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I have just this moment received your letter but as I am having a lot of pain in my eyes I shall provisionally limit myself to a very incomplete reply. If the three young men (not all that young, rather I myself, alas, am very old - and in any case considerably their elder) are the ones I think they are, I won’t hide from you that for a long time, long before my financial losses, I had advised one of them to place his money with you<ref name="n2" />. But here’s the difficulty, which doesn’t make the plan impossible but very awkward. You know that Israel is often at the source of the fortunes and that that is most often forgotten about.  But if d’Albufera is due to inherit a considerable fortune from his parents<ref name="n3" /> <ref name="n4" /> the most evident of what he currently has comes from his wife, the daughter of Princesse d’Essling<ref name="n5" />, that is to say the grand-daughter of Mme Furtado Heine<ref name="n6" />. But that fortune is deposited with the Heine Bank and I don’t even know if the testamentary arrangements won’t make it very difficult to withdraw; I vaguely remember that a similar obstacle came up when d’Albufera wanted to deposit some money in Brussels with M. Lambert.
I have just this moment received your letter but as I am having a lot of pain in my eyes I shall provisionally limit myself to a very incomplete reply. If the three young men (not all that young, rather I myself, alas, am very old - and in any case considerably their elder) are the ones I think they are, I won’t hide from you that for a long time, long before my financial losses, I had advised one of them to place his money with you<ref name="n2" />. But here’s the difficulty, which doesn’t make the plan impossible but very awkward. You know that Israel is often at the source of the fortunes and that that is most often forgotten about.  But if d’Albufera is due to inherit a considerable fortune from his parents<ref name="n3" /> <ref name="n4" /> the most evident of what he currently has comes from his wife, the daughter of Princesse d’Essling<ref name="n5" />, that is to say the grand-daughter of Mme Furtado Heine<ref name="n6" />. But that fortune is deposited with the Heine Bank and I don’t even know if the testamentary arrangements won’t make it very difficult to withdraw; I vaguely remember that a similar obstacle came up when d’Albufera wanted to deposit some money in Brussels with M. Lambert.


Gabriel de La Rochefoucauld semble au premier abord n’avoir aucun rapport avec d’Albufera. Mais sa fortune (au moins actuelle) vient de ce qu’il a épousé la fille de la princesse de Monaco, fille elle-même d’autres Heine<ref name="n7" />, non Furtado, mais parents<ref name="n8" /> et extrêmement riches mais banquiers. Enfin Guiche doit sa fortune à ce que sa mère la duchesse de Gramont était née Rothschild (banque idem) <ref name="n9" />. Il est vrai que sa femme Mlle Greffulhe lui vaudra plus un jour, mais actuellement le père et la mère d’icelle sont en parfaite santé<ref name="n10" />. Ces explications peu intéressantes pour toi sont pour te montrer que ce n’est pas manque de désir d’une chose à laquelle j’ai souvent pensé (et je dois dire plus encore dans l’intérêt des déposants que dans le tien) (le mot déposants est inexact mais tu me comprends) si je n’y ai encore jamais abouti. Mais le fait de n’avoir pas vu ces gens depuis tant d’années y est aussi pour quelque chose. Or maintenant que je sais que l’idée ne t’en déplaît pas, dès que je serai en état de recevoir quelqu’un je convoquerai ceux qui ne sont pas mobilisés et si je les convertis je crois que je leur aurai rendu un très grand service. Mais leur rendre un très grand service, si agréable que cela me puisse être, ne me paraît pas une façon très désintéressée de te témoigner ma gratitude. Aussi pour en revenir à mes moutons, tu me ferais bien grand plaisir en élevant à des proportions satisfaisantes un courtage dérisoire. Le jour où j’aurai réussi à fixer chez toi deux ou trois multimillionnaires implorant tes conseils, ce jour-là je consentirai à ce que tu ramènes ce que tu me prends au chiffre actuel. Mais d’ici là, je te demande de tenir compte de ma prière et de croire à ma bien affectueuse reconnaissance.
On first appearances Gabriel de La Rochefoucauld seems to have no connection with d’Albufera. But his wealth (currently at least) came from his marriage with the daughter of the Princesse of Monaco, herself the daughter of the other Heines<ref name="n7" />, not Furtado but relations<ref name="n8" /> and extremely rich, but bankers. Finally, Guiche owes his wealth to the fact that his mother, the Duchesse de Gramont, was born a Rothschild (same bank)<ref name="n9" />. It is true that one day his wife Mlle Greffulhe will be worth more than him, but at present the parents of the said lady are in perfect health<ref name="n10" />. These explanations which are of little interest to you are to demonstrate that it is not through any lack of desire for something I have thought about a great deal (and I must stress in the interests of the depositors rather than yours) (the word depositors is not quite correct but you understand what I mean) even if I have done nothing about it yet. But the fact that I haven’t seen any of these people for so many years is also a consideration. But now I know that the idea is not disagreeable to you, as soon as I am able to receive anybody I shall convene the ones who haven’t been mobilized and if I can convince them I believe I will be doing them a very great service. But however agreeable it might be for me to do them a very great service, it doesn’t quite seem like a disinterested way of showing you my gratitude. So, getting back to my little lambs, it would be a great satisfaction to me if you raised your derisory brokerage fee to a satisfactory sum. On the day I succeed in establishing with you two or three multimillionaires imploring you for advice, that is the day I will consent to you once again charging me at the current going rate. But until then I beg you to be mindful of my entreaty and believe in my affectionate gratitude.


Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust

Revision as of 09:10, 28 January 2021


Other languages:

Marcel Proust to Lionel Hauser Tuesday evening[29 August 1916]

(Click on the link above to see this letter and its notes in the Corr-Proust digital edition, including all relevant hyperlinks.)

Tuesday evening[1]

My dear Lionel

I have just this moment received your letter but as I am having a lot of pain in my eyes I shall provisionally limit myself to a very incomplete reply. If the three young men (not all that young, rather I myself, alas, am very old - and in any case considerably their elder) are the ones I think they are, I won’t hide from you that for a long time, long before my financial losses, I had advised one of them to place his money with you[2]. But here’s the difficulty, which doesn’t make the plan impossible but very awkward. You know that Israel is often at the source of the fortunes and that that is most often forgotten about. But if d’Albufera is due to inherit a considerable fortune from his parents[3] [4] the most evident of what he currently has comes from his wife, the daughter of Princesse d’Essling[5], that is to say the grand-daughter of Mme Furtado Heine[6]. But that fortune is deposited with the Heine Bank and I don’t even know if the testamentary arrangements won’t make it very difficult to withdraw; I vaguely remember that a similar obstacle came up when d’Albufera wanted to deposit some money in Brussels with M. Lambert.

On first appearances Gabriel de La Rochefoucauld seems to have no connection with d’Albufera. But his wealth (currently at least) came from his marriage with the daughter of the Princesse of Monaco, herself the daughter of the other Heines[7], not Furtado but relations[8] and extremely rich, but bankers. Finally, Guiche owes his wealth to the fact that his mother, the Duchesse de Gramont, was born a Rothschild (same bank)[9]. It is true that one day his wife Mlle Greffulhe will be worth more than him, but at present the parents of the said lady are in perfect health[10]. These explanations which are of little interest to you are to demonstrate that it is not through any lack of desire for something I have thought about a great deal (and I must stress in the interests of the depositors rather than yours) (the word depositors is not quite correct but you understand what I mean) even if I have done nothing about it yet. But the fact that I haven’t seen any of these people for so many years is also a consideration. But now I know that the idea is not disagreeable to you, as soon as I am able to receive anybody I shall convene the ones who haven’t been mobilized and if I can convince them I believe I will be doing them a very great service. But however agreeable it might be for me to do them a very great service, it doesn’t quite seem like a disinterested way of showing you my gratitude. So, getting back to my little lambs, it would be a great satisfaction to me if you raised your derisory brokerage fee to a satisfactory sum. On the day I succeed in establishing with you two or three multimillionaires imploring you for advice, that is the day I will consent to you once again charging me at the current going rate. But until then I beg you to be mindful of my entreaty and believe in my affectionate gratitude.

Marcel Proust

Pour le Crédit Industriel je croyais que tu m’avais dit il y a quelque temps que je devais être créditeur d’environ 2000 francs. Comme je ne leur ai demandé aucun argent (chèques) depuis huit mois, voyant que ces 2000 francs étaient évanouis (je ne parle pas de la baisse des Mexico qui est postérieure) j’avais supposé qu’ils avaient compté des intérêts après le remboursement. Puisque cela n’est pas je n’ai aucune réclamation à leur faire[11].

[12] [13]

Notes

  1. Note 1
  2. Note 2
  3. Note 3
  4. Note 4
  5. Note 5
  6. Note 6
  7. Note 7
  8. Note 8
  9. Note 9
  10. Note 10
  11. Note 11
  12. Translation notes:
  13. Contributors: