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Updated: June 29, 2025
He stood motionless before the placard, his arms hanging at his sides. He did not notice a little knot of acquaintances Rastignac and de Marsay and some other fashionable young men; nor did he see that Michel Chrestien and Leon Giraud were coming towards him. "Are you M. Chardon?" It was Michel who spoke, and there was that in the sound of his voice that set Lucien's heartstrings vibrating.
"Sir," said the injured husband, "do you say that you discovered Mme. de Bargeton and M. de Rubempre in an equivocal position?" "M. Chardon," corrected Stanislas, with ironical stress; he did not take Bargeton seriously. "So be it," answered the other. "If you do not withdraw your assertions at once before the company now in your house, I must ask you to look for a second.
This was not very long, however; for in three months he had made sufficient progress in his study of French to permit him to pass into the military school at Brienne, into which his father was at last able to procure his admission. But, while he was at Autun, Napoleon seems to have been a favorite with his teachers. One of them, the Abbé Chardon, spoke of him as "a sober, thoughtful child."
Lucien, all eyes and ears, noticed that no one except Louise, M. de Bargeton, the Bishop, and some few who wished to please the mistress of the house, spoke of him as M. de Rubempre; for his formidable audience he was M. Chardon. Lucien's courage sank under their inquisitive eyes.
As he passed some of the reading-rooms which were already lending books as well as newspapers, a placard caught his eyes. It was an advertisement of a book with a grotesque title, but beneath the announcement he saw his name in brilliant letters "By Lucien Chardon de Rubempre." So his book had come out, and he had heard nothing of it! All the newspapers were silent.
"I, the undersigned, give and bequeath to the children of my sister, Madame Eve Chardon, wife of David Sechard, formerly a printer at Angouleme, and of Monsieur David Sechard, all the property, real and personal, of which I may be possessed at the time of my decease, due deduction being made for the payments and legacies, which I desire my executor to provide for.
This is a question which each reader must answer for himself; but few are likely to refuse assent to the sentence, "Happy the husband who has such a wife as Eve Chardon!"
David began to describe with kindly and cordial eloquence the happy fortunes in store for them all. Unchecked by protests put in by Eve, he furnished his first floor with a lover's lavishness, built a second floor with boyish good faith for Lucien, and rooms above the shed for Mme. Chardon he meant to be a son to her.
"Sir," said the injured husband, "do you say that you discovered Mme. de Bargeton and M. de Rubempre in an equivocal position?" "M. Chardon," corrected Stanislas, with ironical stress; he did not take Bargeton seriously. "So be it," answered the other. "If you do not withdraw your assertions at once before the company now in your house, I must ask you to look for a second.
"Go in to see Postel," said Mme. Chardon, "for you must both give your signatures to the bill." When Lucien and David came back again unexpectedly, they found Eve and her mother on their knees in prayer.
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