The Book of the Courtesans Read Online Free PDF

remain
au courant
(or
as we say now, in the swim), one had to attend. But during the reign of Louis
Philippe, that ruler who, while trying to be both a monarch and a democratic
man, was called “the Citizen King,” the balls were opened up to
every level of society. And now that almost anyone could come, this particular
party was no longer so prized. Many upper-class ladies stayed home. But the
courtesans came, along with hopeful
lorettes
looking for a chance to
inch their way higher into society or find a new protector. There were still
plenty of successful entrepreneurs in attendance, as well as barons, and, as we
have already mentioned, at least one count.
    As was usual for such gatherings—and still is—at the sidelines of
the ballroom floor the crowds settled into small groups and chatted. During the
conversation, as also was and is still usual, the eyes of those who conversed
would wander the crowd. Ladies would be scrutinizing each other’s dresses.
Everyone would be curious to know who arrived on the arm of whom. New faces
were being scrutinized. And of course, by means of a glance or a stare, whether
with subtlety or flourish, countless flirtations crossed the elegant rooms,
filling the air with excitement.
    It was thus while Marie Duplessis was no doubt chatting with a group of friends
and acquaintances that she began to feel the heat of attention fall across her
shoulders like a light cloak or a hand brushed in passing against her spine.
Just as in the song written almost a century later about a similarly enchanted
evening, comte Edouard de Perregaux was standing across the crowded room, or
rather, the crowded
Grand Salon
(a salon which everyone in Paris
complained lacked elegance), when his gaze chanced to settle on her.
    Here is where her timing transformed chance to good fortune. Aware that she was
being scrutinized, Marie did not turn quickly, as someone too eager might have
done. Though of course we are forced to fill in this part of the narrative, the
story is true to the many accounts that we have of her character, all of which,
with only one fleeting exception, describe her as refined and kind, two
qualities that together would have prevented her from turning abruptly away
from the conversation in which she was already engaged.
    And of course there was another element that should have slowed down her
response—the precise quality of her gaiety. She loved to laugh and
laughed often, but her smile had an intriguing chiaroscuro not unlike the
mysterious mood of the
Mona Lisa
’s smile, a trace of a rather sad
boredom just beneath the surface, as if she were saying, “I’ve seen
it all.” And this is how the story unfolds further, toward the great
complexities of timing together with the many histories that can be sensed at
the fringes of frivolity.
    First, because she was suffering from tuberculosis, the courtesan believed she
would die young. On the one hand, this gave her a great and unceasing appetite
for life. And yet, in the strange way that contradictory emotions marry in
experience, every morsel of life she tasted was seasoned with the knowledge of
death that can give the soul of even one so young—she was just seventeen
when she met Perregaux—a philosophical wistfulness. Feeling his eyes upon
her, she waited to turn, waited attentively while the moment seemed to expand
inside her infinitely.
    Second (since there are always many causes for any virtue), she had known
desperation. And while desperation causes the kind of hysteria that can make
you fall out of step, it can also give you the blessedly carefree attitude that
leads to perfect timing.
I have seen the worst life has to offer and
nothing surprises or frightens me
, is the mantra.
I have nothing left
to lose
.
    Which brings to mind the single exception to the many descriptions we have of
Marie Duplessis as refined. We have already told the story. It occurred when
she was still just a