The Parisians — CompleteLytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
General
The Parisians — Complete
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
English fiction -- 19th century; Paris (France) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
with petty debts that further credit became impossible. At this time
I happened to hear from a fellow-student that his sister, who was the
principal of a lady’s school in Cheltenham, bad commissioned him to look
out for a first-rate teacher of drawing with whom her elder pupils
could converse in French, but who should be sufficiently acquainted with
English to make his instructions intelligible to the young. The salary
was liberal, the school large and of high repute, and his appointment
to it would open to an able teacher no inconsiderable connection among
private families. I communicated this intelligence to Duval. He caught
at it eagerly. He had learned at Tours to speak English fluently; and
as his professional skill was of high order, and he was popular with
several eminent artists, he obtained certificates as to his talents,
which my fellow-student forwarded to England with specimens of Duval’s
drawings. In a few days the offer of an engagement arrived, was
accepted, and Duval and his daughter set out for Cheltenham. At the
eve of their departure, Louise, profoundly dejected at the prospect of
banishment to a foreign country, and placing no trust in her father’s
reform to steady habits, evinced a tenderness for me hitherto new; she
wept bitterly; she allowed me to believe that her tears flowed at the
thought of parting with me, and even besought me to accompany them to
Cheltenham, if only for a few days. You may suppose how delightedly I
complied with the request. Duval had been about a week at the watering
place, and was discharging the duties he had undertaken with such
unwonted steadiness and regularity that I began sorrowfully to feel I
had no longer an excuse for not returning to my studies at Paris, when
the poor teacher was seized with a fit of paralysis. He lost the power
of movement, and his mind was affected. The medical attendant called
in said that he might linger thus for some time, but that, even if he
recovered his intellect, which was more than doubtful, he would never be
able to resume his profession. I could not leave Louise in circumstances
so distressing,--I remained. The little money Duval had brought from
Paris was now exhausted; and when the day on which he had been in the
habit of receiving his quarter’s pension came round, Louise was unable
even to conjecture how it was to be applied for. It seems he had always
gone for it in person; but to whom he went was a secret which he had
never divulged, and at this critical juncture his mind was too enfeebled
even to comprehend us when we inquired. I had already drawn from the
small capital on the interest of which I had maintained myself; I now
drew out most of the remainder. But this was a resource that could
not last long. Nor could I, without seriously compromising Louise’s
character, be constantly in the house with a girl so young, and whose
sole legitimate protector was thus afflicted. There seemed but one
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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