A Start in Life [63]
and happy in her son,
prepared the outfit splendidly for the rising lawyer.
In the month of November, when the courts reopened, Oscar Husson
occupied the chamber of the second clerk, whose work he now did
wholly. He had a salary of eight hundred francs with board and
lodging. Consequently, uncle Cardot, who went privately to Desroches
and made inquiries about his nephew, promised Madame Clapart to be on
the lookout for a practice for Oscar, if he continued to do as well in
the future.
In spite of these virtuous appearances, Oscar Husson was undergoing a
great strife in his inmost being. At times he thought of quitting a
life so directly against his tastes and his nature. He felt that
galley-slaves were happier than he. Galled by the collar of this iron
system, wild desires seized him to fly when he compared himself in the
street with the well-dressed young men whom he met. Sometimes he was
driven by a sort of madness towards women; then, again, he resigned
himself, but only to fall into a deeper disgust for life. Impelled by
the example of Godeschal, he was forced, rather than led of himself,
to remain in that rugged way.
Godeschal, who watched and took note of Oscar, made it a matter of
principle not to allow his pupil to be exposed to temptation.
Generally the young clerk was without money, or had so little that he
could not, if he would, give way to excess. During the last year, the
worthy Godeschal had made five or six parties of pleasure with Oscar,
defraying the expenses, for he felt that the rope by which he tethered
the young kid must be slackened. These "pranks," as he called them,
helped Oscar to endure existence, for there was little amusement in
breakfasting with his uncle Cardot, and still less in going to see his
mother, who lived even more penuriously than Desroches. Moreau could
not make himself familiar with Oscar as Godeschal could; and perhaps
that sincere friend to young Husson was behind Godeschal in these
efforts to initiate the poor youth safely into the mysteries of life.
Oscar, grown prudent, had come, through contact with others, to see
the extent and the character of the fault he had committed on that
luckless journey; but the volume of his repressed fancies and the
follies of youth might still get the better of him. Nevertheless, the
more knowledge he could get of the world and its laws, the better his
mind would form itself, and, provided Godeschal never lost sight of
him, Moreau flattered himself that between them they could bring the
son of Madame Clapart through in safety.
"How is he getting on?" asked the land-agent of Godeschal on his
return from one of his journeys which had kept him some months out of
Paris.
"Always too much vanity," replied Godeschal. "You give him fine
clothes and fine linen, he wears the shirt-fronts of a stockbroker,
and so my dainty coxcomb spends his Sundays in the Tuileries, looking
out for adventures. What else can you expect? That's youth. He
torments me to present him to my sister, where he would see a pretty
sort of society!--actresses, ballet-dancers, elegant young fops,
spendthrifts who are wasting their fortunes! His mind, I'm afraid, is
not fitted for law. He can talk well, though; and if we could make him
a barrister he might plead cases that were carefully prepared for
him."
In the month of November, 1825, soon after Oscar Husson had taken
possession of his new clerkship, and at the moment when he was about
to pass his examination for the licentiate's degree, a new clerk
arrived to take the place made vacant by Oscar's promotion.
This fourth clerk, named Frederic Marest, intended to enter the
magistracy, and was now in his third year at the law school. He was a
fine young man of twenty-three, enriched to the amount of some twelve
thousand francs a year by the death of a bachelor uncle, and the son
of Madame Marest, widow of the wealthy wood-merchant.
prepared the outfit splendidly for the rising lawyer.
In the month of November, when the courts reopened, Oscar Husson
occupied the chamber of the second clerk, whose work he now did
wholly. He had a salary of eight hundred francs with board and
lodging. Consequently, uncle Cardot, who went privately to Desroches
and made inquiries about his nephew, promised Madame Clapart to be on
the lookout for a practice for Oscar, if he continued to do as well in
the future.
In spite of these virtuous appearances, Oscar Husson was undergoing a
great strife in his inmost being. At times he thought of quitting a
life so directly against his tastes and his nature. He felt that
galley-slaves were happier than he. Galled by the collar of this iron
system, wild desires seized him to fly when he compared himself in the
street with the well-dressed young men whom he met. Sometimes he was
driven by a sort of madness towards women; then, again, he resigned
himself, but only to fall into a deeper disgust for life. Impelled by
the example of Godeschal, he was forced, rather than led of himself,
to remain in that rugged way.
Godeschal, who watched and took note of Oscar, made it a matter of
principle not to allow his pupil to be exposed to temptation.
Generally the young clerk was without money, or had so little that he
could not, if he would, give way to excess. During the last year, the
worthy Godeschal had made five or six parties of pleasure with Oscar,
defraying the expenses, for he felt that the rope by which he tethered
the young kid must be slackened. These "pranks," as he called them,
helped Oscar to endure existence, for there was little amusement in
breakfasting with his uncle Cardot, and still less in going to see his
mother, who lived even more penuriously than Desroches. Moreau could
not make himself familiar with Oscar as Godeschal could; and perhaps
that sincere friend to young Husson was behind Godeschal in these
efforts to initiate the poor youth safely into the mysteries of life.
Oscar, grown prudent, had come, through contact with others, to see
the extent and the character of the fault he had committed on that
luckless journey; but the volume of his repressed fancies and the
follies of youth might still get the better of him. Nevertheless, the
more knowledge he could get of the world and its laws, the better his
mind would form itself, and, provided Godeschal never lost sight of
him, Moreau flattered himself that between them they could bring the
son of Madame Clapart through in safety.
"How is he getting on?" asked the land-agent of Godeschal on his
return from one of his journeys which had kept him some months out of
Paris.
"Always too much vanity," replied Godeschal. "You give him fine
clothes and fine linen, he wears the shirt-fronts of a stockbroker,
and so my dainty coxcomb spends his Sundays in the Tuileries, looking
out for adventures. What else can you expect? That's youth. He
torments me to present him to my sister, where he would see a pretty
sort of society!--actresses, ballet-dancers, elegant young fops,
spendthrifts who are wasting their fortunes! His mind, I'm afraid, is
not fitted for law. He can talk well, though; and if we could make him
a barrister he might plead cases that were carefully prepared for
him."
In the month of November, 1825, soon after Oscar Husson had taken
possession of his new clerkship, and at the moment when he was about
to pass his examination for the licentiate's degree, a new clerk
arrived to take the place made vacant by Oscar's promotion.
This fourth clerk, named Frederic Marest, intended to enter the
magistracy, and was now in his third year at the law school. He was a
fine young man of twenty-three, enriched to the amount of some twelve
thousand francs a year by the death of a bachelor uncle, and the son
of Madame Marest, widow of the wealthy wood-merchant.