, with the budget and
the ministries and the court, like fishes round bits of bread.
Therefore, when Montcornet was presented by Madame de Carigliano,--the
Napoleonic duchess, who was now a most devoted adherent of the
Bourbons, he was favorably received. The general asked, in return for
his fortune and tender indulgence to his wife, to be appointed to the
Royal Guard, with the rank of marquis and peer of France; but the
branches of the Troisville family would do no more than promise him
their support.

"You know what that means," said the duchess to her old friend, who
complained of the vagueness of the promise. "They cannot oblige the
king to do as they wish; they can only influence him."

Montcornet made Virginie de Troisville his heir in the marriage
settlements. Completely under the control of his wife, as Blondet's
letter has already shown, he was still without children, but Louis
XVIII. had received him, and given him the cordon of Saint-Louis,
allowing him to quarter his ridiculous arms with those of the
Troisvilles, and promising him the title of marquis as soon as he had
deserved the peerage by his services.

A few days after the audience at which this promise had been given,
the Duc de Barry was assassinated; the Marsan clique carried the day;
the Villele ministry came into power, and all the wires laid by the
Troisvilles were snapped; it became necessary to find new ways of
fastening them upon the ministry.

"We must bide our time," said the Troisvilles to Montcornet, who was
always overwhelmed with politeness in the faubourg Saint-Germain.

This will explain how it was that the general did not return to Les
Aigues until May, 1820.

The ineffable happiness of the son of a shop-keeper of the faubourg
Saint-Antoine in possessing a young, elegant, intelligent, and gentle
wife, a Troisville, who had given him an entrance into all the salons
of the faubourg Saint-Germain, and the delight of making her enjoy the
pleasures of Paris, had kept him from Les Aigues and made him forget
about Gaubertin, even to his very name. In 1820 he took the countess
to Burgundy to show her the estate, and he accepted Sibilet's accounts
and leases without looking closely into them; happiness never cavils.
The countess, well pleased to find the steward's wife a charming young
woman, made presents to her and to the children, with whom she
occasionally amused herself. She ordered a few changes at Les Aigues,
having sent to Paris for an architect; proposing, to the general's
great delight, to spend six months of every year on this magnificent
estate. Montcornet's savings were soon spent on the architectural work
and the exquisite new furniture sent from Paris. Les Aigues thus
received the last touch which made it a choice example of all the
diverse elegancies of four centuries.

In 1821 the general was almost peremptorily urged by Sibilet to be at
Les Aigues before the month of May. Important matters had to be
decided. A lease of nine years, to the amount of thirty thousand
francs, granted by Gaubertin in 1812 to a wood-merchant, fell in on
the 15th of May of the current year. Sibilet, anxious to prove his
rectitude, was unwilling to be responsible for the renewal of the
lease. "You know, Monsieur le comte," he wrote, "that I do not choose
to profit by such matters." The wood-merchant claimed an indemnity,
extorted from Madame Laguerre, through her hatred of litigation, and
shared by him with Gaubertin. This indemnity was based on the injury
done to the woods by the peasants, who treated the forest of Les
Aigues as if they had a right to cut the timber. Messrs. Gravelot
Brothers, wood-merchants in Paris, refused to pay their last quarter
dues, offering to prove by an expert that the woods were reduced
one-fifth in value, through, they said, the injurious precedent
established by Madame Laguerre.

"I have already," wrote Sibilet, "sued these men in the courts at
Ville-aux-Fayes, for they have taken legal residence there, on account
of this lease, with my old employer, Maitre Corbinet. I fear we shall
lose the suit."

"It is a question of income, my dear," said the general, showing the
letter to his wife. "Will you go down to Les Aigues a little earlier
this year than last?"

"Go yourself, and I will follow you when the weather is warmer," said
the countess, not sorry to remain in Paris alone.

The general, who knew very well the canker that was eating into his
revenues, departed without his wife, resolved to take vigorous
measures. In so doing he reckoned, as we shall see, without his
Gaubertin.



CHAPTER VIII

THE GREAT REVOLUTIONS OF A LITTLE VALLEY

"Well, Maitre Sibilet," said the general to his steward, the morning
after his arrival, giving him a familiar title which showed how much
he appreciated his services, "so we are, to use a ministerial phrase,
at a crisis?"

"Yes, Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet, following the general.

The fortunate possessor of Les Aigues was walking up and down in front
of the steward's house, along a little terrace where Madame Sibilet
grew flowers, at the end of which was a wide stretch of meadow-land
watered by the canal which Blondet has described. From this point the
chateau of Les Aigues was seen in the distance, and in like manner the
profile, as it were, of the steward's lodge was seen from Les Aigues.

"But," resumed the general, "what's the difficulty? If I do lose the
suit against the Gravelots, a money wound is not mortal, and I'll have
the leasing of my forest so well advertised that there will be
competition, and I shall sell the timber at its true value."

"Business is not done in that way, Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet.
"Suppose you get no lessees, what will you do?"

"Cut the timber myself and sell it--"

"You, a wood merchant?" said Sibilet. "Well, without looking at
matters here, how would it be in Paris? You would have to hire a
wood-yard, pay for a license and the taxes, also for the right of
navigation, and duties, and the costs of unloading; besides the salary
of a trustworthy agent--"

"Yes, it is impracticable," said the general hastily, alarmed at the
prospect. "But why can't I find persons to lease the right of cutting
timber as before?"

"Monsieur le comte has enemies."

"Who are they?"

"Well, in the first place, Monsieur Gaubertin."

"Do you mean the scoundrel whose place you took?"

"Not so loud, Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet, showing fear; "I beg
of you, not so loud,--my cook might hear us."

"Do you mean to tell me that I am not to speak on my own estate of a
villain who robbed me?" cried the general.

"For the sake of your own peace and comfort, come further away,
Monsieur le comte. Monsieur Gaubertin is mayor of Ville-aux-Fayes."

"Ha! I congratulate Ville-aux-Fayes. Thunder! what a nobly governed
town!--"

"Do me the honor to listen, Monsieur le comte, and to believe that I
am talking of serious matters which may affect your future life in
this place."

"I am listening; let us sit down on this bench here."

"Monsieur le comte, when you dismissed Gaubertin, he had to find some
employment, for he was not rich--"

"Not rich! when he stole twenty thousand francs a year from this
estate?"

"Monsieur le comte, I don't pretend to excuse him," replied Sibilet.
"I want to see Les Aigues prosperous, if it were only to prove
Gaubertin's dishonest; but we ought not to abuse him openly for he is
one of the most dangerous scoundrels to be found in all Burgundy, and
he is now in a position to injure you."

"In what way?" asked the general, sobering down.

"Gaubertin has control of nearly one third of the supplies sent to
Paris. As general agent of the timber business, he orders all the work
of the forests,--the felling, chopping, floating, and sending to
market. Being in close relations with the workmen, he is the arbiter
of prices. It has taken him three years to create this position, but
he holds it now like a fortress. He is essential to all dealers, never
favoring one more than another; he regulates the whole business in
their interests, and their affairs are better and more cheaply looked
after by him than they were in the old time by separate agents for
each firm. For instance, he has so completely put a stop to
competition that he has absolute control of the auction sales; the
crown and the State are both dependent on him. Their timber is sold
under the hammer and falls invariably to Gaubertin's dealers; in fact,
no others attempt now to bid against them. Last year Monsieur
Mariotte, of Auxerre, urged by the commissioner of domains, did
attempt to compete with Gaubertin. At first, Gaubertin let him buy the
standing wood at the usual prices; but when it came to cutting it, the
Avonnais workmen asked such enormous prices that Monsieur Mariotte was
obliged to bring laborers from Auxerre, whom the Ville-aux-Fayes
workmen attacked and drove away. The head of the coalition, and the
ringleader of the brawl were brought before the police court, and the
suits cost Monsieur Mariotte a great deal of money; for, besides the
odium of having convicted and punished poor men, he was forced to pay
all costs, because the losing side had not a farthing to do it with. A
suit against laboring men is sure to result in hatred to those who
live among them. Let me warn you of this; for if you follow the course
you propose, you will have to fight against the poor of this district
at least. But that's not all. Counting it over, Monsieur Mariotte, a
worthy man, found he was the loser by his original lease. Forced to
pay ready money, he was nevertheless obliged to sell on time;
Gaubertin delivered his timber at long credits for the purpose of
ruining his competitor. He undersold him by at least five per cent,
and the end of it is that poor Mariotte's credit is badly shaken.
Gaubertin is now pressing and harassing the poor man so that he is
driven, they tell me, to leave not only Auxerre, but even Burgundy
itself; and he is right. In this way land-owners have long been
sacrificed to dealers who now set the market-prices, just as the
furniture-dealers in Paris dictate values to appraisers. But Gaubertin
saves the owners so much trouble and worry that they are really
gainers."

"How so?" asked the general.

"In the first place, because the less complicated a business is, the
greater the profits to the owners," answered Sibilet. "Besides which,
their income is more secure; and in all matters of rural improvement
and development that is the main thing, as you will find out. Then,
too, Monsieur Gaubertin is the friend and patron of working-men; he
pays them well and keeps them always at work; therefore, though their
families live on the estates, the woods leased to dealers and
belonging to the land-owners who trust the care of their property to
Gaubertin (such as MM. de Soulanges and de Ronquerolles) are not
devastated. The dead wood is gathered up, but that is all--"

"That rascal Gaubertin has lost no time!" cried the general.

"He is a bold man," said Sibilet. "He really is, as he calls himself,
the steward of the best half of the department, instead of being
merely the steward of Les Aigues. He makes a little out of everybody,
and that little on every two millions brings him in forty to fifty
thousand francs a year. He says himself, 'The fires on the Parisian
hearths pay it all.' He is your enemy, Monsieur le comte. My advice to
you is to capitulate and be reconciled with him. He is intimate, as
you know, with Soudry, the head of the gendarmerie at Soulanges; with
Monsieur Rigou, our mayor at Blangy; the patrols are under his
influence; therefore you will find it impossible to repress the
pilferings which are eating into your estate. During the last two
years your woods have been devastated. Consequently the Gravelots are
more than likely to win their suit. They say, very truly: 'According
to the terms of the lease, the care of the woods is left to the owner;
he does not protect them, and we are injured; the owner is bound to
pay us damages.' That's fair enough; but it doesn't follow that they
should win their case."

"We must be ready to defend this suit at all costs," said the general,
"and then we shall have no more of them."

"You shall gratify Gaubertin," remarked Sibilet.

"How so?"

"Suing the Gravelots is the same as a hand to hand fight with
Gaubertin, who is their agent," answered Sibilet. "He asks nothing
better than such a suit. He declares, so I hear, that he will bring
you if necessary before the Court of Appeals."

"The rascal! the--"

"If you attempt to work your own woods," continued Sibilet, turning
the knife in the wound, "you will find yourself at the mercy of
workmen who will force you to pay rich men's prices instead of
market-prices. In short, they'll put you, as they did that poor Mariotte,
in a position where you must sell at a loss. If you then try to lease
the woods you will get no tenants, for you cannot expect that any one
should take risks for himself which Mariotte only took for the crown
and the State. Suppose a man talks of his losses to the government!
The government is a gentleman who is, like your obedient servant when
he was in its employ, a worthy man with a frayed overcoat, who reads
the newspapers at a desk. Let his salary be twelve hundred or twelve
thousand francs, his disposition is the same, it is not a whit softer.
Talk of reductions and releases from the public treasury represented
by the said gentleman! He'll only pooh-pooh you as he mends his pen.
No, the law is the wrong road for you, Monsieur le comte."

"Then what's to be done?" cried the general, his blood boiling as he
tramped up and down before the bench.

"Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet, abruptly, "what I say to you is not
for my own interests, certainly; but I advise you to sell Les Aigues
and leave the neighborhood."

On hearing these words the general sprang back as if a cannon-ball had
struck him; then he looked at Sibilet with a shrewd, diplomatic eye.

"A general of the Imperial Guard running away from the rascals, when
Madame la comtesse likes Les Aigues!" he said. "No, I'll sooner box
Gaubertin's ears on the market-place of Ville-aux-Fayes, and force him
to fight me that I may shoot him like a dog."

"Monsieur le comte, Gaubertin is not such a fool as to let himself be
brought into collision with you. Besides, you could not openly insult
the mayor of so important a place as Ville-aux-Fayes."

"I'll have him turned out; the Troisvilles can do that for me; it is a
question of income."

"You won't succeed, Monsieur le comte; Gaubertin's arms are long; you
will get yourself into difficulties from which you cannot escape."

"Let us think of the present," interrupted the general. "About that
suit?"

"That, Monsieur le comte, I can manage to win for you," replied
Sibilet, with a knowing glance.

"Bravo, Sibilet!" said the general, shaking his steward's hand; "how
are you going to do it?"

"You will win it on a writ of error," replied Sibilet. "In my opinion
the Gravelots have the right of it. But it is not enough to be in the
right, they must also be in order as to legal forms, and that they
have neglected. The Gravelots ought to have summoned you to have the
woods better watched. They can't ask for indemnity, at the close of a
lease, for damages which they know have been going on for nine years;
there is a clause in the lease as to this, on which we can file a bill
of exceptions. You will lose the suit at Ville-aux-Fayes, possibly in
the upper court as well, but we will carry it to Paris and you will
win at the Court of Appeals. The costs will be heavy and the expenses
ruinous. You will have to spend from twelve to fifteen thousand francs
merely to win the suit,--but you will win it, if you care to. The suit
will only increase the enmity of the Gravelots, for the expenses will
be even heavier on them. You will be their bugbear; you will be called
litigious and calumniated in every way; still, you can win--"

"Then, what's to be done?" repeated the general, on whom Sibilet's
arguments were beginning to produce the effect of a violent poison.

Just then the remembrance of the blows he had given Gaubertin with his
cane crossed his mind, and made him wish he had bestowed them on
himself. His flushed face was enough to show Sibilet the irritation
that he felt.

"You ask me what can be done, Monsieur le comte? Why, only one thing,
compromise; but of course you can't negotiate that yourself. I must be
thought to cheat you! We, poor devils, whose only fortune and comfort
is in our good name, it is hard on us to even seem to do a
questionable thing. We are always judged by appearances. Gaubertin
himself saved Mademoiselle Laguerre's life during the Revolution, but
it seemed to others that he was robbing her. She rewarded him in her
will with a diamond worth ten thousand francs, which Madame Gaubertin
now wears on her head."

The general gave Sibilet another glance still more diplomatic than the
first; but the steward seemed to take no notice of the challenge it
expressed.

"If I were to appear dishonest, Monsieur Gaubertin would be so
overjoyed that I could instantly obtain his help," continued Sibilet.
"He would listen with all his ears if I said to him: 'Suppose I were
to extort twenty thousand francs from Monsieur le comte for Messrs.
Gravelot, on condition that they shared them with me?' If your
adversaries consented to that, Monsieur le comte, I should return you
ten thousand francs; you lose only the other ten, you save
appearances, and the suit is quashed."

"You are a fine fellow, Sibilet," said the general, taking his hand
and shaking it. "If you can manage the future as well as you do the
present, I'll call you the prince of stewards."

"As to the future," said Sibilet, "you won't die of hunger if no
timber is cut for two or three years. Let us begin by putting proper
keepers in the woods. Between now and then things will flow as the
water does in the Avonne. Gaubertin may die, or get rich enough to
retire from business; at any rate, you will have sufficient time to
find him a competitor. The cake is too rich not to be shared. Look for
another Gaubertin to oppose the original."

"Sibilet," said the old soldier, delighted with this variety of
solutions. "I'll give you three thousand francs if you'll settle the
matter as you propose. For the rest, we'll think about it."

"Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet, "first and foremost have the forest
properly watched. See for yourself the condition in which the
peasantry have put it during your two years' absence. What could I do?
I am steward; I am not a bailiff. To guard Les Aigues properly you
need a mounted patrol and three keepers."

"I certainly shall have the estate properly guarded. So it is to be
war, is it? Very good, then we shall make war. That doesn't frighten
me," said Montcornet, rubbing his hands.

"A war of francs," said Sibilet; "and you may find that more difficult
than the other kind; men can be killed but you can't kill self-interest.
You will fight your enemy on the battle-field where all landlords are
compelled to fight,--I mean cash results. It is not enough to produce,
you must sell; and in order to sell, you must be on good terms with
everybody."

"I shall have the country people on my side."

"By what means?"

"By doing good among them."

"Doing good to the valley peasants! to the petty shopkeepers of
Soulanges!" exclaimed Sibilet, squinting horribly, by reason of the
irony which flamed brighter in one eye than in the other. "Monsieur le
comte doesn't know what he undertakes. Our Lord Jesus Christ would die
again upon the cross in this valley! If you wish an easy life, follow
the example of the late Mademoiselle Laguerre; let yourself be robbed,
or else make people afraid of you. Women, children, and the masses are
all governed by fear. That was the great secret of the Convention, and
of the Emperor, too."

"Good heavens! is this the forest of Bondy?" cried the general.

"My dear," said Sibilet's wife, appearing at this moment, "your
breakfast is ready. Pray excuse him, Monsieur le comte; he has eaten
nothing since morning for he was obliged to go to Ronquerolles to
deliver some barley."

"Go, go, Sibilet," said the general.

The next morning the count rose early, before daylight, and went to
the gate of the Avonne, intending to talk with the one forester whom
he employed and find out what the man's sentiments really were.

Some seven or eight hundred acres of the forest of Les Aigues lie
along the banks of the Avonne; and to preserve the majestic beauty of
the river the large trees that border it have been left untouched for
a distance of three leagues on both sides in an almost straight line.
The mistress of Henri IV., to whom Les Aigues formerly belonged, was
as fond of hunting as the king himself. In 1593 she ordered a bridge
to be built of a single arch with shelving roadway by which to ride
from the lower side of the forest to a much larger portion of it,
purchased by her, which lay upon the slopes of the hills. The gate of
the Avonne was built as a place of meeting for the huntsmen; and we
know the magnificence bestowed by the architects of that day upon all
buildings intended for the delight of the crown and the nobility. Six
avenues branched away from it, their place of meeting forming a
half-moon. In the centre of the semi-circular space stood an obelisk
surmounted by a round shield, formerly gilded, bearing on one side the
arms of Navarre and on the other those of the Countess de Moret.
Another half-moon, on the side toward the river, communicated with the
first by a straight avenue, at the opposite end of which the steep
rise of the Venetian-shaped bridge could be seen. Between two elegant
iron railings of the same character as that of the magnificent railing
which formerly surrounded the garden of the Place Royale in Paris, now
so unfortunately destroyed, stood a brick pavilion, with stone courses
hewn in facets like those of the chateau, with a very pointed roof and
window-casings of stone cut in the same manner. This old style, which
gave the building a regal air, is suitable only to prisons when used
in cities; but standing in the heart of forests it derives from its
surroundings a splendor of its own. A group of trees formed a screen,
behind which the kennels, an old falconry, a pheasantry, and the
quarters of the huntsmen were falling into ruins, after being in their
day the wonder and admiration of Burgundy.