Complete Works of Emile Zola (1611 page)

Châtelard started out in a barouche, with Gourier and Leonore, the latter of whom offered a place to the Abbé Marie, so that she and the abbé sat side by side on the back seat, while the sub - prefect and the mayor sat amicably opposite to them. Captain Jollivet, who was driving himself in a hired tilbury, escorted Judge Gaume and his
fiancée
Lucille, whose father watched her turtle-dove airs and graces with uneasiness. Then the Mazelles, who had come in an immense landau, climbed into it, and departed to a luxurious afternoon nap, by which they finished cosseting their digestions. According to the rule of the house, they took no notice of Monsieur Jérôme except to bow to him, but he followed them with his gaze as a child’s eyes follow passing shadows, without any feeling whatever appearing on his face of stone.

Only the Delaveaus remained, and the manager of the Pit was very anxious to take Luc with him in Boisgelin’s victoria, in order, he said, to save him the walk. Nothing could be easier than to leave him at his own door, since they would pass before La Crêcherie. As there was only room for one on the back seat, Fernande would take Nise on her lap, and the nurse would sit beside the coachman. Delaveau insisted upon this with the utmost obligingness.

“I assure you, Monsieur Froment, it will be a real pleasure to me.”

Luc found himself obliged to accept. Boisgelin, with a great lack of tact, returned to the subject of the hunting-party, and was anxious to know if the young man would be still at Beauclair to take part in it. Luc replied that he did not know, but that he must not be counted upon. Suzanne listened to him with a smile. Then her eyes moistened at his brotherly sympathy, and she offered him her hand a second time.

“Au revoir, mon ami.”

And, as the victoria drove off, Luc met for the last time the eyes of Monsieur Jérôme, which seemed to pass from Fernande to Suzanne, as if he were slowly noting the total destruction with which his race was threatened. But was not this idea, after all, an illusion? had not the sentiment in his eyes been simply the solitary look which sometimes displayed itself in a vague smile when he looked at his dear granddaughter, the only person whom he loved, and whom he ever wished to recognize again?

Luc was not long in understanding, as the victoria rolled towards Beauclair, why Delaveau had been so anxious for his company. The latter began at once to question him on his sudden journey, on what he intended to do, and on the new management which Jordan intended to use for his blast-furnace, now that Laroche, the old engineer, was dead. One of Delaveau’s secret projects had always been to buy the blast-furnace, as well as the wide extent of land which separated La Crêcherie from his factory, and in this way to double the value of the Pit, and to swallow up La Crêcherie. But this would have to be a very gradual measure, and he had hoped to accomplish it by slow degrees, not expecting to have the necessary means in hand for a long time. Still, the sudden death of Laroche had aroused hi3 desire very keenly, and he said to himself that he could perhaps arrange the matter with Jordan, whom he knew to be buried in his studies and desirous of ridding himself of an undertaking which harassed him. This was why the sudden appearance of Luc, at Jordan’s bidding, had excited him so strongly; for he had feared that the young man might in some way act counter to his project, which he was not as yet prepared to discuss openly. His first inquiries, made with an appearance of good-fellowship, roused Luc’s suspicions, although he did not understand their purport, and he answered in an evasive manner.

“It is six months since I have seen Jordan, and I know nothing of his affairs.... His blast-furnace, I think, will go on easily enough under the management of some young engineer of ability.”

He observed that while he was speaking Fernande never took her eyes off him. Nise was asleep on her lap, and she sat silent and deeply interested, as though she divined that her fortune hung in the balance, while she kept her gaze fixed on the young man, in whom she had already scented an enemy. Had he not taken Suzanne’s part, and had she not seen them show mutual understanding when their hands met in so friendly a manner? She felt as if war was declared, and all her beauty expressed itself in a cold, fine smile, for she felt already sure of victory.

“Oh, I only spoke,” said Delaveau, beating a retreat, “because I was told that Jordan was thinking of devoting himself to some researches.... He has done some admirable things.”

“Admirable!” repeated Luc, with enthusiastic conviction.

The carriage stopped before La Crêcherie, and he alighted, thankful to find himself alone. He shook himself, as if to get rid of an immense dread, which was the outcome of the two days through which his benevolent destiny had led him since his arrival at Beauclair. He had seen the two aspects of that odious world whose structure was giving way from very rottenness: iniquitous poverty upon the one part, the poisonous prosperity upon the other. Labor, badly paid, held in contempt, and unjustly divided, was only a torment and a disgrace, when it ought to have brought honor, health, and happiness to man. His heart burned, his brain expanded under the birth of ideas which he had felt growing in him for months. His whole being was shaken by a need for justice, and he felt that he had now no other mission than to go to the aid of the unfortunate, and to cause justice to be done once more, in some degree, upon the earth.

CHAPTER IV

THE Jordans were to return to Beauclair the next day, Monday, by an evening train. Luc passed the morning walking in the park at La Crêcherie. This enclosure did not comprise more than fifty acres, but its exceptional situation, sparkling springs, and beautiful turf made it like a corner of paradise, and it was celebrated all through that part of the country.

The dwelling-house was a narrow brick building, with out any architectural style, having been built by a grandfather of the present Jordan, in the time of Louis XVIII., on the site of a former château burned down during the Revolution. It stood out against the steep towering slopes of the Monts Bleuses, which just here project so as to form a promontory at the spot where the Brias gorge opens out on to the vast plain of Roumagne. The park, thus sheltered from the north wind, and with a full southern exposure, seemed to be a conservatory of nature where there reigned a perpetual spring. The rocky walls were covered by luxuriant vegetation, thanks to the streams that descended them in every direction in sparkling cascades, while their steep sides were marked with little goat paths winding among the climbing plants and evergreen shrubs. The streams finally united into a slowly moving river, which watered the entire park, with its wide lawns and groups of magnificent trees, all of the strongest and most beautiful description. Jordan was anxious that this natural fertility should not be interfered with by man, and therefore he employed only one gardener and two assistants, who could do no more than keep it in good order in addition to caring for the kitchen garden and for a few beds of cultivated flowers before the front of the house.

Jordan’s father, Aurélian Jordan de Beauvisage, was born in 1790, on the eve of the Reign of Terror. The family of Beauvisage, one of the oldest and most distinguished in that part of the country, was even then on the decline, and of all their immense landed estate there remained to them, at that time, only a couple of farms since joined to the Combettes property, and about twenty-five hundred acres of bare rock and sterile soil, situated in a large tract on the lofty plateau of the Monts Bleuses. Aurélian was only three years old when his parents were forced to emigrate, abandoning their château in flames, one terrible night in winter. Up to 1816 he lived in Austria, where he lost first his mother and then his father, who left him in the most extreme poverty. He was brought up hardly in the school of manual labor, having bread to eat only when he earned it as a working mechanic employed in an iron-mine. He lived in this manner until he was twenty-six years old, and then, under Louis XVIII., he returned to Beauclair to find his ancestral property even more diminished by the loss of the two farms; it was, in fact, reduced to nothing but the actual park, except for the twenty-five hundred acres of rock, which nobody wanted. Misfortune had rendered him exceedingly democratic; he considered himself no longer a Beauvisage, and henceforward signed himself simply Jordan; he married the daughter of a very wealthy farmer of Saint-Cron, whose
dot
enabled him to build on the ashes of the former château the bourgeois brick mansion which his grandson now inhabited. But he had once been a working-man; his hands showed always the marks of toil, and he remembered the iron-mine in Austria, whose blast-furnaces he had once tended. In 1818 he sought for, and found, a similar mine among the desolate rocks of his own domain; he had had reason to suspect its existence, thanks to certain legendary recitals of his parents, and he set up his blast-furnace half-way up the mountain above La Crêcherie, it being the first one built in that part of the country. From that time he devoted himself exclusively to industrial pursuits, but without ever realizing very brilliant results; he was always in difficulties, for money was indispensable to the business, and his claim to gratitude from that part of the country lay in his having, by means of his blast-furnace, employed iron-workers who became founders of the present wealthy works, among others Blaise Qurignon, the forgeman who had founded the Pit in 1823.

Aurélian Jordan had only one son, Severin, who was thirty-five when his father died, and it was only after the death of the latter, in 1852, when his place was filled by the son, that the blast-furnace of La Crêcherie became of considerable importance. Severin had married a young lady named Françoise Michon, the daughter of a doctor of Magnolles, who proved herself a woman of sterling character and superior intelligence. She represented the activity, the wisdom, and the wealth of the house. Her husband was greatly beloved by her, and he relied upon her judgment in all things. Under her guidance he drove new galleries in the mine, increased the amount of ore extracted tenfold, and almost completely reconstructed the blast-furnace in order to provide it with all modern improvements. It was a matter of great regret, both to him and to his wife, that they had for a long time no children who could inherit their large fortune. They had been married ten years, and Severin was forty years old, when a son, whom they called Martial, was born to them, and ten years later a daughter, Sœurette. This belated addition to their family was the full completion of their happiness. Madame Jordan was, before all things, admirable as a mother, and she gave life to her son a second time by rescuing him from the jaws of death when it threatened him in the shape of a serious illness, from which he was saved by her devotion. It was from her that he inherited his intelligence and his goodness. Dr. Michon, the grandfather, was a humanitarian, an idealist with a divine charity, and a Saint-Simonian of the first water; he had retired from practice, and lived at La Crêcherie, where his daughter built for him the little cottage that Luc now occupied. There he lived until his death, amid his books, and in the full enjoyment of the sun and of the flowers. His son-in-law died soon after him, but up to the death of his daughter, which occurred five years later, La Crêcherie flourished in all the delights of constant prosperity and happiness.

Martial Jordan was thirty years old, and Sœurette twenty, when they were left orphans, and for five years they had lived alone. The former, in spite of his ill-health and his frequent illnesses, which he had survived only through his mother’s care and affection, had passed through the Ecole Polytechnique. But on his return to La Crêcherie he gave up all idea of an official position, and, being master of his own destiny, thanks to his large fortune, he devoted himself passionately to scientific research, along the lines then opening to students in the application of electricity. He built an immense laboratory at the side of his own house, set up a powerful motor in a neighboring shed, and then, becoming little by little more absorbed in his work, he ended by devoting himself almost entirely to realizing his idea of the melting of metals in electric furnaces, not only as a matter to be theoretically established, but to be utilized practically in the industrial works. From this time on he shut himself up completely, and lived the life of a hermit, entirely absorbed in his experiments, his great research, which became his very existence, and which afforded him his only motive for living or working. His little sister filled for him the place of his dead mother. Sœurette soon became his faithful guardian, his good angel, who was always on the watch, caring for him, and surrounding him with the gentle affection which was as necessary to him as the air he breathed. She assumed the entire management of their household, where they lived like two good comrades; she stood between him and all material cares; she even served him as secretary and laboratory assistant, noiselessly, gently, and with a tranquil smile. Fortunately the blastfurnace continued to work satisfactorily under the sole superintendence of the old engineer, Laroche, who had been there for more than thirty years, being, in fact, a legacy from the founder, Aurélian Jordan, and in this way the present Jordan, buried in his laboratory experiments, could afford to abstract himself completely from the realities around him. He let his trusty subordinate work the blast-furnace according to its accustomed routine, having ceased to occupy himself with possible improvements and advancements; indeed, he considered these things as relative and transitory, and therefore unimportant, since he himself was going to institute a radical change by the melting of iron by electricity, and this would eventually revolutionize all metallic industries. Sœurette was obliged to intervene and settle certain matters herself with Laroche at times when she knew that her brother’s brain was occupied with some research and was resolved that it should not be disturbed by outside influences. But the sudden death of Laroche had just thrown this well-regulated state of affairs into such disorder that Jordan, who considered himself to be very rich, and was wholly without money ambition, became very desirous of ridding himself of the blast-furnace altogether. He was aware of Delaveau’s wishes in the matter, and he would have entered into negotiations with him had not Sœurette, wiser than himself, persuaded him to consult Luc, in whom she had great confidence, before taking any steps. This was the occasion of the pressing summons that the young man had received, which had brought him so suddenly to Beauclair.