human
Father, I am very unhappy.
gpt
You unhappy?
human
For some days, my daughters have appeared constrained in manner, and lost in thought. During the first moments of our re-union, they were mad with joy and happiness. Suddenly, all has changed; they are becoming more and more sad. Yesterday, I detected tears in their eyes; then deeply moved, I clasped them in my arms, and implored them to tell me the cause of their sorrow. Without answering, they threw themselves on my neck, and covered my face with their tears.
gpt
It is strange. To what do you attribute this alteration?
human
Sometimes, I think I have not sufficiently concealed from them the grief occasioned me by the loss of their mother, and they are perhaps miserable that they do not suffice for my happiness. And yet (inexplicable as it is) they seem not only to understand, but to share my sorrow. Yesterday, Blanche said to me: 'How much happier still should we be, if our mother were with us!--'
gpt
Sharing your sorrow, they cannot reproach you with it. There must be some other cause for their grief.
human
Yes, said the marshal, looking fixedly at his father;
gpt
What do you mean?
human
First learn, father, what are the duties which would keep me here; then you shall know those which may take me away from you, from my daughters, and from my other child.
gpt
What other child?
human
The son of my old friend, the Indian Prince.
gpt
Djalma? Is there anything the matter with him?
human
Father, he frightens me. I told you, father, of his mad and unhappy passion for Mdlle. de Cardoville.
gpt
Does that frighten you, my son? said the old man, looking at the marshal with surprise.
human
Djalma is only eighteen, and, at that age, one love drives away another.
gpt
You have no idea of the ravages which the passion has already made in the ardent, indomitable boy; sometimes, fits of savage ferocity follow the most painful dejection. Yesterday, I came suddenly upon him; his eyes were bloodshot, his features contracted with rage; yielding to an impulse of mad furry, he was piercing with his poinard a cushion of red cloth, whilst he exclaimed, panting for breath, 'Ha blood!--I will have blood!' 'Unhappy boy!' I said to him, 'what means this insane passion?' 'I'm killing the man!' replied he, in a hollow and savage voice: it is thus he designates his supposed rival.
human
There is indeed something terrible, said the old man,
gpt
At other times, resumed the marshal,
human
Unfortunate boy!
gpt
Well, father, said Marshal Simon, with profound bitterness;
human
Of quitting them?
gpt
Yes, to fulfil a still more sacred duty than that imposed by friendship or family, said the marshal, in so grave and solemn a tone, that his father exclaimed, with deep emotion:
human
What can this duty be?
gpt
Father, said the marshal, after remaining a moment in thoughtful silence,
human
Napoleon.
gpt
I cursed his weakness, said Father Simon, sadly;
human
But for me, father--for me, the soldier, who have always fought beside him, or under his eye--for me, whom he raised from the lowest rank in the army to the highest--for me, whom he loaded with benefits and marks of affection--for me, he was more than a hero, he was a friend--and there was as much gratitude as admiration in my idolatry for him. When he was exiled, I would fain have shared his exile; they refused me that favor; then I conspired, then I drew my sword against those who had robbed his son of the crown which France had given him.
gpt
And, in your position, you did well, Pierre; without sharing your admiration, I understood your gratitude. The projects of exile, the conspiracies--I approved them all--you know it.
human
Well, then, that disinherited child, in whose name I conspired seventeen years ago, is now of an age to wield his father's sword.
gpt
Napoleon II! exclaimed the old man, looking at his son with surprise and extreme anxiety;
human
King? no; he is no longer king. Napoleon? no; he is no longer Napoleon. They have given him some Austrian name, because the other frightened them. Everything frightens them. Do you know what they are doing with the son of the Emperor? resumed the marshal, with painful excitement.
gpt
They are torturing him--killing him by inches!
human
Who told you this?
gpt
Somebody who knows, whose words are but too true. Yes; the son of the Emperor struggles with all his strength against a premature death. With his eyes turned towards France, he waits--he waits--and no one comes--no one--out of all the men that his father made as great as they once were little, not one thinks of that crowned child, whom they are stifling, till he dies.
human
But you think of him?
gpt
Yes; but I had first to learn--oh! there is no doubt of it, for I have not derived all my information from the same source--I had first to learn the cruel fate of this youth, to whom I also swore allegiance; for one day, as I have told you, the Emperor, proud and loving father as he was, showed him to me in his cradle, and said: 'My old friend, you will be to the son what you have been to the father; who loves us, loves our France.'
human
Yes, I know it. Many times you have repeated those words to me, and, like yourself, I have been moved by them.
gpt
Well, father! suppose, informed of the sufferings of the son of the Emperor, I had seen--with the positive certainty that I was not deceived--a letter from a person of high rank in the court of Vienna, offering to a man that was still faithful to the Emperor's memory, the means of communicating with the king of Rome, and perhaps of saving him from his tormentors--
human
What next? said the workman, looking fixedly at his son.
gpt
Suppose Napoleon II. once at liberty--
human
What next? exclaimed the marshal. Then he added, in a suppressed voice:
gpt
Do you think, father, that France is insensible to the humiliations she endures? Do you think that the memory of the Emperor is extinct? No, no; it is, above all, in the days of our country's degredation, that she whispers that sacred name. How would it be, then, were that name to rise glorious on the frontier, reviving in his son? Do you not think that the heart of all France would beat for him?
human
This implies a conspiracy--against the present government--with Napoleon II. for a watchword, said the workman.
gpt
This is very serious.
human
I told you, father, that I was very unhappy; judge if it be not so, cried the marshal.
gpt
Not only I ask myself, if I ought to abandon my children and you, to run the risk of so daring an enterprise, but I ask myself if I am not bound to the present government, which, in acknowledging my rank and title, if it bestowed no favor, at least did me an act of justice. How shall I decide?--abandon all that I love, or remain insensible to the tortures of Emperor--of that Emperor to the son of the whom I owe everything--to whom I have sworn fidelity, both to himself and child? Shall I lose this only opportunity, perhaps, of saving him, or shall I conspire in his favor? Tell me, if I exaggerate what I owe to the memory of the Emperor? Decide for me, father! During a whole sleepless night, I strove to discover, in the midst of this chaos, the line prescribed by honor; but I only wandered from indecision to indecision. You alone, father--you alone, I repeat, can direct me.