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May 18, 1850.] IRtyt &*&&$¥+ 187
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/ "3^ tt +? -r 4^ty i * ty ^nniUlUI*
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We should do our utmost to encourage the...
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THE APPRENTICESHIP OF LIFE. B* G. H. LEW...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
May 18, 1850.] Irtyt &*&&$¥+ 187
May 18 , 1850 . ] IRtyt &*&& $¥ + 187
/ "3^ Tt +? -R 4^Ty I * Ty ^Nniului*
1 & nxthlin .
We Should Do Our Utmost To Encourage The...
We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . — GOKTHE .
The Apprenticeship Of Life. B* G. H. Lew...
THE APPRENTICESHIP OF LIFE . B * G . H . LEWES . Chap * VII . —The Mousetrap . During the month of January 1830 , the habitues of the Cafe de Paris mayhave noticed , that every day precisely at six o ' clock , the small table in the corner near the last window of the principal saloon was occupied by a tall military-looking man , who ordered his dinner with great deliberation , and ate it apparently in expectation of the arrival of some friend . Yet he made no inquiries . He never looked round the cafe . Sitting with his face opposite the door , he occasionally raised his eyes on the entrance of any stranger , but lowered them again on observing that the new comer did not make for the corner table . The waiter with respectful alacrity brought him the carte , and a pencil and slip of paper wherewith to draw up the menu of his dinner : a process which required some time and thought . When that was accomplished , the waiter carried away the paper ; and , in due time , the dinner was served almost in unbroken silence . The General Laboissiere was a lean , stern , soldierlike-looking man of three or four-and-fifty ; he had lost a leg at Austerlitz , and was covered with the scars of wounds received in those glorious campaigns which had carried the eagles of France from Madrid to Moscow . You could not for an instant doubt his quality . The merest glance detected the old soldier in his erect
carriage , and in the scrupulous neatness and precision of his slightest movements , from the laying down of his gloves one upon the other and both upon the outside of his hat , to the drawing up of his . dinner menu . A thick grey moustache shadowed his upper lip , and added to the sternness of his sunburnt face . It required little sagacity at once to divine that he was a Bonapartist ; and all who knew his history , perfectly comprehended his fanaticism for the Emperor . Tears came into his eyes when he spoke of his beloved Emperor , or of La Grande Armee ; and the man who a minute before seemed as hard as a rock , surprised you by the depth of his boyish sensibility .
Napoleon had not only distinguished the General and raised him every grade with some nattering comment which made the promotion doubly precious , but he had also arranged for him a marriage , in which fortune was the least of the advantages ; and the General was grateful to Napoleon even for his domestic felicity . He was , indeed , a favourite with Napoleon , because brave to very bravado he was , nevertheless , more than a mere sabreur j to the dauntless courage of the soldier he added the strategetical talents of a commander ; and had the Emperor remained to fight one or two more battles , Laboissiere would have gained his marshal ' s baton .
One trait will paint the coolness of this man . At Austerlitz he was so severely wounded in the leg that amputation became necessary . During the whole operation he never winced , but joked and chatted with all around , only pausing once as the bone was severed , and showing by the pallor of his face the agony he refused to express in shrieks j and when all was over , on being asked if he would take anything , he said : " Yes : bring me my pipe . " His faithful servant snivelling at the disaster , brought him his meerschaum ,
and lighted it for him . " What are you howling about , Jean ? " asked his master . " Good cause , Colonel , good cause 1 " " Bah ! " and a puff of smoke followed this exclamation . " They make capital cork legs , " he added , after a pause ; " you see , Jean , it ' an ill wind that blows nobody good ... you have a cousin in the cork trade !"
Well , as I told you , General Laboissiere was seated in his old place awaiting , as usual , the arrival of this friend who would not arrive . He had just dispatched a couple of dozen oysters , and a half bottle of Chablis premiere , as an agreeable prelude to the dinner , which he was commencing with a pot age au riz a la turque , when a sudden grimace wrested from him by the soup attracted the gargon to his side : " Is the soup not as M . le General approves ? " " Approves ! " exclaimed the General with marked irony . " Certes , if I have ordered a mash of rice in hot water stirred with a dandelion , nothing can be better than the style in which it is served j but if you look at my note , I think you will see potage au riz a la turque is what I ordered ... "
" I am very sorry , M . le General ... " " This is not rice a la turque : it is meant for some nursery pudding Then the saffron should be squandered with profusion , or the soup is spoiled !*' " Will M . le General be pleased to order some other ... " " No , no j take it away , I'll have none of it ... And take the brown Madeira , too , it is only fit to drink with the potage . Bring the fish and the Bordeaux , —and , Frederic , be careful that it is properly warmed , your Bordeaux is generally too cold . " " Very well , General . "
The General was a gourmet , and any infraction , however slight , of the supreme laws of Careme , to a man who had dined often with Cambaceres in private , was sufficient to rouse his anger . It had done so in this instance . He had sent away his soup , and was too much " put out" to order any other , so preferred dining without soup to disarranging his carte . While in this state of irritation he saw a tall , rather shabbily dressed person accost Frederic , the garcon , and overheard him ask : —
" Is not that General Laboissiere yonder ?" The gargon replied affirmatively ; and in another instant the stranger approached . " I believe Ihave the honour of speaking to General Laboissiere , " he said . The General bowed haughtily , and quietly sipped the remaining glass of Chablis . The stranger did not appear in the least disconcerted by this reception ; but observed : " You are expecting Colonel Delamare ; but he cannot come , and if you will offer me a seat at your table ( here his voice dropped ) I will give you some information about him and M . Pamberg . "
M . Pamberg was the Bonapartist name for the Police , and the General started slightly at hearing it . The Bonapartists had a system of cyphers by which they could correspond , or even talk openly without much danger of any listener being the wiser . Yet , as any one of these words might be betrayed or discovered by accident , the General did not at once think it necessary to repose any confidence in the shabby looking stranger who thus accosted him . From the moment the stranger had approached the General ' s table , one of the garcons had quietly and unobserved glided within ear-shot , and , though busy arranging the glasses and napkins on the table , lost not a word of what passed .
All the General ' movements were watched by the Police , and from the time he accustomed himself to a particular place at the Cafe' de Paris , a police agent entered the service as gargon , and while fulfilling all his duties with exemplary punctuality , contrived to keep his eye upon him . He had waited with the patience of a cat for a mouse , and now at last he seemed on the eve of discovering something . " Ask me to be seated , General , and ask it so as the whole caf 6 may observe you ; " whispered the stranger . At first the General ' s ill-humour , coupled with the equivocal appearance of his interlocutor , made him hesitate , but these words decided him : — " I am a friend of Mademoiselle Gock . "
Mademoiselle Gock meant the Bonapartists . The General rose , and with grave ceremony requested him to be seated , shaking him by the hand , and pretending to be very delighted to see him . " Oho ! " said the gargon to himself , " It seems there is a Mademoiselle Gock who is very influential : that ' s worth noting . " " And how is Colonel Delamare ? " asked the General . " Why he is in despair—he has lost his Helene ? " Helene meant passport . " Humph ! that ' s provoking ; but Helenes are still to be had . " ft such as the one he lost , General ! Then , too , his debts make it difficult . "
< f Oh I money is easier to find than mistresses . " " The general , " said the gargon to himself , " is falling into his dotage , or is there some finesse in that maxim of his . " " When I last saw the Colonel he told me that Mademoiselle Amdlie ( the Army ) was very discontented with Madame de Lala ( the Royalists ) , and that her discontent grew greater every day , so that he was certain she would join Mademoislle de Gock , and if Mademoiselle Addle ( Revolt ) comes forward Amelie will stand by her . "
" What the deuce can they be talking about , " said the gargon , scratching his ear , " who are Amelie , Adele , and Madame de Lala ? I don't understand a word of it . " The conversation continued in the same unintelligible strain , much to the exasperation of the listener ; at last the stranger said : — " And how do matters look here for Madame de Berg ( Napoleon II . ) ? " " Favourably , very favourably , " said the General ; but as he said this his eye caught the stranger ' s , and at once an indefinable suspicion stole over his mind . It would be difficult to state in words what it was which justified this suspicion ; indeed eyes spsak a language of their own which will not always bear translation into words ; enough that the General read an involuntary expression of triumphant scoundrelism in the evanescent gleam which passed over the stranger ' s eye .
From the moment his suspicion was roused the General was too ruse * not to extricate himself from any dilemma into which previous confessions might have thrown him ; but first he undertook to convince himself of the truth of his suspicions . . ¦• . * ., * ' Of course , " said he , " Colonel Delamare made you acquainted with the contents of that letter , Captain Jean sent me ... " " Let me see ... Captain Jean ... What about ? " " Oh if he did not think you were to be trusted with it , " replied the General ' smiling , " you must excuse me . "
" He spoke to me of Captain Jean—very often—but I don't remember his showing any letter ... " The General had ascertained what he wanted , and emptied his glass with an indescribable air of contentment . There was no such person as Captain Jean ! . To make assurance doubly sure he said : " Are the preparations going on well at Brest ? "
" Rapidly !" " That ' s right , " said the General , pouring out another glass of wine , perfectly satisfied that the stranger knew nothing whatever of the Bonapartisi conspiracy , and that he must have procured the cypher either by accident oi by the seizure of some papers . The stranger , perfectly innocent of the twe
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 18, 1850, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18051850/page/19/
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