Chapitre XXI

Chateaubriand's letters to Madame de C- His secret trip with her to the seaside under the pretence of visiting Madame de Custine-Madame de Custine's expectations and disappointment-The break-down of the carriage-The "shrewd conjectures " of the Prefect-Scandal and gossip- Madame Hamelin -Madame de C- -'s jealousy-Her gradual estrangement from Chateaubriand.

WHILE assuring Madame Récamier, with more truth than he knew or can have guessed, that his affection for her was unaltered and would last for ever, Chateaubriand was continuing to write almost daily to Madame de C-. Fearing the vigilant curiosity of his old friends Villele and Corbière, he dared not trust the post, but employed his confidential secretary Hyacinthe Pilorge to deliver his letters by hand; and Madame de C- -, on her part, moved frequently from place to place in order that Hyacinthe might not invite remark by knocking too often at the same door. It was a shrewd precaution; but Madame Récamier, as we know, was not deceived, nor were her friends.

"What can I say to you?" the ardent Ampère wrote to her. "You are suffering. It is another who causes you to suffer. Ah! how can I console you?" And meanwhile Chateaubriand's one and only thought was to find a means of getting away secretly to the seaside with Madame de C His political duties

obstructed him and he was tempted to throw them to the winds ; but Madame de C- - would not accept that scandalous sacrifice. So, on October 5, we find him writing her a long letter, the more remarkable because it vehemently contradicts what he parades, over and over again, in his Mémoires, as one of the settled sentiments of his life.

The thought of parentage, he tells us repeatedly in his writings, was repugnant to him. " Next to the misfortune of being born I can think of no disaster greater than that of giving birth to a son. I have never desired thus to survive myself." But Madame de C- had inspired the desire which he had never felt before, and was never to feel again-

"I am sending Hyacinthe with this letter. So I am to lose this night which I was to have passed in your arms. But at least I can write to you without reticence and tell you that I would give the whole world for one of your caresses-for the chance of pressing you to my beating heart, and uniting myself to you in those long kisses which make me breathe your life and impart my life to you. You would have given me a son; you would have given me my only child. Instead of that, I have to wait here for a great public function in which I shall find no happiness whatever. For what is the world without you? You have robbed me even of my pleasure in the success of my war »

So he must be patient; but presently-

"I shall have more liberty, and I shall seek you wherever you may be. If you love me, will you not meet me at Fécamp, by the sea, or anywhere else that you like? Oh, yes, you must give me my compensation.... I am writing to you after having written to every king and every minister in Europe. My hand is tired, but my heart is not. It loves you with all the ardour and all the passion of youth. A million kisses for your hands, your lips, your hair."

And then follows a postscript, added at midnight-

"I was full of joy in the thought that I should be able to come to you when the King sent to say that he wished to see me to-morrow at midday. Believe me, only your orders have power to keep me here. The thought that I must not ruin a career that belongs to you-you at whose feet I must lay my glory in order that I may win your love-is the one thing that prevents me from sacrificing all my prospects and taking you away with me to the ends of the earth.... But oh, how I long to see you! How I long to hold you in my arms and make sure that you love me still. Grant me the night that you promised me, and that you owe me, and for the sake of which I would gladly give my life."

Not only the royal audience but the annual fete of the Infirmerie Marie-Thérèse stood between Chateaubriand and his amours. He and Madame de Chateaubriand were the founders and benefactors of that charitable institution; and he must stay to take his part in the rejoicings, at which princes and princesses had promised to be present. He did so,

and heard a sermon preached by Abbé de Bonneviethe same Abbé de Bonnevie who, long since, at Rome, had administered the consolations of religion to his earlier love, Pauline de Beaumont. The preacher, we read in the contemporary chronicles, "addressed a flattering compliment to the minister who had celebrated the Genius of Christianity"; but the champion of the faith had, in church as at the Foreign Office ball, no eyes for any one but Madame de C- -, and no thought for anything except her promise to meet him by the sea.

"You saw,' he wrote, "how I loved you to-day. You shall see how I will love you when we are far away from the crowd. I send you all my kisses. Remember that you are my mistress, and that I adore you. I kiss your feet and your hair."

That was on October 24. On October 25 Madame de C— - started for Dieppe. On November 2-the very day of Madame Récamier's departure for Italy— Chateaubriand followed her, and joined her en route, according to their preconcerted programme, meaning that they should complete the journey together in his own carriage.

A pretext was needed in order to throw dust in the eyes of the inquisitive; and Chateaubriand found one by procuring and accepting an invitation to visit Delphine de Custine at Fervacques. The Queen of Roses was an elderly lady now. Her pink cheeks were withered and her golden hair had turned to a snowy white. Nobody was likely to be jealous of her-Madame Récamier as little as Madame de Chateaubriand, and Madame de Chateaubriand as little as Madame Récamier-no scandal-monger could plausibly say that either of them ought to be jealous; and-what was most important-the road to Fervacques was also the road to Dieppe. So he set out, after writing, almost with a clear conscience, to Madame Récamier: "I shall be back on Thursday, and I shall find you gone; but that is your own doing.

He never arrived, however, either at his ostensible or at his real destination. There was an accident, and his carriage broke down on the way. It has been suggested that Villele's police spies contrived the accident by tampering with the vehicle in the hope of surprising the Foreign Minister in flagranti delicto. They did not quite succeed in doing that; but they at least discovered enough to set Paris talking, and to embarrass Chateaubriand with the necessity of offering explanations. It was on this occasion, and therefore presumably in connection with this occurrence, that Madame Récamier " froze his heart" by addressing him as " Monsieur"; and Madame de Custine was hardly less offended, as we see from his reply to her.

What are these stories, he wants to know, that she has got hold of? There is no sense in them. He is no longer of an age for that sort of thing. He really and truly was on his way to Fervacques when circumstances beyond his control compelled him to return to Paris. How absurd to make a fuss about that! In spite of her " injustices," and in spite of the tongues of slanderers, he still hopes to come to Fervacques to see her. Most likely something will happen to prevent him, but still-he " cherishes the delightful daydream." And then, having written that, he sat down to write once more to Madame de C

"I have received your long letter. I thank you for it. I have carried it all day next my heart... Tell me when you will be in Paris, and when j may come and kiss your beautiful feet. ... Yours. Yours.

And also- "I have just got your letter of the roth. You took all precautions, as I did myself; but I don't like this Prefect who is so shrewd in his conjectures."

In view of which one cannot wonder that Mrs. Sutton, whose call at the Foreign Office took place at about this period, found the Foreign Minister absentminded and preoccupied; he had quite enough to think about without thinking of her. Nor can one even feel surprised to learn that, at this date, Madame Récamier's hair suddenly turned white, and that she still persisted in remaining in Italy. Chateaubriand she told Paul David, wrote her " affectionate letters," and complained of her absence, and implored her to return ; but she added-

« One never knows where one stands with a person so lacking in truthfulness, and I am absolutely determined never again to involve myself in all these agitating embarrassments. Time is necessary to enable me to alter the terms of my relations with him, and the prolongation of my stay here will help me to effect the change »

No doubt; and no doubt, too, Madame Récamier was wiser than the worthy Ballanche, who, having retorted her for bring him bank to moral sentiments,

The time for moral sentiments would come when Chateaubriand tired of Madame de C-, but not before; and that relaxation of his ardour was very nearly due. Already, in March 1824, we find the correspondence striking a new note-

"I cannot let you go to sleep with such a horrid thought in your mind. I assure you that all that you have heard about Madame H- - is false. You may depend upon it that I shall never see her again »

Another-probably to be identified with Madame Hamelin-the Madame Hamelin whose enthusiastic appreciation of Le Génie du Christianisme was quoted in an earlier chapter! We know from the Diary of the Maréchal de Castellane that "while Chateaubriand was minister, he used to write to Madame Hamelin daily about political affairs" ; and, in a letter which he wrote to Madame Hamelin twenty years later, Chateaubriand reminded her of this old friendship, concluding: " Love me always as you did in the days when you used to come to see me at the Foreign Office." So that perhaps-but it is impossible to tell. All that is certain is that the end was near, and that this was the beginning of the end. There is one more real love letter, with the exclamation: "What a storm last night, and with what longings it inspired me! If only we had been by the sea together!" But that is all. In the letters which follow we find the passion cooling.

Possibly Madame Hamelin was in part responsible; but a more plausible explanation may be found in Chateaubriand's sudden and ignominious ejection from his office, early in June 1824. Rebuffs of that sort always revolutionized his view of the realities, and threw him into a fighting mood, which left little room for tender sentiments. This was the worst rebuff that he had yet experienced, and it may be that Madame de C- - and her unfortunate investment had had something to do with it. His pride was wounded, and he was terribly in earnest. He was busy arranging with Bertin for his great campaign in the columns of the Journal des Débats against Villèle; and he was first going to Neuchatel, whither Madame de Chateaubriand had already repaired for the benefit of her health, to recuperate his energies and think out his plans. It is significant that, at this date, the "theeand-thou" disappear from the letters to Madame de C-

" Madame de Chateaubriand has just left me.

"I will dine with you this evening. I shall be with you at five.

"We will make our arrangements for our travels.

" Yours always."

That is all; and nothing definite is known of any quarrel, or of any specific reason why the " arrangements for our travels" broke down. Presumably there was no reason, except that the passion had burnt itself out, and that Chateaubriand's political fiasco had placed an extinguisher on the failing flame. At all events, Chateaubriand's biographer has no further need to mention Madame de C - The ships had passed in the night, though they had done rather more than speak in passing; and Chateaubriand was once more free to spread his life as a carpet of flowers at Madame Récamier's feet.

We shall see him, after a further glance at his political career, resuming that task, and pursuing itthough not without certain interruptions.