Dumas' Paris Part 34

"'Yes, M. le Comte,' returned the notary.

"'Is the deed of sale ready?'

"'Yes, M. le Comte.'

"'Have you brought it?'

"'Here it is.'

"'Very well; and where is this house that I purchase?' asked the count, carelessly, addressing himself half to Bertuccio, half to the notary. The steward made a gesture that signified, 'I do not know.' The notary looked at the count with astonishment.

"'What!' said he, 'does not M. le Comte know where the house he purchases is situated?'

"'No,' returned the count.

"'M. le Comte does not know it?'

"'How should I know it? I have arrived from Cadiz this morning. I have never before been at Paris: and it is the first time I have ever even set my foot in France!'

"'Ah, that is different; the house you purchase is situated at Auteuil, in the Rue de la Fontaine, No. 28.' At these words Bertuccio turned pale.

"'And where is Auteuil?' asked the count.

"'Close here, monsieur,' replied the notary; 'a little beyond Pa.s.sy; a charming situation, in the heart of the Bois de Boulogne.'

"'So near as that?' said the count. 'But that is not in the country. What made you choose a house at the gates of Paris, M. Bertuccio?'

"'I?' cried the steward, with a strange expression. 'M. le Comte did not charge me to purchase this house. If M. le Comte will recollect--if he will think--'

"'Ah, true,' observed Monte Cristo; 'I recollect now. I read the advertis.e.m.e.nt in one of the papers, and was tempted by the false t.i.tle, "a country-house."'

"'It is not yet too late,' cried Bertuccio, eagerly; 'and if your Excellency will entrust me with the commission, I will find you a better at Enghien, at Fontenay-aux-Roses, or at Bellevue.'

"'Oh, no,' returned Monte Cristo, negligently; 'since I have this, I will keep it.'

"'And you are quite right,' said the notary, who feared to lose his fee.

'It is a charming place, well supplied with spring-water and fine trees; a comfortable habitation, although abandoned for a long time; without reckoning the furniture, which, although old, is yet valuable, now that old things are so much sought after. I suppose M. le Comte has the tastes of the day?'"

Whatever may have been Dumas' prodigality with regard to money matters in his personal affairs, he was evidently a good traveller, in the sense that he knew how to plan a journey with the greatest economy.

One sees evidences of this in the "Count of Monte Cristo," where he describes the journey of Madame de Morcerf from Paris to Ma.r.s.eilles.

"'I have made inquiries,' said Albert, 'respecting the diligences and steamboats, and my calculations are made. You will take your place in the coupe to Chalons. You see, mother, I treat you handsomely for thirty-five francs.'

"Albert then took a pen, and wrote:

_Frs._

Coupe to Chalons, thirty-five francs 35 From Chalons to Lyons you will go on by the steamboat--six francs 6 From Lyons to Avignon (still by steamboat), sixteen francs 16 From Avignon to Ma.r.s.eilles, seven francs 7 Expenses on the road, about fifty francs 50 ---- Total 114

"'Let us put down 120,' added Albert, smiling. 'You see I am generous; am I not, mother?'

"'But you, my poor child?'

"'I! do you not see I reserve eighty francs for myself? A young man does not require luxuries; besides, I know what travelling is.'

"'With a post-chaise and _valet de chambre_?'"

The route is practicable even to-day, though probably not at the prices given, and one does not go by steamboat from Chalons to Lyons, though he may from Lyons to Avignon.

CHAPTER XVIII.

LES PAYS eTRANGERS

Dumas frequently wandered afield for his _mise-en-scene_, and with varying success; from the "Corsican Brothers," which was remarkably true to its _locale_, and "La Tulipe Noire," which was equally so, if we allow for a certain perspective of time, to "Le Capitaine Pamphile," which in parts, at least, is gross exaggeration or burlesque.

Once only, to any great extent, did he go to Germany for his inspirations, and then only to German legend,--where so many others had been before,--and have since.

In "Otho the Archer" is found a repet.i.tion of the Knight and Swan legend so familiar to all. It has been before--and since--a prolific source of supply to authors of all ranks and nationalities: Goethe, Schiller, Hoffman, Brentano, Fouque, Scott, and others.

The book first appeared in 1840, before even "Monte Cristo" and "Les Trois Mousquetaires" were published as _feuilletons_, and hence, whatever its merits may be, it is to be cla.s.sed as one of his immature efforts, rather than as a piece of profound romancing.

The story of adventure, of battle, and of love-making is all there, but his picture of the scenery and life of the middle ages on the Rhine are, of course, as purely imaginary as is the romantic background of myth and legend.

Of all the works dealing with foreign lands,--or, at least, foreign to his pen,--Dumas' "Black Tulip" will ever take a preeminent rank. Therein are pictures of Holland life and of the Hollandaise which, like the pen-drawings of Stevenson in "Catriona," will live far more vividly in the minds of most readers than volumes of mere dissertation written by others.

The story opens with a recounting of the tragedy of the brothers Cornelius and Jacobus de Windt, which, though not differing greatly from historical fact, is as vivid and terrible an account of the persecutions of mortal man as any similar incident in romance itself, of whatever age and by whomever written.

Dumas was in Amsterdam, in 1849, at the coronation of William III., where it has been said--by Flotow, the composer--that the king remarked to Dumas that none of the scenes of his romances had as yet been laid in the Netherlands, and thereupon told him what was substantially the story of "La Tulipe Noire." This first appeared as the product of Dumas' hand and brain in 1850.

This is perhaps more or less a legendary account of its inception; like many another of the reasons for being of Dumas' romances, but it is sufficiently plausible and well authenticated to warrant acceptance, though it has been said, too, that it was to Paul Lacroix--"Bibliophile Jacob"--that Dumas owed the idea of the tale.

At all events, it is a charming pen-picture of Holland; shows a wonderful love and knowledge of the national flower, the tulip, and is one of the most popular of all Dumas' tales, if we except the three cycles of romances, whose scenes and incidents are based on the history of French court life.

Not for many years did the translators leave "La Tulipe Noire" unnoticed, and for over a half-century it has enjoyed a vogue which is at least comprehensible.

Its plot and characters are most ingeniously and dextrously handled, but its greatest charm is incident to the process of evolving the famous black tulip from among the indigenous varieties which, at the time of the scene of the novel, had not got beyond the brilliantly variegated yellows and reds. From the various stages of mauve, purple, brown, and, finally, something very nearly akin to black, the flowering bulb finally took form, as first presented to a wide-spread public by Dumas.

The celebrated Alphonse Karr, a devoted lover of flowers, took the trouble to make a "romancers' garden," composed of trees and flowers which contemporary novelists, finding the laws of nature too narrow for them, had described in their books. This imaginary garden owed to George Sand a blue chrysanthemum, to Victor Hugo a Bengal rose without thorns, to Balzac a climbing azalea, to Jules Janin a blue pink, to Madame de Genlis a green rose, to Eugene Sue a variety of cactus growing in Paris in the open air, to Paul Feval a variety of larch which retained its leaves during winter, to Forgues a pretty little pink clematis which flourished around the windows in the Latin quarter, to Rolle a scented camellia, and to Dumas the black tulip and a white lotus. The black tulip, it may be remarked, though unknown in Dumas' day, has now become an accomplished fact.

Dumas, though not a botanist, had charming, if not very precise, notions about flowers,--as about animals,--and to him they doubtless said:

"Nous sommes les filles du feu secret, Du feu qui circule dans les veines de la terre; Nous sommes les filles de l'aurore et de la rosee, Nous sommes les filles de l'air, Nous sommes les filles de l'eau; Mais nous sommes avant tout les filles du ciel."