In the fall of 1840, the eighteen-year-old Frederic Moreau returned by boat to his hometown of Nogent-on-Seine. He already received the title of Bachelor and was soon to go to Paris to study law. Dreamy, capable of science and artistic, “he found that the happiness that the perfection of his soul deserves was slow.” On the boat, he met the Arnu family. My husband was a sociable, healthy man of about forty and owned the “Artistic Industry” - an enterprise connecting a newspaper devoted to painting and a store selling paintings. His wife, Maria, struck Frederick with unusual beauty. "As if a vision appeared to him ... He had never seen such delightful dark skin, such a bewitching camp, such thin fingers." He fell in love with Mrs. Arna with a romantic and at the same time passionate love, not yet knowing what it was for life.
In Nogent, he met with Charles Delorier, his college buddy. Due to poverty, Charles was forced to interrupt his education and serve as a clerk in the province. Both friends were going to live together in Paris. But so far only Frederick, whom his mother had loaned, had the funds for this. In college, friends dreamed of great deeds. Frederick is about becoming a famous writer, Charles is about creating a new philosophical system. Now he predicted an imminent revolution and regretted that poverty prevented him from spreading propaganda.
Having settled in Paris, Frederick went over a set of ordinary social entertainments, made new acquaintances and soon "fell into utter idleness." True, he composed a novel in the spirit of Walter Scott, where he was the hero himself and Madame Arnu the heroine, but this activity did not inspire him for long. After several unsuccessful attempts, the incident helped him enter Arn's house. Located in Montmartre, the Art Industry was a kind of political and artistic salon. But for Frederick the main thing was his crazy love for Mrs. Arn, whom he was afraid to admit to his feeling. Delorier, who had already arrived in Paris by this time, did not understand his friend’s hobbies and advised him to pursue his own or throw passion out of his head. He shared shelter with Frederick, lived on his money, but could not overcome the envy of his friend - a spoiled child of fate. He himself dreamed of big politics, of leading the masses, and was drawn to the socialists who were in their youth company.
Time passed, and both friends defended their dissertations, and Charles with brilliance. Mother Frederick could no longer send her son the required amount, moreover, she was aging and complained of loneliness. The young man had to leave the capital, with which all his attachments and hopes were connected, and get a job in Nozhan. Gradually, he "got used to the province, plunged into it, and even his love itself gained a drowsy charm." At that time, Louise Rock, the neighbor's teenage girl, became Frederic's only joy. Her father was the manager of a large Paris banker Damrez and successfully increased his net worth. So another three years passed. Finally, the elderly uncle Frederick died, and the hero became the heir to a considerable fortune. Now he was again able to return to Paris, promising his mother to pursue a diplomatic career there. He himself first of all thought about Mrs. Arnu.
In Paris, it turned out that Arnoux was already the second child, that the “Artistic Industry” began to incur losses and had to be sold, and instead began to trade in earthenware. Mrs. Arnu, as before, did not give Frederick any hope of reciprocity. Not pleased with the hero and a meeting with Delorier. He did not have a lawyer's career, he lost several cases in court and now he too clearly wanted to join the friend’s inheritance and spoke too evil about people in a certain position. Frederick settled in a cozy mansion, finishing it in the latest fashion. Now he was rich enough to enter the selected capital circles. However, he still loved old friends, among whom were very poor - for example, the eternal loser, the ardent socialist Senecal or the Republican Dussardier - honest and kind, but somewhat limited.
Frederick by nature was soft, romantic, delicate, he did not differ in prudence and at times was truly generous. Not without ambition, he nevertheless could not choose a worthy application to his mind and abilities. Either he was taken for literary work, then for historical research, then he studied painting, then he pondered the ministerial career. He did not finish anything. He found an explanation in his unhappy love, which paralyzed his will, but could not resist the circumstances. Gradually, he became closer to the Arnu family, became the closest person in their house, constantly talked with her husband and knew everything about his secret adventures and financial affairs, but this only added to his suffering. He saw that the woman he worshiped suffers a deception not without charm, but with a vulgar and ordinary businessman, like Jacques Arnoux, and for the sake of children he keeps loyalty to her husband.
Hearty melancholy, however, did not prevent the hero from leading a secular lifestyle. He attended balls, masquerades, theaters, trendy restaurants and salons. He was entering the house of courtesan Rosanetta, nicknamed the Captain, the lover of Arnoux, and at the same time became a regular at the Damrez and enjoyed the favor of the banker herself. For Delorier, who was still forced to be content with thirty-sous dinners and work daily, the diffused life of his friend provoked anger. Charles dreamed of his own newspaper as the last chance to gain an influential position. And once he directly asked Frederick for money for her. And although he needed to withdraw a large amount from fixed capital, he did so. But on the last day he took the fifteen thousand francs not to Charles, but to Jacques Arn, who was threatened by the court after an unsuccessful transaction. He saved the beloved woman from ruin, feeling guilty before a friend.
In society, on the eve of the revolution, there was confusion, in Frederick's feelings, too. He still reverently loved Madame Arna, but at the same time wished to become Rosanetta's lover. “Communication with these two women was like two melodies; one was playful, impetuous, amusing, and the other solemn, almost prayerful. " And at times Frederick dreamed of a relationship with Madame Damrez, who would give him weight in society. He was a child of light - and at the same time he already managed to feel the cold and the falsity of its brilliance.
Having received a letter from his mother, he again went to Nozhan. Neighbor Louise Rock became a wealthy bride by then. From adolescence she loved Frederick. Their marriage was tacitly resolved, and yet the hero hesitated. He returned to Paris, promising the girl that he was leaving for a short while. But a new meeting with Mrs. Arnu crossed out all plans. She heard rumors about Frederick's plans, and she was shocked by this. She realized that she loved him. Now he denied everything - Rosanetta’s hobby, and a quick marriage. He swore eternal love to her - and then she first let him kiss herself. They actually confessed their love for each other and for some time met as true friends, experienced quiet happiness. But they were not destined to get close. Mrs. Arnu had already consented to a meeting with him, but Frederick waited in vain for several hours. He did not know that at night Mrs. Arnu's little son was seriously ill and she took it as a sign of God. He angrily brought Rosanetta to specially rented rooms. That was the February night of 1848.
They woke up from gunfire. Upon entering the Champs Elysees, Frederic learned that the king had fled and a republic was proclaimed. The Tuileries doors were open. "Violent joy took possession of everyone, as if the vanished throne had already given way to unlimited future happiness." The magnetism of the enthusiastic crowd passed on to Frederick. He wrote an enthusiastic article in the newspaper - a lyrical ode to the revolution, and with his friends began to go to work clubs and to rallies. Delorier asked the new authorities to appoint a commissar to the province. Frederick tried to run for office in the Legislative Assembly, but was booed as an aristocrat.
In secular circles, there was a rapid change in political sympathies. Everyone immediately declared themselves supporters of the republic - from the frivolous Captain to the Council of State, Damrez and the Archbishop of Paris. In fact, the nobility and the bourgeois were only worried about preserving their habitual way of life and property. The proclamation of the republic did not solve the problems of the lower classes. In June, a working mutiny began.
At this time, Frederick, already cooled down to politics, was experiencing something like a honeymoon with Rosanetta. She was unbridled, but natural and direct. In Paris, barricades were being built, shots were thundered, and they were leaving the city, living in a rural hotel, wandering around the forest for days or lying on the grass. Political unrest "seemed to him insignificant in comparison with their love and eternal nature." However, having learned from the newspaper about Dussardier’s wound, Frederick rushed to Paris and again fell into the thick of things. He saw how ruthlessly crushed the rebellion by the soldiers. “With triumph, stupid, bestial equality declared itself; the same level of bloody meanness was established, the aristocracy went on a rampage just like the mob ... the public mind became confused. ” Inveterate liberals are now patched up by conservatives, while radicals are behind bars - for example, Senecal.
These days, Louise Rock, dying of anxiety for her lover, came to Paris. She did not find Frederick, who lived with Rosanetta in another apartment, and met him only at a dinner at the Damrez. Among the secular ladies, the girl seemed provincial to him, he spoke to her evasively, and she bitterly realized that their marriage was being canceled.
At Delorier, the commissar career ended ingloriously. “Since he preached fraternity to the conservatives, and respect for the law to the socialists, some shot him, others brought a rope to hang him ... He knocked on the door of democracy, offering to serve her with pen, speech, his work, but everywhere was rejected ... "
Rosanetta gave birth to a child, but he soon died. Frederick gradually cooled to her. Now he began an affair with Mrs. Damrez. He deceived both of them, but in response their love for him only grew stronger. And Mrs. Arnu always lived in his thoughts. When the banker Damrez, one of the largest bribe takers of his time, died of an illness, the widow above her husband’s coffin offered Frederick herself to marry her. He understood that this marriage would open up many possibilities for him. But this wedding was not destined to materialize. It took money again to save Arnu from prison. Frederick lent them to the new bride, naturally not to mention the purpose. She recognized and decided to take revenge with her inherent cunning. Through Delorie, she floated old bills and obtained an inventory of Arnu's property. Yes, I came to the auction when things went under the hammer. And in front of Frederick, contrary to his desperate request, I bought a trinket with which he had dear memories. Immediately after this, Frederick broke up with her forever. He broke with the Captain, who sincerely loved him.
The unrest in Paris continued, and one day he accidentally witnessed a street brawl. In front of his eyes he died at the hands of a policeman - shouting "Long live the republic!" - Dussardier. "The policeman looked around, looked around everyone, and the stunned Frederic recognized Senecal ..."
... Frederick traveled, survived more than one romance, but never married, and “the severity of passion, all the charm of feelings were lost. Years passed, he put up with this idleness of thought, inertness of the heart. " Twenty years later, he once again saw Madame Arna, who now lived in the province. It was a sad meeting of old friends. Frederick met with Delorier. He at one time married Louise Rock, but soon she ran away from him with some singer. Both friends now led a modest life of respectable bourgeois. Both were indifferent to politics. Summing up the results of their life, they admitted that "both of them failed - both to those who dreamed of love, and to those who dreamed of power."
