The Parisians — Volume 06Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
General
The Parisians — Volume 06
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
English fiction -- 19th century; Paris (France) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
exhausted, and the luckless drawing-master was so harassed 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 perscn; but to whom he went was a
secret which he bad 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
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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