The Beast Within - Emile Zola [83]
Berthe, overcome with embarrassment at this discussion of her father’s mistresses, lowered her eyes; her husband, equally embarrassed, walked over to the window and turned his back.
‘Please forgive me for harping on this,’ continued Monsieur Denizet, ‘but was there not a story concerning a young chambermaid at Doinville?’
‘Ah, yes, Louisette ... Louisette, monsieur, was a thoroughly nasty piece of work. She was only fourteen and she was having an affair with a known criminal. People tried to blame her death on my brother. It was disgraceful. Allow me to tell you what happened.’
What she said was no doubt said in all sincerity, but she was well aware of the President’s private life, and his tragic death had come as no surprise; she felt she needed to uphold the family’s good name. As far as the unfortunate business with Louisette was concerned, even if she secretly admitted to herself that her brother was quite capable of taking a fancy to her, she was equally convinced that Louisette, even at her tender age, was totally depraved.
‘Picture to yourself a young girl,’ she said, ‘sweet and gentle, lovely yellow hair, rosy cheeks, a little angel, butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, innocent as the day she was born, never committed a sin in her life! Well, she was not yet fourteen and she was having an affair with a brute of a man, a quarry worker who had just spent five years in prison for killing someone in a public bar. He lived like some wild creature, on the edge of the Becourt forest, in a shack made out of tree-trunks and mud that he had taken over from his father, who had died of shame. He scraped a living by digging rubble out of one of the abandoned quarries, which once, I believe, provided half the stones for building the city of Rouen. Louisette used to go and stay with this monster in his den; he lived there on his own because everyone was so frightened of him that they avoided him like the plague. The pair would often be seen wandering through the woods, holding hands, such a dainty little girl with an overgrown brute like him. What more can I say? It was scandalous, unbelievable! Obviously I only came to hear of all this afterwards. I had taken Louisette on almost out of charity, as an act of kindness. I knew that her family, the Misards, were poor, but what they didn’t tell me was that they had beaten the child black and blue and still not managed to stop her running off to stay with Cabuche the minute she could get out of the house ... And then the accident happened. When my brother came to Doinville he didn’t bring his own servants with him. Louisette and another woman used to go over to his cottage to do the housework for him. One morning Louisette went on her own and disappeared. If you ask me, she had been intending to run away for some time. Her lover was probably waiting for her and took her away with him. The worst of it was that five days later we heard she was dead. People said that my brother had attempted to rape her in the most vicious way and that she had run to Cabuche, terrified, and died of brain fever.10 What really happened no one knows; there are so many different stories that it’s difficult to say. That she died of a fever is true; a doctor certified as much. My own opinion is that she did something foolish - slept out of doors at night or wandered around in the marshes ... Surely, my dear sir, you don’t imagine that my brother maltreated her. It’s a horrible thought. It’s impossible!’
Monsieur Denizet had listened attentively to this account, remaining impassive throughout. Before finally completing what she had to say, Madame Bonnehon became somewhat embarrassed. Eventually, taking her courage in both hands, she declared, ‘I cannot deny that my brother may have been a little playful with her! He liked young people, despite seeming to be so strict. Perhaps he kissed her.’
Monsieur and Madame Lachesnaye appeared