第158章

"And you took pleasure in beholding these dreadful spectacles?""My first sentiment was horror, the second indifference, the third curiosity.""Curiosity -- that is a terrible word."

"Why so? In life, our greatest preoccupation is death; is it not then, curious to study the different ways by which the soul and body can part; and how, according to their different characters, temperaments, and even the different customs of their countries, different persons bear the transition from life to death, from existence to annihilation? As for myself, I can assure you of one thing, -- the more men you see die, the easier it becomes to die yourself; and in my opinion, death may be a torture, but it is not an expiation.""I do not quite understand you," replied Franz; "pray explain your meaning, for you excite my curiosity to the highest pitch.""Listen," said the count, and deep hatred mounted to his face, as the blood would to the face of any other."If a man had by unheard-of and excruciating tortures destroyed your father, your mother, your betrothed, -- a being who, when torn from you, left a desolation, a wound that never closes, in your breast, -- do you think the reparation that society gives you is sufficient when it interposes the knife of the guillotine between the base of the occiput and the trapezal muscles of the murderer, and allows him who has caused us years of moral sufferings to escape with a few moments of physical pain?""Yes, I know," said Franz, "that human justice is insufficient to console us; she can give blood in return for blood, that is all; but you must demand from her only what it is in her power to grant.""I will put another case to you," continued the count; "that where society, attacked by the death of a person, avenges death by death.But are there not a thousand tortures by which a man may be made to suffer without society taking the least cognizance of them, or offering him even the insufficient means of vengeance, of which we have just spoken? Are there not crimes for which the impalement of the Turks, the augers of the Persians, the stake and the brand of the Iroquois Indians, are inadequate tortures, and which are unpunished by society? Answer me, do not these crimes exist?""Yes," answered Franz; "and it is to punish them that duelling is tolerated.""Ah, duelling," cried the count; "a pleasant manner, upon my soul, of arriving at your end when that end is vengeance! Aman has carried off your mistress, a man has seduced your wife, a man has dishonored your daughter; he has rendered the whole life of one who had the right to expect from heaven that portion of happiness God his promised to every one of his creatures, an existence of misery and infamy; and you think you are avenged because you send a ball through the head, or pass a sword through the breast, of that man who has planted madness in your brain, and despair in your heart.And remember, moreover, that it is often he who comes off victorious from the strife, absolved of all crime in the eyes of the world.No, no," continued the count, "had I to avenge myself, it is not thus I would take revenge.""Then you disapprove of duelling? You would not fight a duel?" asked Albert in his turn, astonished at this strange theory.

"Oh, yes," replied the count; "understand me, I would fight a duel for a trifle, for an insult, for a blow; and the more so that, thanks to my skill in all bodily exercises, and the indifference to danger I have gradually acquired, I should be almost certain to kill my man.Oh, I would fight for such a cause; but in return for a slow, profound, eternal torture, I would give back the same, were it possible; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, as the Orientalists say, -- our masters in everything, -- those favored creatures who have formed for themselves a life of dreams and a paradise of realities.""But," said Franz to the count, "with this theory, which renders you at once judge and executioner of your own cause, it would be difficult to adopt a course that would forever prevent your falling under the power of the law.Hatred is blind, rage carries you away; and he who pours out vengeance runs the risk of tasting a bitter draught.""Yes, if he be poor and inexperienced, not if he be rich and skilful; besides, the worst that could happen to him would be the punishment of which we have already spoken, and which the philanthropic French Revolution has substituted for being torn to pieces by horses or broken on the wheel.What matters this punishment, as long as he is avenged? On my word, I almost regret that in all probability this miserable Peppino will not be beheaded, as you might have had an opportunity then of seeing how short a time the punishment lasts, and whether it is worth even mentioning; but, really this is a most singular conversation for the Carnival, gentlemen; how did it arise? Ah, I recollect, you asked for a place at my window; you shall have it; but let us first sit down to table, for here comes the servant to inform us that breakfast is ready." As he spoke, a servant opened one of the four doors of the apartment, saying -- "Al suo commodo!" The two young men arose and entered the breakfast-room.