THE WORKS OF ANATOLE FRANCE
IN AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION
EDITED BY FREDERIC CHAPMAN
THE ELM-TREE ON THE MALL
THE ELM-TREE
ON THE MALL
A CHRONICLE OF OUR OWN TIMES
BY ANATOLE FRANCE
A TRANSLATION BY
M. P. WILLCOCKS
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY: MCMX
Printed by Ballantyne & Co. Limited
Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London
THE ELM-TREE ON THE MALL
The salon which the Cardinal-Archbishop used as a reception room hadbeen fitted, in the time of Louis XV., with panellings of carved woodpainted a light grey. Seated figures of women surrounded by trophiesfilled the angles of the cornices. The mirror on the chimney-piecebeing in two divisions, was covered, as to its lower half, with adrapery of crimson velvet which threw into relief a pure white statueof Our Lady of Lourdes with her pretty blue scarf. Along the walls, inthe middle of the panels, hung enamel plates framed in reddish plush,portraits of Popes Pius IX. and Leo XIII. printed in colours, andpieces of embroidery, either souvenirs of Rome or gifts from the piousladies of the diocese. The gilded side-tables were loaded with plastermodels of Gothic or Romanesque churches: the Cardinal-Archbishop was2fond of buildings. From the plaster rose hung a Merovingian chandelierexecuted from the designs of M. Quatrebarbe, diocesan architect andKnight of the Order of Saint Gregory.
Tucking his cassock up above his violet stockings and warming hisshort, stout legs at the fire, Monseigneur was dictating a pastoralletter, whilst, seated at a large table of brass and tortoiseshell, onwhich stood an ivory crucifix, the vicar-general, M. de Goulet, waswriting: So that nothing may occur to sadden for us the joys of ourretreat. …
Monseigneur dictated in a dry, colourless voice. He was a very shortman, but the great head with its square face softened by age wascarried erect. Notwithstanding its coarse and homely lineaments, hisface was expressive of subtlety and a kind of dignity born of habit andthe love of command.
“The joys of our retreat. … Here you will expound the ideas ofharmony, of the subduing of the mind, of that submission to the powersthat be which is so necessary, and which I have already dealt with inmy previous pastoral letters.”
M. de Goulet raised his long, pale, refined head adorned by beautifulcurled locks as though by a Louis Quatorze wig.
“But this time,” said he, “would it not be