Léon Hennique Novel
Complete Novel 'A Character' & Rare French Literary Translations
Category: “A Character – Chapters”
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On an autumn evening in Juvigny, Aisne, when the huddled houses were already nodding off to sleep and gigantic, phosphorescent cloud banks hauled themselves across the darkening sky, a young ragamuffin suddenly dashed out from a backstreet onto the Church Square at about eight o’clock. The lad, barefoot and shaven-headed, swaddled in a pitiful long…
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Louis-Euchariste-Agénor de Cluses was born in London on the 4th of November 1799, six days before the 18th Brumaire(1), to Jenny Gainsborough, third daughter of Lord Gainsborough, Earl of Warder, and to the Marquis Robert de Cluses, an erstwhile Lieutenant Colonel in the Crown Regiment(2), celebrated as one of the handsomest men to have fled…
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To Abbé Robiquet’s mind, Louis XIV alone had stood as the authentic incarnation of earthly majesty, a figure whom divine providence had favoured with its most sublime gifts, forging his character through stern lessons of adversity, refining him to such a degree that he could coolly observe his own elevation to godlike status, whilst surrounding…
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“Would the gentleman care to look at my pictures?” a travelling salesman called out the following day, whilst arranging his wares along the château railing. “I’ve got every kind imaginable, all in colour: scenes of great battles, grand reviews, and notable figures.” Without hesitation, Agénor hurried over to the man. “Let me show you first,”…
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And the season slipped away, then an autumn, then a winter, during which Napoleon, ever watchful from the isle of Elba, witnessed the Bourbons’ mounting blunders and their spreading loss of favour. Agénor knew no perfect freedom during evening hours; but he was promised that come next year, he would be able to attend the…
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By this time, the household of the new Marquis de Cluses had dwindled to a mere handful: a coachman, a liveried footman, a stable hand who doubled as kennel-master, two valets, a chef, a kitchen maid, a housekeeper, and four groundsmen. Part of the stables had been sold. With the Paris residence now let to…
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August 1819. — A quiet chamber, in which a hearth is flanked by four Corinthian marble columns of brocatelle(52). The pedestals and carved tops are blue-green in hue. By a door left slightly open, its curtain fluttering with every draft, stands a screen of orange-pink velvet, braided with subdued silk in lavender and black. The…
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A fortnight had passed when Agénor finally succumbed to the urgings of his guardian, the Comte de Montégrier. On a particular evening, weary with grief and feverish, troubled already by thoughts of his lonely future, he climbed aboard the post-chaise bound for Paris. Juvigny, he had abandoned without the slightest pang of remorse, his thoughts…
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When morning came, he found himself heading straight outdoors, drawn as always to breathe deeply and bask in the sun, pacing the garden paths of his estate. He began walking down the rue du Bac with a light step, yesterday’s longing still alive within him, taking pleasure in the balmy air. But soon, moved by…
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The Marquis de Cluses was slowly recovering. Though still too weak to rise, lingering in a fragile state with an uneasy mind, the shadow of danger had begun to lift. One morning, he wept profusely in the arms of the Countess and the Colonel—tears that gave way to a heavy, restorative sleep. Not a word…
Léon Hennique Novel 