The Stepmother, A Drama in Five Acts by Honore De Balzac

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THE STEPMOTHER
A DRAMA IN FIVE ACTS

BY

HONORE DE BALZAC

Presented for the First Time in Paris
At the Theatre-Historique
May 25, 1848

PERSONS OF THE PLAY

Comte de Grandchamp, a Napoleonic General
Eugene Ramel, a State's Attorney
Ferdinand Marcandal
Doctor Vernon
Godard
An Investigating Magistrate
Felix, servant to General de Grandchamp
Champagne, a foreman
Baudrillon, a druggist
Napoleon, son to General de Grandchamp by his second wife
Gertrude, second wife to General de Grandchamp
Pauline, daughter to General de Grandchamp by his first wife
Marguerite, maid to Pauline
Gendarmes, Sheriff's Officer, the Clergy

SCENE: Chateau of the General de Grandchamp, near Louviers, Normandy

TIME: 1829

THE STEPMOTHER

ACT I

SCENE FIRST

(A richly decorated drawing-room; on the walls are portraits of
Napoleon I. and his son. The entry is by a large double glass door,
which opens on a roofed veranda and leads by a short stairway to a
park. The door of Pauline's apartments are on the right; those of the
General and his wife are on the left. On the left side of the central
doorway is a table, and on the right is a cabinet. A vase full of
flowers stands by the entrance to Pauline's room. A richly carved
marble mantel, with a bronze clock and candelabras, faces these
apartments. In the front of the stage are two sofas, one on the left,
the other on the right. Gertrude enters, carrying the flowers which
she has just plucked, and puts them in the vase.)

Gertrude and the General.

Gertrude
I assure you, my dear, that it would be unwise to defer any longer
giving your daughter in marriage. She is now twenty-two. Pauline has
been very slow in making her choice; and, in such a case, it is the
duty of parents to see that their children are settled. Moreover, I am
very much interested in her.

The General
In what way?

Gertrude
The position of stepmother is always open to suspicion; and for some
time it has been rumored in Louviers that I am the person who throws
obstacles in the way of Pauline's marriage.

The General
That is merely the idle gossip of little towns. I should like to cut
out some of those silly tongues. And to think that they should attack
you of all people, Gertrude, who have been a real mother to
Pauline--whom you have educated most excellently!

Gertrude
It is the way of the world! They will never forgive us for living so
close to the town, yet never entering it. The society of the place
revenges itself upon us for slighting it. Do you think that our
happiness can escape envy? Even our doctor--

The General
Do you mean Vernon?

Gertrude
Yes, Vernon is very envious of you; he is vexed to think that he has
never been able to inspire any woman with such affection as I have for
you. Moreover, he pretends that I am merely playing a part,--as if I
could do it for twelve years! Rather unlikely, I should think.

The General
No woman could keep up the pretence for twelve years without being
found out. The idea is absurd! And Vernon also is--

Gertrude
Oh, he is only joking! And so, as I told you before, you had better
see Godard. I am astonished that he has not yet arrived. He is so rich
that it would be folly to refuse him. He is in love with Pauline, and
although he has his faults, and is somewhat provincial, he is quite
able to make her happy.

The General
I have left Pauline quite free to choose a husband for herself.

Gertrude
There is no cause for anxiety. A girl so gentle, so well brought up,
so well behaved, is sure to do right.

The General
Gentle, did you say? She is headstrong, like her father.

Gertrude
She, headstrong? And you, come now, do you not always act as I wish?

The General
You are no angel, and always wish what pleases me! By the bye, Vernon
takes dinner with us after his autopsy.

Gertrude
Was it necessary to tell me that?

The General
I only told you, in order that he might have his favorite wines.

Felix (enters, announcing)
Monsieur de Rimonville!

The General
Ask him in.

Gertrude (making a sign to Felix to arrange the vase of flowers)
I will go to Pauline's room, while you are talking business. I should
like to superintend the arrangement of her toilet. Young people do not
always understand what is most becoming to them.

The General
She has no expense spared her! During the last eighteen months her
dress has cost twice as much as it previously did; after all, poor
girl, it is the only amusement she has.

Gertrude
How can you say it is her only amusement while she has the privilege
of living with us! If it were not my happy lot to be your wife, I
should like to be your daughter. I will never leave you, not I! Did
you say for the last eighteen months? That is singular! Well, when I
come to think of it, she has begun to care more about laces, jewels,
and other pretty things.

The General
She is quite rich enough to indulge her tastes.

Gertrude
And she is now of age. (Aside) Her fondness of dress is the smoke. Can
there be any fire? (Exit.)

SCENE SECOND

The General (alone)
What a pearl among women! Thus I am made happy after twenty-six
campaigns, a dozen wounds, and the death of an angel, whose place she
has taken in my heart; truly a kind Providence owed me some such
recompense as this, if it were only to console me for the death of the
Emperor.

SCENE THIRD

Godard and the General.

Godard (entering)
Well, General!

The General
Ah! good day, Godard! I hope you are come to spend the day with us?

Godard
I thought perhaps I might spend the week, General, if you should
regard favorably the request which I shall venture to make of you.

The General
Go in and win! I know what request you mean--My wife is on your side.
Ah, Godard, you have attacked the fortress at its weak point!

Godard
General, you are an old soldier, and have no taste for mere phrases.
In all your undertakings you go straight ahead, as you did when under
fire.

The General
Straight and facing the whole battery.

Godard
That suits me well, for I am rather timid.

The General
You! I owe you, my dear friend, an apology; I took you for a man who
was too well aware of his own worth.

Godard
You took me to be conceited! But General, as a matter of fact, I
intend to marry because I don't know how to pay any court to women.

The General (aside)
What a civilian! (Aloud) How is this? You talk like an old man, and
--that is not the way to win my daughter.

Godard
Do not misunderstand me. I have a warm heart; I wish only to feel sure
that I shall be accepted.

The General
That means that you don't mind attacking unwalled towns.

Godard
That is not it at all, General. You quite alarm me, with your banter.

The General
What do you mean then?

Godard
I understand nothing about the tricks of women. I know no more when
their yes means no, than when their no means yes; and when I am in
love, I wish to be loved in return.

The General (aside)
With such ideas as those he has precious little chance.

Godard
There are plenty of men like me, men who are supremely bored by this
little warfare of manners and whims.

The General
But there is something also delightful in it,--I mean in the feminine
show of resistance, which gives one the pleasure of overcoming it.

Godard
Thank you, nothing of that sort for me! When I am hungry, I do not
wish to coquette with my soup. I like to have things decided, and care
very little how the decision is arrived at, although I do come from
Normandy. In the world, I see coxcombs who creep into the favor of
women by saying to them, "Ah! madame, what a pretty frock you have on.
Your taste is perfect. You are the only person who could wear that,"
and starting from such speeches as that they go on and on--and gain
their end. They are wonderful fellows, upon my honor! I don't see how
they reach success by such idle talk. I should beat about the bush
through all eternity before I could tell a pretty woman the effect she
had made on me.

The General
The men of the Empire were not of that sort.

Godard
It is on account of that, that I put on a bold face! This boldness
when backed by an income of forty thousand francs is accepted without
protest, and wins its way to the front. That is why you took me for a
good match. So long as there are no mortgages on the rich pasture
lands of the Auge Valley, so long as one possesses a fine chateau,
well furnished--for my wife need bring with her nothing but her
trousseau, since she will find there even the cashmeres and laces of
my late mother--when a man has all that, General, he has got all the
courage he need have. Besides, I am now Monsieur de Rimonville.

The General
No, you're only Godard.

Godard
Godard de Rimonville.

The General
Godard for short.

Godard
General, you are trying my patience.

The General
As for me, it would try my patience to see a man, even if he were my
son-in-law, deny his father; and your father, a right honest man, used
himself to drive his beeves from Caen to Poissy, and all along the
road was known as Godard--Father Godard.

Godard
He was highly thought of.

The General
He was, in his own class. But I see what's the matter; as his cattle
provided you with an income of forty thousand francs, you are counting
upon other animals to give you the name of De Rimonville.

Godard
Now come, General, you had better consult Mlle. Pauline; she belongs
to her own epoch--that she does. We are now in the year 1829 and
Charles X. is king. She would sooner hear the valet call out, as she
left a ballroom, "the carriage of Madame de Rimonville," than, "the
carriage of Madame Godard."

The General
Well, if such silliness as this pleases my daughter, it makes no
difference to me. For, after all, you would be the one they'd poke fun
at, my dear Godard.

Godard
De Rimonville.

The General
Godard, you are a good fellow, you are young, you are rich, you say
that you won't pay your court to women, but that your wife shall be
the queen of your house. Well, if you gain her consent you can have
mine; for bear in mind, Pauline will only marry the man she loves,
rich or poor. There may be one exception, but that doesn't concern
you. I would prefer to attend her funeral rather than take her to the
registry office to marry a man who was a son, grandson, brother,
nephew, cousin or connection of one of the four or five wretches who
betrayed--you know what my religion is--

Godard
Betrayed the Emperor. Yes, everyone knows your creed, General.

The General
God, first of all; then France or the Emperor--It is all the same to
me. Lastly, my wife and children! Whoever meddles with my gods becomes
my enemy; I would kill him like a hare, remorselessly. My catechism is
short, but it is good. Do you know why, in the year 1816, after their
cursed disbanding of the army of the Loire, I took my little
motherless child and came here, I, colonel of the Young Guard, wounded
at Waterloo, and became a cloth manufacturer of Louviers?

Godard
I suppose you didn't wish to hold office under them.

The General
No, because I did not wish to die as a murderer on the scaffold.

Godard
What do you mean?

The General
If I had met one of those traitors, I should have finished his
business for him. Even to-day, after some fifteen years, my blood
boils if I read their names in the newspaper or anyone mentions them
in my presence. And indeed, if I should meet one of them, nothing
would prevent me from springing at his throat, tearing him to pieces,
strangling him--

Godard
You would do right. (Aside) I must humor him.

The General
Yes, sir, I would strangle him! And if my son-in-law were to ill-treat
my dear child, I would do the same to him.

Godard
Ah!

The General
I shouldn't wish him to be altogether under her thumb. A man ought to
be king in his own house, as I am here.

Godard (aside)
Poor man! How he deceives himself!

The General
Did you speak?

Godard
I said, General, that your threat had no terrors for me! When one has
nothing but a wife to love, he loves her well.

The General
Quite right, my dear Godard. And now with regard to the marriage
settlement?

Godard
Oh, yes!

The General
My daughter's portion consists of--

Godard
Consists of--

The General
It comprises her mother's fortune and the inheritance of her uncle
Boncoeur. It will be undivided, for I give up my rights to it. This
will amount to three hundred and fifty thousand francs and a year's
interest, for Pauline is twenty-two.

Godard
This will make up three hundred and sixty-seven thousand five hundred
francs.

The General
No.

Godard
Why not?

The General
It will be more!

Godard
More?

The General
Four hundred thousand francs. (Godard seems astonished.) I make up the
difference! But when I die there will be nothing more coming to her.
Do you understand?

Godard
I do not understand.

The General
I am very much attached to little Napoleon.

Godard
You mean the young Duke of Reichstadt?

The General
No, my son whom they would enter in the register only under the name
of Leon; but I had inscribed here (he places his hand upon his heart)
the name of Napoleon! Do you see I must provide for him and his
mother?

Godard (aside)
Especially for his mother; she'll take care of that!

The General
What are you saying? If you don't agree with me, out with it!

Godard (aside)
If I did so, we should find ourselves in the law courts. (Aloud) I
agree, and will back you in everything, General.

The General
Good for you! And I'll tell you why, my dear Godard.

Godard
De Rimonville.

The General
Godard, I prefer Godard. I'll tell you why. After having commanded the
grenadiers of the Young Guard, I, General Comte de Grandchamp, now
weave the cloth for their uniforms.

Godard
This is very commendable! You should keep on storing up, General, so
that your widow may not be left without a fortune.

The General
She is an angel, Godard!

Godard
De Rimonville.

The General
Godard, she is an angel, to whom you are indebted for the education of
your intended, whom she has moulded after her own image. Pauline is a
pearl, a jewel; she has never left this home; she is as pure and
innocent as she was in her cradle.

Godard
General, let me admit that Mlle. Pauline is beautiful!

The General
I am quite sure of that.

Godard
She is very beautiful; but there are numbers of beautiful girls in
Normandy, some of them very rich, much richer than she is. Well now,
you'll scarcely believe how the mothers and fathers of these heiresses
run after me! It is scarcely decent. But it amuses me immensely; I
visit their chateaus; they overwhelm me with attentions--

The General
I said he was conceited!

Godard
Oh, I am quite aware that it is not for my sake! I don't delude myself
as to that; it is for my unmortgaged pastures; for my savings, and for
my habit of living within my income. Do you know what it is that makes
me seek an alliance with you above all others?

The General
No.

Godard
There are certain rich would-be fathers-in-law who promise to obtain
from his Majesty a decree, by which I shall be created Comte de
Rimonville and Peer of France.

The General
You?

Godard
Yes, I.

The General
Have you won any battles? Have you saved your country? Have you added
to its glory? This is pitiful!

Godard
Pitiful? (Aside) What shall I say? (Aloud) We differ in our views on
this subject, but do you know why I prefer your adorable Pauline?

The General
I suppose it is because you love her.

Godard
That is a matter of course; but it is also on account of the harmony,
the tranquillity, the happiness which reign here! It is so delightful
to enter a family of high honor, of pure, sincere, patriarchal
manners! I am a man of observation.

The General
That is to say, you are inquisitive.

Godard
Curiosity, General, is the mother of observation. I know the seamy
side of the whole department.

The General
Really?

Godard
Yes, really! In all the families of which I have spoken to you, I have
seen some shabbiness or other. The public sees the decent exterior of
irreproachable mothers of family, of charming young persons, of good
fathers, of model uncles; they are admitted to the sacrament without
confession, they are entrusted with the investments of others. But
just learn their inner side, and it is enough to startle a police
magistrate.

The General
Ah! That is the way you look at the world, is it? For my part, I try
to keep up the illusions in which I have lived. To peer into the inner
life of people in that way is the business of priests and magistrates;
I have no love for the black robed gentlemen, and I hope to die
without ever having seen them! But the sentiment which you express
with regard to my house is more pleasing to me than all your fortune.
Stick to that point, and you will win my esteem, something which I
lightly bestow on no one.

Godard
Thank you, General. (Aside) I have won over the father-in-law at any
rate.

SCENE FOURTH

The same persons, Pauline and Gertrude.

The General (catching sight of Pauline)
Ah! Here you are, darling.

Gertrude
Doesn't she look beautiful?

Godard
Madame.

Gertrude
Forgive me, sir. I had no eyes excepting for my handiwork.

Godard
Mademoiselle is radiant!

Gertrude
We have some people to dinner to-day, and I am something more than a
stepmother to her; I love to deck her out, for she is to me like my
own daughter.

Godard (aside)
They were evidently expecting me!

Gertrude (aside to Godard)
I am going to leave you alone with her. Now is the time for your
declaration. (To the General) My dear, let us go out on the veranda
and see if our friend the doctor is coming.

The General
I am at your service, as usual. (To Pauline) Good-bye, my pet. (To
Godard) I shall see you later.

(Gertrude and the General go to the veranda, but Gertrude keeps her
eye on Godard and Pauline. Ferdinand shows his head at the door of
Pauline's chamber, but at a quick sign from her, he hurriedly
withdraws it unobserved.)

Godard (at the front of the stage)
Let me see, what fine and dainty speech can I make to her? Ah, I have
it! (To Pauline) It is a very fine day, mademoiselle.

Pauline
It certainly is, sir.

Godard
Mademoiselle--

Pauline
Sir?

Godard
It is in your power to make the day still finer for me.

Pauline
How can I do that?

Godard
Don't you understand me? Has not Madame de Grandchamp said anything to
you about the subject nearest my heart?

Pauline
While she was helping me to dress, an instant ago, she said a great
many complimentary things about you!

Godard
And did you agree with her, even in the slightest way?

Pauline
Oh, sir, I agreed with all she said!

Godard (seating himself on a chair, aside)
So far so good. (Aloud) Did she commit a pardonable breach of
confidence by telling you that I was so much in love with you that I
wished to see you the mistress of Rimonville?

Pauline
She gave me to understand by her hints that you were coming with the
intention of paying me a very great compliment.

Godard (falling on his knees)
I love you madly, mademoiselle; I prefer you to Mlle. de Blondville,
to Mlle. de Clairville, to Mlle. de Verville, to Mlle. de
Pont-de-Ville--to--

Pauline
Oh, that is sufficient, sir, you throw me into confusion by these
proofs of a love which is quite unexpected! Your victims make up
almost a hecatomb. (Godard rises.) Your father was contented with
taking the victims to market! But you immolate them.

Godard (aside)
I really believe she is making fun of me. But wait awhile! Wait
awhile!

Pauline
I think at least we ought to wait awhile; and I must confess--

Godard
You do not wish to marry yet. You are happy with your parents, and you
are unwilling to leave your father.

Pauline
That is it, exactly.

Godard
In that case, there are some mothers who would agree that their
daughter was too young, but as your father admits that you are
twenty-two I thought that you might possibly have a desire to be
settled in life.

Pauline
Sir!

Godard
You are, I know, quite at liberty to decide both your own destiny and
mine; but in accordance with the wishes of your father and of your
second mother, who imagine that your heart is free, may I be permitted
still to have hope?

Pauline
Sir, however flattering to me may be your intention in thus seeking me
out, that does not give you any right to question me so closely.

Godard (aside)
Is it possible I have a rival? (Aloud) No one, mademoiselle, gives up
the prospect of happiness without a struggle.

Pauline
Do you still continue in this strain? I must leave you, sir.

Godard
Thank you, mademoiselle. (Aside) So much for your sarcasm.

Pauline
Come sir, you are rich, and nature has given you a fine person; you
are so well educated and so witty that you will have no difficulty in
finding some young person richer and prettier than I am.

Godard
How can that be when one is in love?

Pauline
Well sir, that is the very point.

Godard (aside)
She is in love with someone; I must find out who it is. (Aloud)
Mademoiselle, will you at least permit me to feel that I am not in
disgrace and that I may stay here a few days?

Pauline
My father will answer you on that score.

Gertrude (coming forward to Godard)
Well, how are things going?

Godard
A blunt refusal, without even a hope of her relenting; her heart is
evidently already occupied.

Gertrude (to Godard)
Her heart occupied? This child has been brought up by me, and I know
to the contrary; and besides that, no one ever comes here. (Aside)
This youth has roused in me suspicions which pierce my heart like a
dagger. (To Godard) Why don't you ask her if such is the case?

Godard
How could I ask her anything? At my first word of jealous suspicion,
she resented my curiosity.

Gertrude
Well, I shall have no hesitation in questioning her.

The General
Ah, here comes the doctor! We shall now learn the truth concerning the
death of Champagne's wife.

SCENE FIFTH

The same persons and Dr. Vernon.

The General
Well, how are you?

Vernon
I was quite sure of it. Ladies (he bows to them), as a general rule
when a man beats his wife, he takes care not to poison her; he would
lose too much by that. He doesn't want to be without a victim.

The General (to Godard)
He is a charming fellow!

Godard
Charming!

The General (to the doctor, presenting Godard to him)
M. Godard.

Godard
De Rimonville.

Vernon (looking at Godard)
If he kills her, it is by mistake from having hit her a little too
hard; and he is overwhelmed with grief; while Champagne is innocently
delighted to have been made a widower by natural causes. As a matter
of fact, his wife died of cholera. It was a very rare case, but he who
has once seen Asiatic cholera cannot forget it, and I am glad that I
had that opportunity; for, since the campaign in Egypt, I have never
met with a case. If I had been called in time I could have saved her.

Gertrude
How fortunate we are, for if a crime had been committed in this
establishment, which for twelve years has been so free from
disturbance, I should have been horrified.

The General
Here you see the effect of all this tittle-tattle. But are you quite
sure, Vernon?

Vernon
Am I certain? That's a fine question to put to a retired
surgeon-in-chief who has attended twelve French armies, from 1793 to
1815, and has practiced in Germany, in Spain, in Italy, in Russia, in
Poland, and in Egypt!

The General (poking him in the ribs)
Away, you charlatan! I reckon you have killed more people than I have
in those countries.

Godard
What is this talk that you are alluding to?

Gertrude
This poor Champagne, our foreman, was supposed to have poisoned his
wife.

Vernon
Unhappily, the night before she died, they had had an altercation
which ended in blows. Ah! they don't take example from their masters.

Godard
Such happiness as reigns here ought to be contagious, but the virtues
which are exemplified in the countess are very rare.

Gertrude
Is there any merit in loving an excellent husband and a daughter such
as these?

The General
Come, Gertrude, say no more! Such words ought not to be spoken in
public.

Vernon (aside)
Such things are always said in this way, when it is necessary to make
people believe them.

The General (to Vernon)
What are you muttering about?

Vernon
I was saying that I was sixty-seven years old, and that I was younger
than you are, and that I should wish to be loved like that. (Aside) If
only I could be sure that it was love.

The General (to the doctor)
I see you are dubious! (to his wife) My dear child, there is no need
for me to bless the power of God on your behalf, but I think He must
have lent it me, in order that I might love you sufficiently.

Vernon
You forget that I am a doctor, my dear friend. What you are saying to
Madame is only good for the burden of a ballad.

Gertrude
The burdens of some ballads, doctor, are exceedingly true.

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