old man goriot

Chapter 21
Several days passed, during which Rastignac enjoyed himself as much as he could.He dined with Madame de Nucingen almost every day, and accompanied her to society.He came back at three or four in the morning, got up at noon to wash up, and accompanied Danfina for a walk in the woods; he wasted a lot of time like this, not knowing every inch of time and every inch of money; accepting all kinds of admonitions and temptations of a luxurious life, the kind of fanaticism, as The calyx of the date palm eagerly absorbs mating pollen.He gambled and made huge bets, lost wildly and won wildly, and in the end he got into the habit of Parisian youths spending money.From his first winnings he returned fifteen hundred francs to his mother and sister, plus some nice presents.Although he had long claimed that he would move out of the Vogue apartment, he was still living there at the end of January, and he didn't know how to move.The principles of almost all young people's behavior seem to be inexplicable on the surface, but the reason is that they are young and they are crazy about pursuing pleasure.Whether poor or rich, there is never money to pay for the necessities of life, but there is always money to satisfy the whim.Generous, so long as credit is available; stingy when cash is required; and they squander what they can get, as if to avenge what they can't get.We can clearly state the problem. A college student cherishes his hat more than he cherishes his clothes.Tailors make a lot of money and are willing to pay on credit; hatters, whose profits are thin, are the most difficult kind of people they have to deal with.The young man sitting on the balcony of the theater, wearing a dazzling waistcoat, let the beautiful women see through the theater glass, but the socks on his feet are doubtful; the seller of socks is a moth in his wallet .This was the case with Rastignac at that time.There was always nothing for Madame Vauquer, but more than enough for vanity; the glory and ruin of his purse did not reconcile with the most natural expenses.Although the apartment smelled bad and often made him feel unrealistic; but to move out, wouldn't he have to pay the landlord a month's money and buy some furniture to furnish his dandy apartment?This can never be done.Rastignac would take some of the money he won to the jeweler and buy expensive gold watches and chains; later he would send it to the pawnshop, which was a deep and taciturn young man's friend, and it was he who asked for it. The method of gambling; but when it comes to paying for board and lodging and purchasing the essential appliances for a noble life, I am at a loss and have no courage.The daily necessities, the debts owed to meet his needs, no longer inspired him.Like most sleazy men, he waited until the last moment to pay what the townspeople considered sacred, and like Mirabeau, he never paid until the bread-account had become a menacing IOU.That's when Rastignac lost all his money and was in debt.College students begin to understand that this kind of life cannot survive without a fixed source of income.Although he was in a bad situation and felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, he still groaned and felt that he was reluctant to part with this life of pleasure and pleasure, and wanted to maintain it no matter what the price was.At the beginning, he pinned his hope of making a fortune on chance opportunities, but such opportunities have become illusory, and the actual obstacles are getting bigger and bigger.He caught a glimpse of the privacy of the de Nucingens' home, and at the same time he saw that, if love were to be turned into a means of prosperity, it would be necessary to suffer humiliation, to put aside all noble ideas, and to leave behind the atonement by which youth depended. noble thoughts.A life of splendor on the surface, but a conscience condemned, a moment's pleasure paid for by endless pain, costly; Like the Ma Daha in Ruyer's [53], he made the bed in the deep ditch and mud, but like Ma Daha, what he soiled was only his clothes.

"Did you kill the Mandarin?" Bianchon asked him one day when he left the dinner table.

"Not yet, still angry." He replied.

The medical students thought he was joking, but it was not.Eugene hadn't had dinner at the apartment for a long time, and he was in a daze during the meal that day; he had not left the dining room after dessert, and sat next to Mademoiselle Tayfan, and from time to time he would look at her meaningfully.Some of the guests were still eating walnuts at the table, and some were pacing up and down, continuing the conversations they had begun.As usual, morning and evening departures were casual, depending on how interested each person was in the conversation and how full they were after the meal.In winter, it was rare for the guests to leave before eight o'clock, and in the end there were only four women left; just now there were male guests present, and it was inconvenient for the women to interrupt, so they wanted to make up for it at this moment.Vautrin seemed eager to go out at first, and seeing Eugene's preoccupation, he couldn't help being surprised, so he stayed in the dining room where Eugene could not see, and Eugene thought he had gone.Later, instead of going with the last group of guests, he quietly hid in the living room.He saw what the college student was thinking and felt that the critical moment had come.

Rastignac was indeed in a certain predicament, as many young people must have been.Madame de Nucingen, whether she was passionate by nature or pretended to be passionate, resorted to Parisian sociability, which made Rastignac fascinated and miserable.She openly wanted to keep Madame de Beauseant's cousin with her, under the watchful eyes of all, but hesitated to give him all the rights he seemed to have.For a month, Eugene's senses were repeatedly teased by her, and finally his heart was touched.At the beginning of the friendship, the college student thought he was taking the initiative, but he did not know that Madame de Nucingen relied on tricks to catch up and mobilized all the good and evil feelings of Eugene.Is she planning something?No, women are always real even in their most fake, because they are so.At the beginning, Danfina let this young man catch him all at once, and she showed too much affection for him; maybe she instinctively wanted to take her dignity into consideration, so she wanted to take back the original concession, or she was willing to rein in the precipice.When a Parisian woman is driven by love and is about to rush down, she hesitates temporarily to try the heart of the person she will entrust to her life, which is only right and proper!All hopes of Madame de Nucingen had once been dashed, her devotion to a selfish young man was not cherished;Eugene's smugness in having succeeded so quickly might have given her the impression of a certain contempt which the strange relationship between the two of them had fostered.She probably wants to show a little majesty and a little dignity in front of a man of her age, because she has condescended for too long in front of the man who abandoned her in the past.Just because Eugene knew that she belonged to De Marsay, she did not want Eugene to regard herself as an easy-to-get woman.In short, after having been tossed by a real devil, a dandy, she found it indescribably sweet to walk in the flowery paradise of love; The caress of the fresh breeze may have been charming to her.True love must suffer for false love.As long as a man doesn't understand how many flowers can be destroyed in a young woman's heart by the first deception, then it is unfortunate; this kind of unreasonable phenomenon will abound in the future.Whatever the motives of Danfina, she was playing with Rastignac and took pleasure in it; perhaps because she knew that the university student loved her and knew that if she was happy as a queen, she would be able to shake off her lover's sorrow.Eugene, for the sake of self-respect, did not want to be defeated in his first battle, so he pursued him like a huntsman on his first Saint-Hubert's Day[55] and must catch a partridge.His anxiety, wounded self-esteem, and real and fake despair made him more and more unable to let go of this woman.All Paris believed that Madame de Nucingen belonged to him. In fact, he had made no new progress since the first day they met.He hadn't yet understood that the benefits of a woman's coquettishness sometimes outweighed the pleasure of her love, and so he felt angry.When a woman wants to welcome but refuses love, Rastignac can taste the fruits of the season. Those fruits are green, sour, and delicious in the mouth, but they are expensive.Sometimes, seeing that he was penniless and had no future, he ignored the voice of his conscience and couldn't help thinking of the fund-raising plan proposed to him by Vautrin, which was to marry Miss Tayfan.He was so poor again now that he could hardly help accepting the tricks of the dreaded sphinx whose gaze had always fascinated him.

When Poiret and Mademoiselle Michnot went upstairs to the room, Rastignac thought that besides himself, there was only Madame Vauquer and Madame Couture, who was drowsy by the fireplace, knitting a woolen sleeve. Looking at Miss Taiyifan affectionately, she lowered her eyes.

"Do you have anything to worry about? Monsieur Eugene." Vidoline asked him after a moment of silence.

"Which man does not worry!" replied Rastignac, "we young men, if we could be sure that the sacrifices we are always ready to make will be rewarded with loyal love from others, perhaps we will never worry. gone."

Miss Tayfan only gave him an unambiguous glance as an answer.

"Miss, today you think that you can guarantee your heart; but do you dare to say that it will never change in the future?"

A smile flitted across the lips of the poor girl, which seemed to radiate from the soul and brightened her face; Eugene was startled, not expecting to cause such a strong emotional shock in her.

"What! Tomorrow you will be rich and happy, and a large fortune will fall on your head from the clouds. Will you still love a poor boy you liked when you were in distress?"

She nodded gracefully.

"A wretched young man?"

Another nod.

"What are you talking about?" exclaimed Madame Vauquer.

"Don't disturb us," Eugene responded, "we're talking very congenially."

"Could it be that M. Chevalier Eugene de Rastignac and Mademoiselle Védoline Taypin are swearing each other?" said Vautrin, who appeared unexpectedly at the door of the dining room, in his rough voice.

"Oh! You startled people," said Madame Couture and Madame Vauquer in unison.

"The more you choose, the worse it will be." Eugene said with a smile.Vautrin's voice made him feel terribly uncomfortable, as he had never felt before.

"You two, don't play tricks!" said Mrs. Couture. "Girl, let's go upstairs to our rooms."

Madame Vauquer went up-stairs with the two lodgers, to spend the evening with them, so as to save fuel for her lamp.At this moment, only Eugene and Vautrin were left facing each other.

"I knew you'd get to this point," the fellow said quietly to him, "but listen! I'm understanding, just like everyone else. Don't make up your mind just now, because you're not in the mood. Well. You are in debt. I don't want you to come to me out of impulse or disappointment. I want you to decide with reason. You need a few thousand francs. Well, do you want it?"

The devil took out the wallet from his pocket, pulled out three banknotes, and waved them in front of the college student's eyes.At that time, Eugene's situation was terrible.He lost the bet and owed two thousand francs to the Marquis de Arjuda and the Count de Trail.He could not afford the money, and he dared not go to the party at Madame de Resto's house in the evening, although everyone was there waiting for him.It was a casual party, with snacks and tea, but six thousand francs could be lost at the whist table.

"Sir," Eugene said to him, concealing his trembling body, "you should understand afterward that you have said that to me, and I cannot accept your kindness."

"That's right! If you don't say that, I'll be offended," continued the fellow who wanted to drag someone into the water. "You are a handsome boy, and you are understanding, proud as a lion, and gentle as a girl. ;can also be a good prey for the devil. I like this quality of young people. Add a little politician's strategy and you can see through society. Just put on a few noble sketches, and a smart person can be on stage. Do whatever you want amidst the warm applause of fools. In a few days, you will be one of us. Hey! If you are willing to be my apprentice, I will guarantee you all the best. Whatever you want, you can get it right away, whether it is fame, fortune or a woman All the essence of modern civilization is before you. You will be our darling, our treasure, and everyone will be happy to work hard for you. All obstacles in front of you will be leveled. If you still have concerns, don’t you Think I'm a villain? Well! There used to be a man who pretended to be as innocent as you, M. de Tourenne, who did not feel discredited by his small dealings with brigands. You would not accept My love, huh? It doesn't matter." Vautrin said with a slight smile. "Take these bills, and write something on them," he said, taking out a piece of stamped paper, "here, write horizontally: I have borrowed 56 francs, and I will return it within a year. Then Write the date! The interest is quite high, so as not to worry you; you can call me a Jew, and you can take it easy. I don’t care if you despise me today, but I’m sure you’ll like me later on. You’ll think I’m Unfathomable, unassuming, that's what fools call vices; but you'll never think I'm a coward, or heartless. Anyway, I'm neither a pawn nor a bishop on the chessboard, but a rook, my boy. "

"Who are you?" cried Eugene. "You were born to haunt me."

"Where, I'm a good person. I just want to get my hands dirty so that you don't get muddy in your life. Are you wondering why you are so enthusiastic? Yes! Someday I will whisper to you in your ear. I When I first explained to you what society really is and how it behaves, you were taken aback; you are like a new soldier in battle, the panic will soon pass; you get used to thinking like this, you see everyone as a soldier, They have made up their minds to bloody the fields of the self-proclaimed king. Times have changed. It used to be said to a good man: Here is three hundred francs, go and kill someone for me; I sent you back to my hometown, and then ate dinner as if nothing had happened. Now I propose to give you a large sum of property, as long as you nod, and it won’t hurt you, but you are hesitant. These days are really useless."

Eugene signed the IOU and took the notes.

"All right! Come on, let's reason," continued Vautrin, "and in a few months I'm going to America to plant my tobacco. I'll send you cigars as a kindness. I'm rich, I will help you; if there are no children (probably, I don't want to leave a seed in the world), then I will pass on to you. Friends enough? I like you. I am willing to sacrifice for one. I used to I've done that. Look, boy, I'm on a higher level than other people. I see action as a means, and I'm only looking at the end. What is a person to me? This!" He put his thumbnail on his teeth "A man is either above all else or worth nothing. And if the man's name is Poiret, he is worth nothing; you can kill him like a bedbug, He is mediocrity and smells bad. A man like you is a god, not a skin, but an arena for the best emotions; I live by emotions alone. Emotions are not thoughts The world? Look at old man Gao, his two daughters are his whole world, his lifeline. Well, after digging through my life, I think there is only one real emotion, which is the friendship between men. Saved Venice"[57] knows everything about it; I just like dudes Pierre and Jaffael. One partner said: 'Let's bury a dead man!' The other went without saying a word, and didn't speak to him. Talk about morality; have you seen many such bloody people? Me, I have done this. I don't tell everyone that. But you are a tall man, you can tell you anything, and you can understand .Here's a quagmire, and we're surrounded by toads, and you won't hang around long. Well, that's settled. You go get married. Let's each get our own! Mine ain't silver, hey-hey!"

Vautrin didn't want to hear the college student say no at all, so he went out to calm him down.He seems to understand this kind of twitchy psychology, people always like to act like an ideological struggle, so that they can have an excuse for their bad behavior.

"He can do whatever he wants, and I will never marry Miss Tayfan!" Eugene said inwardly.

He felt hot and uncomfortable at the thought of being in the same league with this person he hated; but Vautrin was cynical and bold in dealing with the society, but his image in his eyes was getting taller and taller.Rastignac dressed, called a carriage, and went to Madame de Restaut's house.For some days the lady's interest in him had been doubly great, and with every step the young man took he drew nearer to the heart of high society, and it seemed as if his influence would one day be of great importance.He paid off de Tray and de Arjuda, played an evening game at the whist table, and won back all his losses.Like most people who believe in destiny to some extent, Eugene is also superstitious, and he likes to think that his good luck is a reward from heaven for his persistence in the right way.The next morning he eagerly asked Vautrin if he still had the IOU.As soon as he heard that he was here, he returned the three thousand francs to him, expressing his joy.

"Everything is going well," Vautrin told him.

"I am not your accomplice," said Eugene.

"I know, I know," interrupted Vautrin, "you're still like a child; you don't go any further than the trick at the door."

(End of this chapter)