Françoise (Tolstoy)
Short summary
Marseilles, May 1886. After four years at sea, the ship Notre-Dame-des-Vents docked and its sailors went ashore. Celestin Duclos led his comrades through the port streets to a brothel.
There Celestin spent the evening with a stout, red-cheeked woman. As they talked, she asked if he knew the ship Notre-Dame-des-Vents and a sailor named Celestin Duclos. Surprised, he claimed to know them both. She revealed that Duclos's entire family had died of fever.
She then confessed she was Duclos's sister.
'Françoise!' he shrieked. She looked intently at him, and softly, softly moved her lips, hardly letting the words escape: 'So you are Celestin!'
Brother and sister stared at each other in horror.
Detailed summary by chapters
Chapter titles are editorial.
Chapter 1. The return to Marseilles and a fateful encounter
In May 1886, after four years at sea, the sailing vessel Notre-Dame-des-Vents returned to Marseilles from her long voyage to China, Buenos Aires, and Brazil. The ship had left Havre in 1882 with fifteen crew members, but only nine of the original sailors returned home. During the voyage, one sailor died and four were lost in various adventures, while new crew members from different countries had been recruited along the way.
After dealing with customs officials, the captain gave shore leave to most of his crew for the night.
On this warm summer night in Marseilles, the sailors ventured into the city streets. Led by Celestin Duclos, they wandered through the port district like strangers unused to town life.
It was four months since they had seen a woman... They wandered about the streets nearest the quay, looking around them like dogs sniffing about in search of something.
Celestin led his comrades through narrow streets lined with brothels, past women calling out from doorways. He rejected several establishments before finally choosing one of better appearance than the others, and led his men inside.
Chapter 2. The terrible recognition
In the establishment, each sailor chose a woman companion for the evening. They drank heavily, spending their half-year's pay in a four-hour debauch. By eleven o'clock, most were completely drunk, shouting and singing with bloodshot eyes. Celestin sat with a large, stout, red-cheeked woman, still maintaining some coherence despite his drinking.
During their conversation, Françoise casually asked if he had ever encountered a ship called Notre-Dame-des-Vents. Surprised, Celestin decided to play a trick and claimed he had met the vessel just the previous week. When she pressed further, asking about a sailor named Celestin Duclos, he became alarmed and curious about how she knew his name.
Have you ever met the Notre-Dame-des-Vents? There is a ship of that name... And did you not meet a man on board named Celestin Duclos?
Françoise claimed to know someone who was acquainted with Duclos. She gave Celestin a lemon drink to clear his head, then made him swear not to reveal who had told him what she was about to share. She informed him that Duclos's father, mother, and brother had all died of fever in the same month. When Celestin pressed her about the source of this information, she made him swear again before revealing the shocking truth.
She put her hands on his shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. 'Swear you will not let it out!' He swore it: 'So help me God!' 'I am his sister.'
The recognition was mutual and devastating. Françoise explained how she had been left alone after the family deaths, forced to sell everything to pay debts. At only fifteen, she had gone to work as a servant for Monsieur Cacheux, a lame man who seduced her.
Later she worked for a notary who made her his mistress before abandoning her.
They died... All three in one month. What was I to do? I was left alone... I had to sell everything to pay the debts. Nothing was left but the clothes I wore.
After three days without food, she had ended up in this place like the rest of them. Françoise wept as she explained that she saw so many men that they all looked alike to her now. Celestin's heart contracted painfully as he gradually recognized in her the small, slender, merry maiden he had left at home.
Little by little he recognized in her the small, slender, merry maiden he had left at home with those others whose eyes it had been her lot to close.
Overcome with grief and rage, Celestin suddenly struck down a comrade who was embracing another woman, shouting that she was someone's sister too. He declared that Françoise was his sister, then collapsed to the floor, sobbing and choking as though about to die. His comrades carried him upstairs to Françoise's room and laid him on her bed.