Louis Lambert — Honoré de Balzac, trans. Katharine Prescott Wormeley

“Indeed, [ have not,” said I. ‘But we are equally to blame for our forgetfulness. Young men, as you know, lead such an adventurous and storm-tossed life when they leave their school-forms, that it is only by meeting that they can be sure of an enduring affection. However, a reminiscence of youth sometimes comes as a reminder, and it is impossible to forget entirely, especially when two lads have been such friends as we were. We went by the name of the Poet-and-Pythagoras.”’

I told him my name; when he heard it, the worthy man grew gloomier than ever.

‘‘Then you have not heard his story?” said he. ‘‘My poor nephew was to be married to the richest heiress in Blois; but the day before his wedding he went mad.’’

‘‘Lambert! Mad!’’ cried I in dismay. ‘‘But from what cause? He had the finest memory, the most stronglyconstituted brain, the soundest judgment, I ever met with. Really a great genius—with too great a passion for mysticism perhaps; but the kindest heart in the world. Something most extraordinary must have happened ?”’

‘**T see you knew him well,’’ said the priest.

From Mer, till we reached Blois, we talked only of my poor friend, with long digressions, by which I learned the facts I have already related in the order of their interest. I confessed to his uncle the character of our studies and of his nephew’s predominant ideas; then the old man told me of the events that had come into Lambert’s life since our parting. From Monsieur Lefebvre’s account, Lambert had betrayed some symptoms of madness before his marriage; but they were such as are common to men who love passionately, and seemed to me less startling when I knew how vehement his love had been and when I saw Mademoisellep. 294 de Villenoix. In the country, where ideas are scarce, a man overflowing with original thought and devoted to a system, as Louis was, might well be regarded as eccentric, to say the least. His language would, no doubt, seem the stranger because he so rarely spoke. He would say, ‘‘That man does not dwell in my heaven,’’ where any one else would have said, ‘‘We are not made on the same pattern.’’ Every clever man has his own quirks of speech. The broader his genius, the more conspicuous are the singularities which constitute the various degrees of eccentricity. In the country an eccentric man is at once set down as half mad.

Hence Monsieur Lefebvre’s first sentences left me doubtful of my schoolmate’s insanity. 1 listened to the old man, but I criticised his statements.

The most serious symptom had supervened a day or two before the marriage. Louis had had some well-marked attacks of catalepsy. He had once remained motionless for fifty-nine hours, his eyes staring, neither speaking nor eating; a purely nervous affection, to which persons under the influence of violent passion are liable; a rare malady, but perfectly well known to the medical faculty. What was really extraordinary was that Louis should not have had several previous attacks, since his habits of rapt thought and the character of his mind would predispose him to them. But his temperament, physical and mental, was so admirably balanced, that it had no doubt been able to resist the demands on his strength. The excitement to which he had been wound up by the anticipation of acute physical enjoyment, enhanced by a chaste life and a highlystrung soul, had no doubt led to these attacks, of which the results are as little known as the cause.

The letters that have by chance escaped destruction showLOUIS LAMBERT 295 - very plainly a transition from pure idealism to the most intense sensualism. |