Eve and David

Then, and not until then, could the department of the Charente and David Sechard form some idea of the wealth of the tall Cointet. Rich to the extent of several millions of francs, the elder Cointet became a deputy, and is at this day a peer of France. It is said that he will be Minister of Commerce in the next Government; for in 1842 he married Mlle. Popinot, daughter of M. Anselme Popinot, one of the most influential statesmen of the dynasty, deputy and mayor of an arrondissement in Paris.

David Sechard’s discovery has been assimilated by the French manufacturing world, as food is assimilated by a living body. Thanks to the introduction of materials other than rags, France can produce paper more cheaply than any other European country. Dutch paper, as David foresaw, no longer exists. Sooner or later it will be necessary, no doubt, to establish a Royal Paper Manufactory; like the Gobelins, the Sevres porcelain works, the Savonnerie, and the Imprimerie royale, which so far have escaped the destruction threatened by bourgeois vandalism.

David Sechard, beloved by his wife, father of two boys and a girl, has the good taste to make no allusion to his past efforts. Eve had the sense to dissuade him from following his terrible vocation; for the inventor like Moses on Mount Horeb, is consumed by the burning bush. He cultivates literature by way of recreation, and leads a comfortable life of leisure, befitting the landowner who lives on his own estate. He has bidden farewell for ever to glory, and bravely taken his place in the class of dreamers and collectors; for he dabbles in entomology, and is at present investigating the transformations of insects which science only knows in the final stage.

Everybody has heard of Petit-Claud’s success as attorney-general; he is the rival of the great Vinet of Provins, and it is his ambition to be President of the Court-Royal of Poitiers.

Cerizet has been in trouble so frequently for political offences that he has been a good deal talked about; and as one of the boldest enfants perdus of the Liberal party he was nicknamed the “Brave Cerizet.” When Petit-Claud’s successor compelled him to sell his business in Angouleme, he found a fresh career on the provincial stage, where his talents as an actor were like to be turned to brilliant account. The chief stage heroine, however, obliged him to go to Paris to find a cure for love among the resources of science, and there he tried to curry favor with the Liberal party.

As for Lucien, the story of his return to Paris belongs to the Scenes of Parisian life.

ADDENDUM

Note: Eve and David is the part three of a trilogy. Part one is entitled Two Poets and part two is A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. In other addendum references parts one and three are usually combined under the title Lost Illusions.

The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.

Cerizet

Two Poets

A Man of Business

Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

The Middle Classes

Chardon, Madame (nee Rubempre)

Two Poets

Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Chatelet, Sixte, Baron du

Two Poets

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

The Thirteen

Chatelet, Marie-Louise-Anais de Negrepelisse, Baronne du

Two Poets

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

The Government Clerks

Cointet, Boniface

Two Poets

The Firm of Nucingen

The Member for Arcis

Cointet, Jean

Two Poets

Collin, Jacques

Father Goriot

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

The Member for Arcis

Conti, Gennaro

Beatrix

Courtois

Two Poets

Courtois, Madame

Two Poets

Hautoy, Francis du

Two Poets

Herrera, Carlos

Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Marron

Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Marsay, Henri de

The Thirteen

The Unconscious Humorists

Another Study of Woman

The Lily of the Valley

Father Goriot

Jealousies of a Country Town

Ursule Mirouet

A Marriage Settlement

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Letters of Two Brides

The Ball at Sceaux

Modeste Mignon

The Secrets of a Princess

The Gondreville Mystery

A Daughter of Eve

Metivier

The Government Clerks

The Middle Classes

Milaud

The Muse of the Department

Nucingen, Baron Frederic de

The Firm of Nucingen

Father Goriot

Pierrette

Cesar Birotteau

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Another Study of Woman

The Secrets of a Princess

A Man of Business

Cousin Betty

The Muse of the Department

The Unconscious Humorists

Nucingen, Baronne Delphine de

Father Goriot

The Thirteen

Eugenie Grandet

Cesar Birotteau

Melmoth Reconciled

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

The Commission in Lunacy

Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Modeste Mignon

The Firm of Nucingen

Another Study of Woman

A Daughter of Eve

The Member for Arcis

Petit-Claud

Two Poets

Pimentel, Marquis and Marquise de

Two Poets

Postel

Two Poets

Prieur, Madame

Two Poets

Rastignac, Baron and Baronne de (Eugene’s parents)

Father Goriot

Two Poets

Rastignac, Eugene de

Father Goriot

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

The Ball at Sceaux

The Commission in Lunacy

A Study of Woman

Another Study of Woman

The Magic Skin

The Secrets of a Princess

A Daughter of Eve

The Gondreville Mystery

The Firm of Nucingen

Cousin Betty

The Member for Arcis

The Unconscious Humorists

Rubempre, Lucien-Chardon de

Two Poets

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

The Government Clerks

Ursule Mirouet

Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Sechard, Jerome-Nicholas

Two Poets

Sechard, David

Two Poets

A Distinguished Provincial At Paris

Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Sechard, Madame David

Two Poets

A Distinguished Provincial At Paris

Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life

Senonches, Jacques de

Two Poets

Senonches, Madame Jacques de

Two Poets

Touches, Mademoiselle Felicite des

Beatrix

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

A Bachelor’s Establishment

Another Study of Woman

A Daughter of Eve

Honorine

Beatrix

The Muse of the Department

Victorine

Massimilla Doni

Letters of Two Brides

Gaudissart II