The Celibates

"Monsieur le comte, don't give him your daughter until you have made every inquiry; interrogate his former comrades, – Bixiou, Giroudeau, and others."

Three months later, the Comte de Brambourg gave a supper to du Tillet, Nucingen, Eugene de Rastignac, Maxime de Trailles, and Henri de Marsay. The amphitryon accepted with much nonchalance the half-consolatory condolences they made to him as to his rupture with the house of Soulanges.

"You can do better," said Maxime de Trailles.

"How much money must a man have to marry a demoiselle de Grandlieu?" asked Philippe of de Marsay.

"You? They wouldn't give you the ugliest of the six for less than ten millions," answered de Marsay insolently.

"Bah!" said Rastignac. "With an income of two hundred thousand francs you can have Mademoiselle de Langeais, the daughter of the marquis; she is thirty years old, and ugly, and she hasn't a sou; that ought to suit you."

"I shall have ten millions two years from now," said Philippe Bridau.

"It is now the 16th of January, 1829," cried du Tillet, laughing. "I have been hard at work for ten years and I have not made as much as that yet."

"We'll take counsel of each other," said Bridau; "you shall see how well I understand finance."

"How much do you really own?" asked Nucingen.

"Three millions, excluding my house and my estate, which I shall not sell; in fact, I cannot, for the property is now entailed and goes with the title."

Nucingen and du Tillet looked at each other; after that sly glance du Tillet said to Philippe, "My dear count, I shall be delighted to do business with you."

De Marsay intercepted the look du Tillet had exchanged with Nucingen, and which meant, "We will have those millions." The two bank magnates were at the centre of political affairs, and could, at a given time, manipulate matters at the Bourse, so as to play a sure game against Philippe, when the probabilities might all seem for him and yet be secretly against him.

The occasion came. In July, 1830, du Tillet and Nucingen had helped the Comte de Brambourg to make fifteen hundred thousand francs; he could therefore feel no distrust of those who had given him such good advice. Philippe, who owed his rise to the Restoration, was misled by his profound contempt for "civilians"; he believed in the triumph of the Ordonnances, and was bent on playing for a rise; du Tillet and Nucingen, who were sure of a revolution, played against him for a fall. The crafty pair confirmed the judgment of the Comte de Brambourg and seemed to share his convictions; they encouraged his hopes of doubling his millions, and apparently took steps to help him. Philippe fought like a man who had four millions depending on the issue of the struggle. His devotion was so noticeable, that he received orders to go to Saint-Cloud with the Duc de Maufrigneuse and attend a council. This mark of favor probably saved Philippe's life; for when the order came, on the 25th of July, he was intending to make a charge and sweep the boulevards, when he would undoubtedly have been shot down by his friend Giroudeau, who commanded a division of the assailants.

A month later, nothing was left of Colonel Bridau's immense fortune but his house and furniture, his estates, and the pictures which had come from Issoudun. He committed the still further folly, as he said himself, of believing in the restoration of the elder branch, to which he remained faithful until 1834. The not imcomprehensible jealousy Philippe felt on seeing Giroudeau a colonel drove him to re-enter the service. Unluckily for himself, he obtained, in 1835, the command of a regiment in Algiers, where he remained three years in a post of danger, always hoping for the epaulets of a general. But some malignant influence – that, in fact, of General Giroudeau, – continually balked him. Grown hard and brutal, Philippe exceeded the ordinary severity of the service, and was hated, in spite of his bravery a la Murat.

At the beginning of the fatal year 1839, while making a sudden dash upon the Arabs during a retreat before superior forces, he flung himself against the enemy, followed by only a single company, and fell in, unfortunately, with the main body of the enemy. The battle was bloody and terrible, man to man, and only a few horsemen escaped alive. Seeing that their colonel was surrounded, these men, who were at some distance, were unwilling to perish uselessly in attempting to rescue him. They heard his cry: "Your colonel! to me! a colonel of the Empire!" but they rejoined the regiment. Philippe met with a horrible death, for the Arabs, after hacking him to pieces with their scimitars, cut off his head.

Joseph, who was married about this time, through the good offices of the Comte de Serizy, to the daughter of a millionaire farmer, inherited his brother's house in Paris and the estate of Brambourg, in consequence of the entail, which Philippe, had he foreseen this result, would certainly have broken. The chief pleasure the painter derived from his inheritance was in the fine collection of paintings from Issoudun. He now possesses an income of sixty thousand francs, and his father-in-law, the farmer, continues to pile up the five-franc pieces. Though Joseph Bridau paints magnificent pictures, and renders important services to artists, he is not yet a member of the Institute. As the result of a clause in the deed of entail, he is now Comte de Brambourg, a fact which often makes him roar with laughter among his friends in the atelier.

ADDENDUM

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

Note: The Two Brothers is also known as A Bachelor's Establishment and The Black Sheep. In other Addendum appearances it is referred to as

A Bachelor's Establishment.

Bianchon, Horace

Father Goriot

The Atheist's Mass

Cesar Birotteau

The Commission in Lunacy

Lost Illusions

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

The Secrets of a Princess

The Government Clerks

Pierrette

A Study of Woman

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Honorine

The Seamy Side of History

The Magic Skin

A Second Home

A Prince of Bohemia

Letters of Two Brides

The Muse of the Department

The Imaginary Mistress

The Middle Classes

Cousin Betty

The Country Parson

In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following:

Another Study of Woman

La Grande Breteche

Birotteau, Cesar

Cesar Birotteau

At the Sign of the Cat and Racket

Bixiou, Jean-Jacques

The Purse

The Government Clerks

Modeste Mignon

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

The Firm of Nucingen

The Muse of the Department

Cousin Betty

The Member for Arcis

Beatrix

A Man of Business

Gaudissart II.

The Unconscious Humorists

Cousin Pons

Brambourg, Comte de (Title of Philippe Bridau, later Joseph)

The Unconscious Humorists

Bridau, Philippe

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Bridau, Joseph

The Purse

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

A Start in Life

Modeste Mignon

Another Study of Woman

Pierre Grassou

Letters of Two Brides

Cousin Betty

The Member for Arcis

Bruel, Jean Francois du

The Government Clerks

A Start in Life

A Prince of Bohemia

The Middle Classes

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

A Daughter of Eve

Bruel, Claudine Chaffaroux, Madame du

A Prince of Bohemia

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Letters of Two Brides

The Middle Classes

Cabirolle, Madame

A Start in Life

Cabirolle, Agathe-Florentine

A Start in Life

Lost Illusions

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Camusot

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Cousin Pons

The Muse of the Department

Cesar Birotteau

At the Sign of the Cat and Racket

Cardot, Jean-Jerome-Severin

A Start in Life

Lost Illusions

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

At the Sign of the Cat and Racket

Cesar Birotteau

Chaulieu, Henri, Duc de

Letters of Two Brides

Modest Mignon

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

The Thirteen

Chrestien, Michel

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

The Secrets of a Princess

Claparon, Charles

Cesar Birotteau

Melmoth Reconciled

The Firm of Nucingen

A Man of Business

The Middle Classes

Coloquinte

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Coralie, Mademoiselle

A Start in Life

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Desplein

The Atheist's Mass

Cousin Pons

Lost Illusions

The Thirteen

The Government Clerks

Pierrette

The Seamy Side of History

Modest Mignon

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Honorine

Desroches (son)

Colonel Chabert

A Start in Life

A Woman of Thirty

The Commission in Lunacy

The Government Clerks

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

The Firm of Nucingen

A Man of Business

The Middle Classes

Finot, Andoche

Cesar Birotteau

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

The Government Clerks

A Start in Life

Gaudissart the Great

The Firm of Nucingen

Gaillard, Madame Theodore

Jealousies of a Country Town

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Beatrix

The Unconscious Humorists

Gerard, Francois-Pascal-Simon, Baron

Beatrix

Giraud, Leon

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

The Secrets of a Princess

The Unconscious Humorists

Giroudeau

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

A Start in Life

Gobseck, Esther Van

Gobseck

The Firm of Nucingen

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Godeschal, Francois-Claude-Marie

Colonel Chabert

A Start in Life

The Commission in Lunacy

The Middle Classes

Cousin Pons

Godeschal, Marie

A Start in Life

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Cousin Pons

Grandlieu, Duc Ferdinand de

The Gondreville Mystery

The Thirteen

Modeste Mignon

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Grandlieu, Mademoiselle de

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Grassou, Pierre

Pierre Grassou

Cousin Betty

The Middle Classes

Cousin Pons

Gruget, Madame Etienne

The Thirteen

The Government Clerks

Haudry (doctor)

Cesar Birotteau

The Thirteen

The Seamy Side of History

Cousin Pons

Lora, Leon de

The Unconscious Humorists

A Start in Life

Pierre Grassou

Honorine

Cousin Betty

Beatrix

Loraux, Abbe

A Start in Life

Cesar Birotteau

Honorine

Lousteau, Etienne

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

A Daughter of Eve

Beatrix

The Muse of the Department

Cousin Betty

A Prince of Bohemia

A Man of Business

The Middle Classes

The Unconscious Humorists

Lupeaulx, Clement Chardin des

The Muse of the Department

Eugenie Grandet

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

The Government Clerks

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Ursule Mirouet

Magus, Elie

The Vendetta

A Marriage Settlement

Pierre Grassou

Cousin Pons

Matifat (wealthy druggist)

Cesar Birotteau

Lost Illusions

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

The Firm of Nucingen

Cousin Pons

Maufrigneuse, Duc de

The Secrets of a Princess

A Start in Life

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Nathan, Madame Raoul

The Muse of the Department

Lost Illusions

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

The Government Clerks

Ursule Mirouet

Eugenie Grandet

The Imaginary Mistress

A Prince of Bohemia

A Daughter of Eve

The Unconscious Humorists

Navarreins, Duc de

Colonel Chabert

The Muse of the Department

The Thirteen

Jealousies of a Country Town

The Peasantry

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

The Country Parson

The Magic Skin

The Gondreville Mystery

The Secrets of a Princess

Cousin Betty

Rhetore, Duc Alphonse de

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Letters of Two Brides

Albert Savarus

The Member for Arcis

Ridal, Fulgence

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

The Unconscious Humorists

Roguin

Cesar Birotteau

Eugenie Grandet

Pierrette

The Vendetta

Rouget, Jean-Jacques

The Muse of the Department

Schinner, Hippolyte

The Purse

Pierre Grassou

A Start in Life

Albert Savarus

The Government Clerks

Modeste Mignon

The Imaginary Mistress

The Unconscious Humorists

Serizy, Comte Hugret de

A Start in Life

Honorine

Modeste Mignon

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

Tillet, Ferdinand du

Cesar Birotteau

The Firm of Nucingen

The Middle Classes

Pierrette

Melmoth Reconciled

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

The Secrets of a Princess

A Daughter of Eve

The Member for Arcis

Cousin Betty

The Unconscious Humorists

Touches, Mademoiselle Felicite des

Beatrix

Lost Illusions

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Another Study of Woman

A Daughter of Eve

Honorine

Beatrix

The Muse of the Department

Vernou, Felicien

Lost Illusions

A Distinguished Provincial at Paris

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life

A Daughter of Eve

Cousin Betty

1

The cruelty of the Spaniards to the French prisoners at Cabrera was very great. In the spring of 1811, H.M. brig "Minorca," Captain Wormeley, was sent by Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, then commanding the Mediterranean fleet, to make a report of their condition. As she neared the island, the wretched prisoners swam out to meet her. They were reduced to skin and bone; many of them were naked; and their miserable condition so moved the seamen of the "Minorca" that they came aft to the quarter-deck, and asked permission to subscribe three days' rations for the relief of the sufferers. Captain Wormeley carried away some of the prisoners, and his report to Sir Charles Cotton, being sent to the Admiralty, was made the basis of a remonstrance on the part of the British government with Spain on the subject of its cruelties. Sir Charles Cotton despatched Captain Wormeley a second time to Cabrera with a good many head of live cattle and a large supply of other provisions. – Tr.