A Start in Life [60]
fire on your memory."
"Oh, I have," said Oscar.
"Very good,--then thank your uncle; didn't you hear him say he would
take charge of your future? You will be a lawyer in Paris."
"He doesn't see the grandeur of his destiny," said the little old man,
observing Oscar's apathetic air. "Well, he's just out of school.
Listen, I'm no talker," he continued; "but I have this to say:
Remember that at your age honesty and uprightness are maintained only
by resisting temptations; of which, in a great city like Paris, there
are many at every step. Live in your mother's home, in the garret; go
straight to the law-school; from there to your lawyer's office; drudge
night and day, and study at home. Become, by the time you are twenty-
two, a second clerk; by the time you are twenty-four, head-clerk; be
steady, and you will win all. If, moreover, you shouldn't like the
profession, you might enter the office of my son the notary, and
eventually succeed him. Therefore, work, patience, discretion,
honesty,--those are your landmarks."
"God grant that you may live thirty years longer to see your fifth
child realizing all we expect from him," cried Madame Clapart, seizing
uncle Cardot's hand and pressing it with a gesture that recalled her
youth.
"Now come to breakfast," replied the kind old man, leading Oscar by
the ear.
During the meal uncle Cardot observed his nephew without appearing to
do so, and soon saw that the lad knew nothing of life.
"Send him here to me now and then," he said to Madame Clapart, as he
bade her good-bye, "and I'll form him for you."
This visit calmed the anxieties of the poor mother, who had not hoped
for such brilliant success. For the next fortnight she took Oscar to
walk daily, and watched him tyrannically. This brought matters to the
end of October. One morning as the poor household was breakfasting on
a salad of herring and lettuce, with milk for a dessert, Oscar beheld
with terror the formidable ex-steward, who entered the room and
surprised this scene of poverty.
"We are now living in Paris--but not as we lived at Presles," said
Moreau, wishing to make known to Madame Clapart the change in their
relations caused by Oscar's folly. "I shall seldom be here myself; for
I have gone into partnership with Pere Leger and Pere Margueron of
Beaumont. We are speculating in land, and we have begun by purchasing
the estate of Persan. I am the head of the concern, which has a
capital of a million; part of which I have borrowed on my own
securities. When I find a good thing, Pere Leger and I examine it; my
partners have each a quarter and I a half in the profits; but I do
nearly all the work, and for that reason I shall be constantly on the
road. My wife lives here, in the faubourg du Roule, very plainly. When
we see how the business turns out, if we risk only the profits, and if
Oscar behaves himself, we may, perhaps, employ him."
"Ah! my friend, the catastrophe caused by my poor boy's heedlessness
may prove to be the cause of your making a brilliant fortune; for,
really and truly, you were burying your energy and your capacity at
Presles."
Madame Clapart then went on to relate her visit to uncle Cardot, in
order to show Moreau that neither she nor her son need any longer be a
burden on him.
"He is right, that old fellow," said the ex-steward. "We must hold
Oscar in that path with an iron hand, and he will end as a barrister
or a notary. But he mustn't leave the track; he must go straight
through with it. Ha! I know how to help you. The legal business of
land-agents is quite important, and I have heard of a lawyer who has
just bought what is called a "titre nu"; that means a practice without
clients. He is a young man, hard as an iron bar, eager for work,
ferociously active. His name is Desroches. I'll offer him our business
on condition that he takes Oscar as a pupil; and I'll ask him to let
"Oh, I have," said Oscar.
"Very good,--then thank your uncle; didn't you hear him say he would
take charge of your future? You will be a lawyer in Paris."
"He doesn't see the grandeur of his destiny," said the little old man,
observing Oscar's apathetic air. "Well, he's just out of school.
Listen, I'm no talker," he continued; "but I have this to say:
Remember that at your age honesty and uprightness are maintained only
by resisting temptations; of which, in a great city like Paris, there
are many at every step. Live in your mother's home, in the garret; go
straight to the law-school; from there to your lawyer's office; drudge
night and day, and study at home. Become, by the time you are twenty-
two, a second clerk; by the time you are twenty-four, head-clerk; be
steady, and you will win all. If, moreover, you shouldn't like the
profession, you might enter the office of my son the notary, and
eventually succeed him. Therefore, work, patience, discretion,
honesty,--those are your landmarks."
"God grant that you may live thirty years longer to see your fifth
child realizing all we expect from him," cried Madame Clapart, seizing
uncle Cardot's hand and pressing it with a gesture that recalled her
youth.
"Now come to breakfast," replied the kind old man, leading Oscar by
the ear.
During the meal uncle Cardot observed his nephew without appearing to
do so, and soon saw that the lad knew nothing of life.
"Send him here to me now and then," he said to Madame Clapart, as he
bade her good-bye, "and I'll form him for you."
This visit calmed the anxieties of the poor mother, who had not hoped
for such brilliant success. For the next fortnight she took Oscar to
walk daily, and watched him tyrannically. This brought matters to the
end of October. One morning as the poor household was breakfasting on
a salad of herring and lettuce, with milk for a dessert, Oscar beheld
with terror the formidable ex-steward, who entered the room and
surprised this scene of poverty.
"We are now living in Paris--but not as we lived at Presles," said
Moreau, wishing to make known to Madame Clapart the change in their
relations caused by Oscar's folly. "I shall seldom be here myself; for
I have gone into partnership with Pere Leger and Pere Margueron of
Beaumont. We are speculating in land, and we have begun by purchasing
the estate of Persan. I am the head of the concern, which has a
capital of a million; part of which I have borrowed on my own
securities. When I find a good thing, Pere Leger and I examine it; my
partners have each a quarter and I a half in the profits; but I do
nearly all the work, and for that reason I shall be constantly on the
road. My wife lives here, in the faubourg du Roule, very plainly. When
we see how the business turns out, if we risk only the profits, and if
Oscar behaves himself, we may, perhaps, employ him."
"Ah! my friend, the catastrophe caused by my poor boy's heedlessness
may prove to be the cause of your making a brilliant fortune; for,
really and truly, you were burying your energy and your capacity at
Presles."
Madame Clapart then went on to relate her visit to uncle Cardot, in
order to show Moreau that neither she nor her son need any longer be a
burden on him.
"He is right, that old fellow," said the ex-steward. "We must hold
Oscar in that path with an iron hand, and he will end as a barrister
or a notary. But he mustn't leave the track; he must go straight
through with it. Ha! I know how to help you. The legal business of
land-agents is quite important, and I have heard of a lawyer who has
just bought what is called a "titre nu"; that means a practice without
clients. He is a young man, hard as an iron bar, eager for work,
ferociously active. His name is Desroches. I'll offer him our business
on condition that he takes Oscar as a pupil; and I'll ask him to let