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  THE WORKS OF ANATOLE FRANCE
  IN AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION
  EDITED BY FREDERIC CHAPMAN

  THE ELM-TREE ON THE MALL

  [Illustration]




  THE ELM-TREE
  ON THE MALL

  A CHRONICLE OF OUR OWN TIMES
  BY ANATOLE FRANCE

  A TRANSLATION BY
  M. P. WILLCOCKS

  [Illustration]

  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

I


The salon which the Cardinal-Archbishop used as a reception room had
been fitted, in the time of Louis XV., with panellings of carved wood
painted a light grey. Seated figures of women surrounded by trophies
filled the angles of the cornices. The mirror on the chimney-piece
being in two divisions, was covered, as to its lower half, with a
drapery of crimson velvet which threw into relief a pure white statue
of Our Lady of Lourdes with her pretty blue scarf. Along the walls, in
the middle of the panels, hung enamel plates framed in reddish plush,
portraits of Popes Pius IX. and Leo XIII. printed in colours, and
pieces of embroidery, either souvenirs of Rome or gifts from the pious
ladies of the diocese. The gilded side-tables were loaded with plaster
models of Gothic or Romanesque churches: the Cardinal-Archbishop was
fond of buildings. From the plaster rose hung a Merovingian chandelier
executed from the designs of M. Quatrebarbe, diocesan architect and
Knight of the Order of Saint Gregory.

Tucking his cassock up above his violet stockings and warming his
short, stout legs at the fire, Monseigneur was dictating a pastoral
letter, whilst, seated at a large table of brass and tortoiseshell, on
which stood an ivory crucifix, the vicar-general, M. de Goulet, was
writing: _So that nothing may occur to sadden for us the joys of our
retreat._ …

Monseigneur dictated in a dry, colourless voice. He was a very short
man, but the great head with its square face softened by age was
carried erect. Notwithstanding its coarse and homely lineaments, his
face was expressive of subtlety and a kind of dignity born of habit and
the love of command.

“_The joys of our retreat._ … Here you will expound the ideas of
harmony, of the subduing of the mind, of that submission to the powers
that be which is so necessary, and which I have already dealt with in
my previous pastoral letters.”

M. de Goulet raised his long, pale, refined head adorned by beautiful
curled locks as though by a Louis Quatorze wig.

“But this time,” said he, “would it not be expedient, while repeating
these declarations, to show that reserve appropriate to the position
of the secular powers, shaken as they are by internal convulsions
and henceforth incapable of imparting to their covenants what they
themselves do not possess—I mean continuity and stability? For you
must see, Monseigneur, that the decline of parliamentary predominance …”

The Cardinal-Archbishop shook his head.

“Without reservation, Monsieur de Goulet, without any species of
reservation. You are full of learning and piety, Monsieur de Goulet,
but your old pastor can still give you a few lessons in discretion,
before handing over the government of the diocese, at his death, to
your youthful energy. Have we not to congratulate ourselves upon
the attitude of M. _