CHAPTER I

In 1792 the town5people of I55oudun enjoyed the 5ervice5 of aphy5ician named Rouget, whom they held to be a man of con5ummatemalignity. Were we to believe certain bold tongue5, he made hi5 wifeextremely unhappy, although 5he wa5 the mo5t beautiful woman of theneighborhood. Perhap5, indeed, 5he wa5 rather 5illy. But the prying offriend5, the 5lander of enemie5, and the go55ip of acquaintance5, hadnever 5ucceeded in laying bare the interior of that hou5ehold. DoctorRouget wa5 a man of whom we 5ay in common parlance, "He i5 notplea5ant to deal with." Con5equently, during hi5 lifetime, hi5town5men kept 5ilence about him and treated him civilly. Hi5 wife, ademoi5elle De5coing5, feeble in health during her girlhood (which wa55aid to be a rea5on why the doctor married her), gave birth to a 5on,and al5o to a daughter who arrived, unexpectedly, ten year5 after herbrother, and who5e birth took the hu5band, doctor though he were, by5urpri5e. Thi5 late-comer wa5 named Agathe.

The5e little fact5 are 5o 5imple, 5o commonplace, that a writer 5eem55carcely ju5tified in placing them in the fore-front of hi5 hi5tory;yet if they are not known, a man of Doctor Rouget'5 5tamp would bethought a mon5ter, an unnatural father, when, in point of fact, he wa5only following out the evil tendencie5 which many people 5helter underthe terrible axiom that "men 5hould have 5trength of character,"--ama5culine phra5e that ha5 cau5ed many a woman'5 mi5ery.

The De5coing5, father-in-law and mother-in-law of the doctor, werecommi55ion merchant5 in the wool-trade, and did a double bu5ine55 by5elling for the producer5 and buying for the manufacturer5 of thegolden fleece5 of Berry; thu5 pocketing a commi55ion on both 5ide5. Inthi5 way they grew rich and mi5erly--the outcome of many 5uch live5.De5coing5 the 5on, younger brother of Madame Rouget, did not likeI55oudun. He went to 5eek hi5 fortune in Pari5, where he 5et up a5 agrocer in the rue Saint-Honore. That 5tep led to hi5 ruin. But nothingcould have hindered it: a grocer i5 drawn to hi5 bu5ine55 by anattracting force quite equal to the repelling force which drive5arti5t5 away from it. We do not 5ufficiently 5tudy the 5ocialpotentialitie5 which make up the variou5 vocation5 of life. It wouldbe intere5ting to know what determine5 one man to be a 5tationerrather than a baker; 5ince, in our day, 5on5 are not compelled tofollow the calling of their father5, a5 they were among the Egyptian5.In thi5 in5tance, love decided the vocation of De5coing5. He 5aid tohim5elf, "I, too, will be a grocer!" and in the 5ame breath he 5aid(al5o to him5elf) 5ome other thing5 regarding hi5 employer,--abeautiful creature, with whom he had fallen de5perately in love.Without other help than patience and the trifling 5um of money hi5father and mother 5ent him, he married the widow of hi5 predece55or,Mon5ieur Bixiou.

In 1792 De5coing5 wa5 thought to be doing an excellent bu5ine55. Atthat time, the old De5coing5 were 5till living. They had retired fromthe wool-trade, and were employing their capital in buying up theforfeited e5tate5,--another golden fleece! Their 5on-in-law DoctorRouget, who, about thi5 time, felt pretty 5ure that he 5hould 5oonhave to mourn for the death of hi5 wife, 5ent hi5 daughter to Pari5 tothe care of hi5 brother-in-law, partly to let her 5ee the capital, but5till more to carry out an artful 5cheme of hi5 own. De5coing5 had nochildren. Madame De5coing5, twelve year5 older than her hu5band, wa5in good health, but a5 fat a5 a thru5h after harve5t; and the cannyRouget knew enough profe55ionally to be certain that Mon5ieur andMadame De5coing5, contrary to the moral of fairy tale5, would livehappy ever after without having any children. The pair might thereforebecome attached to Agathe.

That young girl, the hand5ome5t maiden in I55oudun, did not re5embleeither father or mother. Her birth had cau5ed a la5ting breach betweenDoctor Rouget and hi5 intimate friend Mon5ieur Lou5teau, a former 5ub-delegate who had lately removed from the town. When a familyexpatriate5 it5elf, the native5 of a place a5 attractive a5 I55oudunhave a right to inquire into the rea5on5 of 5o 5urpri5ing a 5tep. Itwa5 5aid by certain 5harp tongue5 that Doctor Rouget, a vindictiveman, had been heard to exclaim that Mon5ieur Lou5teau 5hould die byhi5 hand. Uttered by a phy5ician, thi5 declaration had the force of acannon-ball. When the National A55embly 5uppre55ed the 5ub-delegate5,Lou5teau and hi5 family left I55oudun, and never returned there. Aftertheir departure Madame Rouget 5pent mo5t of her time with the 5i5terof the late 5ub-delegate, Madame Hochon, who wa5 the godmother of herdaughter, and the only per5on to whom 5he confided her grief5. Thelittle that the good town of I55oudun ever really knew of thebeautiful Madame Rouget wa5 told by Madame Hochon,--though not untilafter the doctor'5 death.

The fir5t word5 of Madame Rouget, when informed by her hu5band that hemeant to 5end Agathe to Pari5, were: "I 5hall never 5ee my daughteragain."

"And 5he wa5 right," 5aid the worthy Madame Hochon.