himself stayed at Les Herbages, visiting her discreetly from time to time,
just as, not so long before, he had visited the brothels of the capital, and
taking Charlotte with him to gaming houses where he sometimes lost large
sums of money. Meanwhile he very probably took out again the
manuscript of his as yet untitled autobiographical novel and rewrote it in
such a way as eventually to create the Adolphe we now know. It is certain
that during the winter of 1808–9 and later in the summer of 1809 he
reworked the manuscripts of his book on the religions of Antiquity to
produce a book on polytheism—the belief in many gods as opposed to
monotheism, belief in one god—for on 12 February 1809 he wrote to
Prosper de Barante:
I’m working a great deal on my Polytheism with a zest that delights
me. I’m copying it all out myself to avoid any long
encyclopaedialike sections. If I’m not disturbed by any unexpected
storms, internal or external, I shall have finished copying it out this
spring.^38As the letter suggests, Constant knew the exeat he had been granted by
Madame de Staël was necessarily finite: one day soon he would be
recalled to Coppet.
At some point during those early months of 1809 a decision was made by Constant
and his wife that Germaine must be informed of the marriage by Charlotte. There was
certain to be a scene of apocalyptic proportions, but telling her could no longer be put off.
Accordingly, at the beginning of May 1809 husband and wife arrived on the outskirts of
Geneva. Charlotte took a room alone at the village inn at Sécheron while Constant
awaited the result of her interview with Madame de Staël at nearby Ferney. On 8 May
1809 Charlotte sent a note to Germaine signed ‘Charlotte Constant de Hardenberg’
asking to see her the next day at Sécheron. Realizing the situation Germaine ordered a
coach and was there the same evening. She burst into Charlotte’s room as Charlotte was
washing her feet and preparing for bed, and exclaimed ‘I have come to see you because
you are a Hardenberg!’ Summoning up more dignity than the tragicomic circumstances
might have allowed anyone less resolute, Charlotte remained calm and polite, every inch
the grande dame like her adversary, but refused to reveal Constant’s whereabouts or to
renounce her marriage to him. Charlotte’s only concession was to agree to keep the
marriage secret until after Germaine had realized her current intention of leaving for the
United States where she owned land around New York. Nevertheless when Madame de
Staël finally left at 4 o’clock in the morning, Charlotte was sad in the knowledge of the
extent of Constant’s perfidy: he had repeatedly told each woman that he could only be
happy with her alone. He used what one might call his customary Adolphean defence,
believing that duplicity which spares pain is preferable to honesty which only causes
more pain.^39
Italiam 203