The Lesser Bourgeoisie .......................................................................................................................................1

The tourniquet SaintJean, the narrow passage entered through a turnstile, a description of which was said to

be so wearisome in the study entitled "A Double Life" (Scenes from Private Life), that naive relic of old

Paris, has at the present moment no existence except in our said typography. The building of the

In 1830, passers along the street could still see the turnstile painted on the sign of a winemerchant, but even

that house, its last asylum, has been demolished. Alas! old Paris is disappearing with frightful rapidity. Here

and there, in the course of this history of Parisian life, will be found preserved, sometimes the type of the

dwellings of the middle ages, like that described in "Fame and Sorrow" (Scenes from Private Life), one or

two specimens of which exist to the present day; sometimes a house like that of Judge Popinot, rue du

Fouarre, a specimen of the former bourgeoisie; here, the remains of Fulbert's house; there, the old dock of the

Seine as it was under Charles IX. Why should not the historian of French society, a new Old Mortality,

endeavor to save these curious expressions of the past, as Walter Scott's old man rubbed up the tombstones?

Certainly, for the last ten years the outcries of literature in this direction have not been superfluous; art is

beginning to disguise beneath its floriated ornaments those ignoble facades of what are called in Paris

"houses of product," which one of our poets has jocosely compared to chests of drawers.

Let us remark here, that the creation of the municipal commission "del ornamento" which superintends at

Milan the architecture of street facades, and to which every house owner is compelled to subject his plan,

dates from the seventeenth century. Consequently, we see in that charming capital the effects of this public

spirit on the part of nobles and burghers, while we admire their buildings so full of character and originality.

Hideous, unrestrained speculation which, year after year, changes the uniform level of storeys, compresses a

whole apartment into the space of what used to be a salon, and wages war upon gardens, will infallibly react

on Parisian manners and morals. We shall soon be forced to live more without than within. Our sacred private

life, the freedom and liberty of home, where will they be?reserved for those who can muster fifty thousand

francs a year! In fact, few millionaires now allow themselves the luxury of a house to themselves, guarded by

a courtyard on a street and protected from public curiosity by a shady garden at the back.

By levelling fortunes, that section of the Code which regulates testamentary bequests, has produced these

huge stone phalansteries, in which thirty families are often lodged, returning a rental of a hundred thousand

francs a year. Fifty years hence we shall be able to count on our fingers the few remaining houses which

resemble that occupied, at the moment our narrative begins, by the Thuillier family, a really curious house

which deserves the honor of an exact description, if only to compare the life of the bourgeoisie of former

The situation and the aspect of this house, the frame of our present Scene of manners and morals, has,

moreover, a flavor, a perfume of the lesser bourgeoisie, which may attract or repel attention according to the

In the first place, the Thuillier house did not belong to either Monsieur or Madame Thuillier, but to

This house, bought during the first six months which followed the revolution of July by Mademoiselle

MarieJeanneBrigitte Thuillier, a spinster of full age, stands about the middle of the rue Saint Dominique

d'Enfer, to the right as you enter by the rue d'Enfer, so that the main building occupied by Monsieur Thuillier

The progressive movement which is carrying the Parisian population to the heights along the right bank of

the Seine had long injured the sale of property in what is called the "Latin quarter," when reasons, which will

be given when we come to treat of the character and habits of Monsieur Thuillier, determined his sister to the

purchase of real estate. She obtained this property for the small sum of fortysix thousand francs; certain

extras amounted to six thousand more; in all, the price paid was fiftytwo thousand francs. A description of

the property given in the style of an advertisement, and the results obtained by Monsieur Thuillier's exertions,

will explain by what means so many fortunes increased enormously after July, 1830, while so many others

Toward the street the house presents a facade of rough stone covered with plaster, cracked by weather and

lined by the mason's instrument into a semblance of blocks of cut stone. This frontage is so common in Paris

and so ugly that the city ought to offer premiums to house owners who would build their facades of

cutstone blocks. Seven windows lighted the gray front of this house which was raised three storeys, ending

in a mansard roof covered with slate. The porte cochere, heavy and solid, showed by its workmanship and

style that the front building on the street had been erected in the days of the Empire, to utilize a part of the

courtyard of the vast old mansion, built at an epoch when the quarter d'Enfer enjoyed a certain vogue.

On one side was the porter's lodge; on the other the staircase of the front building. Two wings, built against

the adjoining houses, had formerly served as stables, coachhouse, kitchen and offices to the rear dwelling;

but since 1830, they had been converted into warerooms. The one on the right was let to a certain M.

Metivier, jr., wholesale dealer in paper; that on the left to a bookseller named Barbet. The offices of each

were above the warerooms; the bookseller occupying the first storey, and the paperdealer the second storey

of the house on the street. Metivier, jr., who was more of a commission merchant in paper than a regular

dealer, and Barbet, much more of a money lender and discounter than a bookseller, kept these vast

warerooms for the purpose of storing,one, his stacks of paper, bought of needy manufacturers, the other,

The shark of bookselling and the pike of paperdealing lived on the best of terms, and their mutual

operations, exempt from the turmoil of retail business, brought so few carriages into that tranquil courtyard

that the concierge was obliged to pull up the grass between the paving stones. Messrs. Barbet and Metivier

paid a few rare visits to their landlords, and the punctuality with which they paid their rent classed them as

good tenants; in fact, they were looked upon as very honest men by the Thuillier circle.

As for the third floor on the street, it was made into two apartments; one of which was occupied by M.

Dutocq, clerk of the justice of peace, a retired government employee, and a frequenter of the Thuillier salon;

the other by the hero of this Scene, about whom we must content ourselves at the present moment by fixing

the amount of his rent, namely, seven hundred francs a year,and the location he had chosen in the heart

of this wellfilled building, exactly three years before the curtain rises on the present domestic drama.

The clerk, a bachelor of fifty, occupied the larger of the two apartments on the third floor. He kept a cook,

and the rent of the rooms was a thousand francs a year. Within two years of the time of her purchase,

Mademoiselle Thuillier was receiving seven thousand two hundred francs in rentals, for a house which the

late proprietor had supplied with outside blinds, renovated within, and adorned with mirrors, without being

able to sell or let it. Moreover, the Thuilliers themselves, nobly lodged, as we shall see, enjoyed also a fine

garden,one of the finest in that quarter,the trees of which shaded the lonely little street named the rue

Standing between the courtyard and the garden, the main building, which they inhabited, seems to have been

the caprice of some enriched bourgeois in the reign of Louis XIV.; the dwelling, perhaps, of a president of the

parliament, or that of a tranquil savant. Its noble freestone blocks, damaged by time, have a certain air of

Louisthe Fourteenth grandeur; the courses of the facade define the storeys; panels of red brick recall the

appearance of the stables at Versailles; the windows have masks carved as ornaments in the centre of their

arches and below their sills. The door, of small panels in the upper half and plain below, through which, when

open, the garden can be seen, is of that honest, unassuming style which was often employed in former days

This building, with five windows to each course, rises two storeys above the groundfloor, and is particularly

noticeable for a roof of four sides ending in a weathervane, and broken here and there by tall, handsome

chimneys, and oval windows. Perhaps this structure is the remains of some great mansion; but after

examining all the existing old maps of Paris, we find nothing which bears out this conjecture. Moreover, the

titledeeds of property under Louis XIV. was Petitot, the celebrated painter in miniature, who obtained it

originally from President Lecamus. We may therefore believe that Lecamus lived in this building while he

So Art and the legal robe have passed this way in turn. How many instigations of needs and pleasures have

led to the interior arrangement of the dwelling! To right, as we enter a square hall forming a closed vestibule,

rises a stone staircase with two windows looking on the garden. Beneath the staircase opens a door to the

cellar. From this vestibule we enter the diningroom, lighted from the courtyard, and the diningroom

communicates at its side with the kitchen, which forms a continuation of the wing in which are the

warerooms of Metivier and Barbet. Behind the staircase extends, on the garden side, a fine study or office

with two large windows. The first and second floor form two complete apartments, and the servants' quarters

A large porcelain stove heats the square vestibule, the two glass doors of which, placed opposite to each

other, light it. This room, paved in black and white marble, is especially noticeable for a ceiling of beams

formerly painted and gilt, but which had since received, probably under the Empire, a coat of plain white

paint. The three doors of the study, salon and diningroom, surmounted by oval panels, are awaiting a

restoration that is more than needed. The wood work is heavy, but the ornamentation is not without merit.

The salon, panelled throughout, recalls the great century by its tall mantelpiece of Languedoc marble, its

ceiling decorated at the corners, and by the style of its windows, which still retain their little panes. The

diningroom, communicating with the salon by a double door, is floored with stone; the woodwork is oak,

unpainted, and an atrocious modern wallpaper has been substituted for the tapestries of the olden time. The

ceiling is of chestnut; and the study, modernized by Thuillier, adds its quota to these discordances.

The white and gold mouldings of the salon are so effaced that nothing remains of the gilding but reddish

lines, while the white enamelling is yellow, cracked, and peeling off. Never did the Latin saying "Otium cum

dignitate" have a greater commentary to the mind of a poet than in this noble building. The ironwork of the

staircase baluster is worthy of the artist and the magistrate; but to find other traces of their taste today in this

The Thuilliers and their predecessors have frequently degraded this jewel of the upper bourgeoisie by the

habits and inventions of the lesser bourgeoisie. Look at those walnut chairs covered with horse hair, that

mahogany table with its oilcloth cover, that sideboard, also of mahogany, that carpet, bought at a bargain,

beneath the table, those metal lamps, that wretched paper with its red border, those execrable engravings, and

the calico curtains with red fringes, in a diningroom, where the friends of Petitot once feasted! Do you

notice the effect produced in the salon by those portraits of Monsieur and Madame and Mademoiselle

Thuillier by Pierre Grassou, the artist par excellence of the modern bourgeoisie. Have you remarked the

card tables and the consoles of the Empire, the teatable supported by a lyre, and that species of sofa, of

gnarled mahogany, covered in painted velvet of a chocolate tone? On the chimneypiece, with the clock

(representing the Bellona of the Empire), are candelabra with fluted columns. Curtains of woollen damask,

with undercurtains of embroidered muslin held back by stamped brass holders, drape the windows. On the

floor a cheap carpet. The handsome vestibule has wooden benches, covered with velvet, and the panelled

walls with their fine carvings are mostly hidden by wardrobes, brought there from time to time from the

bedrooms occupied by the Thuilliers. Fear, that hideous divinity, has caused the family to add sheetiron

doors on the garden side and on the courtyard side, which are folded back against the walls in the daytime,

It is easy to explain the deplorable profanation practised on this monument of the private life of the

bourgeoisie of the seventeenth century, by the private life of the bourgeoisie of the nineteenth. At the

beginning of the Consulate, let us say, some mastermason having bought the ancient building, took the idea

of turning to account the ground which lay between it and the street. He probably pulled down the fine

portecochere or entrance gate, flanked by little lodges which guarded the charming "sejour" (to use a word

of the olden time), and proceeded, with the industry of a Parisian proprietor, to impress his withering mark on

the elegance of the old building. What a curious study might be made of the successive titledeeds of

property in Paris! A private lunatic asylum performs its functions in the rue des Batailles in the former

dwelling of the Chevalier Pierre Bayard du Terrail, once without fear and without reproach; a street has now

been built by the present bourgeois administration through the site of the hotel Necker. Old Paris is departing,

following its kings who abandoned it. For one masterpiece of architecture saved from destruction by a Polish

princess (the hotel Lambert, Ile SaintLouis, bought and occupied by the Princess Czartoriska) how many

little palaces have fallen, like this dwelling of Petitot, into the hands of such as Thuillier.

Here follows the causes which made Mademoiselle Thuillier the owner of the house.

At the fall of the Villele ministry, Monsieur LouisJerome Thuillier, who had then seen twentysix years'

service as a clerk in the ministry of finance, became subdirector of a department thereof; but scarcely had he

enjoyed the subaltern authority of a position formerly his lowest hope, when the events of July, 1830, forced

him to resign it. He calculated, shrewdly enough, that his pension would be honorably and readily given by

the newcomers, glad to have another office at their disposal. He was right; for a pension of seventeen

When the prudent subdirector first talked of resigning, his sister, who was far more the companion of his

"What will become of Thuillier?" was a question which Madame and Mademoiselle Thuillier put to each

other with mutual terror in their little lodging on a third floor of the rue d'Argenteuil.

"Securing his pension will occupy him for a time," Mademoiselle Thuillier said one day; "but I am thinking

of investing my savings in a way that will cut out work for him. Yes; it will be something like administrating

"I have always looked for a crisis of this kind in Jerome's life," replied the old maid, with a protecting air.

Mademoiselle Thuillier had too often heard her brother remark: "Such a one is dead; he only survived his

retirement two years"; she had too often heard Colleville, her brother's intimate friend, a government

employee like himself, say, jesting on this climacteric of bureaucrats, "We shall all come to it, ourselves," not

to appreciate the danger her brother was running. The change from activity to leisure is, in truth, the critical

Those of them who know not how to substitute, or perhaps cannot substitute other occupations for the work

to which they have been accustomed, change in a singular manner; some die outright; others take to fishing,

the vacancy of that amusement resembling that of their late employment under government; others, who are

smarter men, dabble in stocks, lose their savings, and are thankful to obtain a place in some enterprise that is

likely to succeed, after a first disaster and liquidation, in the hands of an abler management. The late clerk

then rubs his hands, now empty, and says to himself, "I always did foresee the success of the business." But

"Some," Colleville used to say, "are victims to a sort of 'spleen' peculiar to the government clerk; they die of

a checked circulation; a redtapeworm is in their vitals. That little Poiret couldn't see the wellknown white

carton without changing color at the beloved sight; he used to turn from green to yellow."

Mademoiselle Thuillier was considered the moving spirit of her brother's household; she was not without

decision and force of character, as the following history will show. This superiority over those who

immediately surrounded her enabled her to judge her brother, although she adored him. After witnessing the

failure of the hopes she had set upon her idol, she had too much real maternity in her feeling for him to let

Thuillier and his sister were children of the head porter at the ministry of finance. Jerome had escaped, thanks

to his near sightedness, all drafts and conscriptions. The father's ambition was to make his son a government

clerk. At the beginning of this century the army presented too many posts not to leave various vacancies in

the government offices. A deficiency of minor officials enabled old Pere Thuillier to hoist his son upon the

lowest step of the bureaucratic hierarchy. The old man died in 1814, leaving Jerome on the point of becoming

subdirector, but with no other fortune than that prospect. The worthy Thuillier and his wife (who died in

1810) had retired from active service in 1806, with a pension as their only means of support; having spent

what property they had in giving Jerome the education required in these days, and in supporting both him and

The influence of the Restoration on the bureaucracy is well known. From the forty and one suppressed

departments a crowd of honorable employees returned to Paris with nothing to do, and clamorous for places

inferior to those they had lately occupied. To these acquired rights were added those of exiled families ruined

by the Revolution. Pressed between the two floods, Jerome thought himself lucky not to have been dismissed

under some frivolous pretext. He trembled until the day when, becoming by mere chance subdirector, he

saw himself secure of a retiring pension. This cursory view of matters will serve to explain Monsieur

Thuillier's very limited scope and knowledge. He had learned the Latin, mathematics, history, and geography

that are taught in schools, but he never got beyond what is called the second class; his father having preferred

to take advantage of a sudden opportunity to place him at the ministry. So, while the young Thuillier was

making his first records on the GrandLivre, he ought to have been studying his rhetoric and philosophy.

While grinding the ministerial machine, he had no leisure to cultivate letters, still less the arts; but he

acquired a routine knowledge of his business, and when he had an opportunity to rise, under the Empire, to

the sphere of superior employees, he assumed a superficial air of competence which concealed the son of a

porter, though none of it rubbed into his mind. His ignorance, however, taught him to keep silence, and

silence served him well. He accustomed himself to practise, under the imperial regime, a passive obedience

which pleased his superiors; and it was to this quality that he owed at a later period his promotion to the rank

of subdirector. His routine habits then became great experience; his manners and his silence concealed his

lack of education, and his absolute nullity was a recommendation, for a cipher was needed. The government

was afraid of displeasing both parties in the Chamber by selecting a man from either side; it therefore got out

of the difficulty by resorting to the rule of seniority. That is how Thuillier became subdirector.

Mademoiselle Thuillier, knowing that her brother abhorred reading, and could substitute no business for the

bustle of a public office, had wisely resolved to plunge him into the cares of property, into the culture of a

garden, in short, into all the infinitely petty concerns and neighborhood intrigues which make up the life of

The transplanting of the Thuillier household from the rue d'Argenteuil to the rue SaintDominique d'Enfer,

the business of making the purchase, of finding a suitable porter, and then of obtaining tenants occupied

Thuillier from 1831 to 1832. When the phenomenon of the change was accomplished, and the sister saw that

Jerome had borne it fairly well, she found him other cares and occupations (about which we shall hear later),

all based upon the character of the man himself, as to which it will now be useful to give information.

Though the son of a ministerial porter, Thuillier was what is called a fine man, slender in figure, above

middle height, and possessing a face that was rather agreeable if wearing his spectacles, but frightful without

them; which is frequently the case with nearsighted persons; for the habit of looking through glasses has

Between the ages of eighteen and thirty, young Thuillier had much success among women, in a sphere which

began with the lesser bourgeois and ended in that of the heads of departments. Under the Empire, war left

Parisian society rather denuded of men of energy, who were mostly on the battlefield; and perhaps, as a great

physician has suggested, this may account for the flabbiness of the generation which occupies the middle of

Thuillier, forced to make himself noticeable by other charms than those of mind, learned to dance and to

waltz in a way to be cited; he was called "that handsome Thuillier"; he played billiards to perfection; he knew

how to cut out likenesses in black paper, and his friend Colleville coached him so well that he was able to

sing all the ballads of the day. These various small accomplishments resulted in that appearance of success

which deceives youth and befogs it about the future. Mademoiselle Thuillier, from 1806 to 1814, believed in

her brother as Mademoiselle d'Orleans believed in LouisPhilippe. She was proud of Jerome; she expected to

see him the directorgeneral of his department of the ministry, thanks to his successes in certain salons,

where, undoubtedly, he would never have been admitted but for the circumstances which made society under

But the successes of "that handsome Thuillier" were usually of short duration; women did not care to keep his

devotion any more than he desired to make his devotion eternal. He was really an unwilling Don Juan; the

career of a "beau" wearied him to the point of aging him; his face, covered with lines like that of an old

coquette, looked a dozen years older than the registers made him. There remained to him of all his successes

in gallantry, a habit of looking at himself in mirrors, of buttoning his coat to define his waist, and of posing in

various dancing attitudes; all of which prolonged, beyond the period of enjoying his advantages, the sort of

The truth of 1806 has, however, become a fable, in 1826. He retains a few vestiges of the former costume of

the beaux of the Empire, which are not unbecoming to the dignity of a former subdirector. He still wears the

white cravat with innumerable folds, wherein his chin is buried, and the coquettish bow, formerly tied by the

hands of beauty, the two ends of which threaten danger to the passers to right and left. He follows the

fashions of former days, adapting them to his present needs; he tips his hat on the back of his head, and wears

shoes and thread stockings in summer; his longtailed coats remind one of the wellknown "surtouts" of the

Empire; he has not yet abandoned his frilled shirts and his white waistcoats; he still plays with his Empire

switch, and holds himself so erect that his back bends in. No one, seeing Thuillier promenading on the

boulevards, would take him for the son of a man who cooked the breakfasts of the clerks at a ministry and

wore the livery of Louis XVI.; he resembles an imperial diplomatist or a subprefect. Now, not only did

Mademoiselle Thuillier very innocently work upon her brother's weak spot by encouraging in him an

excessive care of his person, which, in her, was simply a continuation of her worship, but she also provided

him with family joys, by transplanting to their midst a household which had hitherto been quasicollateral to

It was that of Monsieur Colleville, an intimate friend of Thuillier. But before we proceed to describe Pylades

let us finish with Orestes, and explain why Thuillierthat handsome Thuillierwas left without a family of

his ownfor the family, be it said, is nonexistent without children. Herein appears one of those deep

mysteries which lie buried in the arena of private life, a few shreds of which rise to the surface at moments

when the pain of a concealed situation grows poignant. This concerns the life of Madame and Mademoiselle

Thuillier; so far, we have seen only the life (and we may call it the public life) of Jerome Thuillier.

MarieJeanneBrigitte Thuillier, four years older than her brother, had been utterly sacrificed to him; it was

easier to give a career to one than a "dot" to the other. Misfortune to some natures is a pharos, which

illumines to their eyes the dark low corners of social existence. Superior to her brother both in mind and

energy, Brigitte had one of those natures which, under the hammer of persecution, gather themselves

together, become compact and powerfully resistant, not to say inflexible. Jealous of her independence, she

kept aloof from the life of the household; choosing to make herself the sole arbiter of her own fate. At

fourteen years of age, she went to live alone in a garret, not far from the ministry of finance, which was then

in the rue Vivienne, and also not far from the Bank of France, then, and now, in the rue de la Vrilliere. There

she bravely gave herself up to a form of industry little known and the perquisite of a few persons, which she

obtained, thanks to the patrons of her father. It consisted in making bags to hold coin for the Bank, the

Treasury, and the great financial houses. At the end of three years she employed two workwomen. By

investing her savings on the GrandLivre, she found herself, in 1814, the mistress of three thousand six

hundred francs a year, earned in fifteen years. As she spent little, and dined with her father as long as he

lived, and, as government securities were very low during the last convulsions of the Empire, this result,

On the death of their father, Brigitte and Jerome, the former being twentyseven, the latter twentythree,

united their existence. Brother and sister were bound together by an extreme affection. If Jerome, then at the

height of his success, was pinched for money, his sister, clothed in serge, and her fingers roughened by the

coarse thread with which she sewed her bags, would give him a few louis. In Brigitte's eyes Jerome was the

handsomest and most charming man in the whole French Empire. To keep house for this cherished brother, to

be initiated into the secrets of Lindor and Don Juan, to be his handmaiden, his spaniel, was Brigitte's dream.

She immolated herself lovingly to an idol whose selfishness, always great, was enormously increased by her

selfsacrifice. She sold her business to her fore woman for fifteen thousand francs and came to live with

Thuillier in the rue d'Argenteuil, where she made herself the mother, protectress, and servant of this spoiled

child of women. Brigitte, with the natural caution of a girl who owed everything to her own discretion and

her own labor, concealed the amount of her savings from Jerome,fearing, no doubt, the extravagance of a

man of gallantry. She merely paid a quota of six hundred francs a year to the expenses of the household, and

this, with her brother's eighteen hundred, enabled her to make both ends meet at the end of the year.

From the first days of their coming together, Thuillier listened to his sister as to an oracle; he consulted her in

his trifling affairs, kept none of his secrets from her, and thus made her taste the fruit of despotism which

was, in truth, the one little sin of her nature. But the sister had sacrificed everything to the brother; she had

staked her all upon his heart; she lived by him only. Brigitte's ascendancy over Jerome was singularly proved

Seeing the tendency to enforced reduction which the newcomers to power under the Restoration were

beginning to bring about in the government offices, and particularly since the return of the old society which

sought to ride over the bourgeoisie, Brigitte understood, far better than her brother could explain it to her, the

social crisis which presently extinguished their common hopes. No more successes for that handsome

Thuillier in the salons of the nobles who now succeeded the plebeians of the Empire!

Thuillier was not enough of a person to take up a politic opinion and choose a party; he felt, as his sister did

for him, the necessity of profiting by the remains of his youth to make a settlement. In such a situation, a

sister as jealous of her power as Brigitte naturally would, and ought, to marry her brother, to suit herself as

well as to suit him; for she alone could make him really happy, Madame Thuillier being only an

indispensable accessory to the obtaining of two or three children. If Brigitte did not have an intellect quite the

equal of her will, at least she had the instinct of her despotism; without, it is true, education, she marched

straight before her, with the headstrong determination of a nature accustomed to succeed. She had the genius

of housekeeping, a faculty for economy, a thorough understanding of how to live, and a love for work. She

saw plainly that she could never succeed in marrying Jerome into a sphere above their own, where parents

might inquire into their domestic life and feel uneasy at finding a mistress already reigning in the home. She

therefore sought in a lower grade for persons to dazzle, and found, almost beside her, a suitable match.

The oldest usher at the Bank, a man named Lemprun, had an only daughter, called Celeste. Mademoiselle

Celeste Lemprun would inherit the fortune of her mother, the only daughter of a rich farmer. This fortune

consisted of some acres of land in the environs of Paris, which the old father still worked; besides this, she

would have the property of Lemprun himself, a man who had left the firms of Thelusson and of Keller to

enter the service of the Bank of France. Lemprun, now the head of that service, enjoyed the respect and

The Bank council, on hearing of the probable marriage of Celeste to an honorable employee at the ministry of

finance, promised a wedding present of six thousand francs. This gift, added to twelve thousand given by

Pere Lemprun, and twelve thousand more from the maternal grandfather, Sieur Galard, marketgardener at

Auteuil, brought up the dowry to thirty thousand francs. Old Galard and Monsieur and Madame Lemprun

were delighted with the marriage. Lemprun himself knew Mademoiselle Thuillier, and considered her one of

the worthiest and most conscientious women in Paris. Brigitte then, for the first time, allowed her

investments on the GrandLivre to shine forth, assuring Lemprun that she should never marry; consequently,

neither he nor his wife, persons devoted to the main chance, would ever allow themselves to find fault with

Brigitte. Above all, they were greatly struck by the splendid prospects of the handsome Thuillier, and the

marriage took place, as the conventional saying is, to the general satisfaction.

The governor of the Bank and the secretary were the bride's witnesses; Monsieur de la Billardiere, director of

Thuillier's department, and Monsieur Rabourdin, head of the office, being those of the groom. Six days after

the marriage old Lemprun was the victim of a daring robbery which made a great noise in the newspapers of

the day, though it was quickly forgotten during the events of 1815. The guilty parties having escaped

detection, Lemprun wished to make up the loss; but the Bank agreed to carry the deficit to its profit and loss

account; nevertheless, the poor old man actually died of the grief this affair had caused him. He regarded it as

Madame Lemprun then resigned all her property to her daughter, Madame Thuillier, and went to live with her

father at Auteuil until he died from an accident in 1817. Alarmed at the prospect of having to manage or lease

the marketgarden and the farm of her father, Madame Lemprun entreated Brigitte, whose honesty and

capacity astonished her, to wind up old Galard's affairs, and to settle the property in such a way that her

daughter should take possession of everything, securing to her mother fifteen hundred francs a year and the

house at Auteuil. The landed property of the old farmer was sold in lots, and brought in thirty thousand

francs. Lemprun's estate had given as much more, so that Madame Thuillier's fortune, including her "dot,"

amounted in 1818 to ninety thousand francs. Joining the revenue of this property to that of the brother and

sister, the Thuillier household had an income, in 1818, amounting to eleven thousand francs, managed by

Brigitte alone on her sole responsibility. It is necessary to begin by stating this financial position, not only to

Brigitte began, from the first, by allowing her brother five hundred francs a month, and by sailing the

household boat at the rate of five thousand francs a year. She granted to her sisterinlaw fifty francs a

month, explaining to her carefully that she herself was satisfied with forty. To strengthen her despotism by

the power of money, Brigitte laid by the surplus of her own funds. She made, so it was said in business

offices, usurious loans by means of her brother, who appeared as a moneylender. If, between the years 1813

and 1830, Brigitte had capitalized sixty thousand francs, that sum can be explained by the rise in the Funds,

and there is no need to have recourse to accusations more or less well founded, which have nothing to do with

From the first days of the marriage, Brigitte subdued the unfortunate Madame Thuillier with a touch of the

spur and a jerk of the bit, both of which she made her feel severely. A further display of tyranny was useless;

the victim resigned herself at once. Celeste, thoroughly understood by Brigitte, a girl without mind or

education, accustomed to a sedentary life and a tranquil atmosphere, was extremely gentle by nature; she was

pious in the fullest acceptation of the word; she would willingly have expiated by the hardest punishments the

involuntary wrong of giving pain to her neighbor. She was utterly ignorant of life; accustomed to be waited

on by her mother, who did the whole service of the house, for Celeste was unable to make much exertion,

owing to a lymphatic constitution which the least toil wearied. She was truly a daughter of the people of

Paris, where children, seldom handsome, and of no vigor, the product of poverty and toil, of homes without

fresh air, without freedom of action, without any of the conveniences of life, meet us at every turn.

At the time of the marriage, Celeste was seen to be a little woman, fair and faded almost to sickliness, fat,

slow, and silly in the countenance. Her forehead, much too large and too prominent, suggested water on the

brain, and beneath that waxen cupola her face, noticeably too small and ending in a point like the nose of a

mouse, made some people fear she would become, sooner or later, imbecile. Her eyes, which were light blue,

and her lips, always fixed in a smile, did not contradict that idea. On the solemn occasion of her marriage she

had the manner, air, and attitude of a person condemned to death, whose only desire is that it might all be

Brigitte was just the knife to cut into such a nature, to which her own formed the strongest contrast.

Mademoiselle Thuillier was remarkable for her regular and correct beauty, but a beauty injured by toil which,

from her very childhood, had bent her down to painful, thankless tasks, and by the secret privations she

imposed upon herself in order to amass her little property. Her complexion, early discolored, had something

the tint of steel. Her brown eyes were framed in brown; on the upper lip was a brown floss like a sort of

smoke. Her lips were thin, and her imperious forehead was surmounted by hair once black, now turning to

chinchilla. She held herself as straight as the fairest beauty; but all things else about her showed the hardiness

To Brigitte, Celeste was simply a fortune to lay hold of, a future mother to rule, one more subject in her

empire. She soon reproached her for being WEAK, a constant word in her vocabulary, and the jealous old

maid, who would strongly have resented any signs of activity in her sisterinlaw, now took a savage

pleasure in prodding the languid inertness of the feeble creature. Celeste, ashamed to see her sister inlaw

displaying such energy in household work, endeavored to help her, and fell ill in consequence. Instantly,

Brigitte was devoted to her, nursed her like a beloved sister, and would say, in presence of Thuillier: "You

haven't any strength, my child; you must never do anything again." She showed up Celeste's incapacity by

that display of sympathy with which strength, seeming to pity weakness, finds means to boast of its own

But, as all despotic natures liking to exercise their strength are full of tenderness for physical sufferings,

Brigitte took such real care of her sisterinlaw as to satisfy Celeste's mother when she came to see her

daughter. After Madame Thuillier recovered, however, she called her, in Celeste's hearing, "a helpless

creature, good for nothing!" which sent the poor thing crying to her room. When Thuillier found her there,

"She is an excellent woman, but rather hasty; she loves you in her own way; she behaves just so with me."

Celeste, remembering the maternal care of her sisterinlaw during her illness, forgave the wound. Brigitte

always treated her brother as the king of the family; she exalted him to Celeste, and made him out an

autocrat, a Ladislas, an infallible pope. Madame Thuillier having lost her father and grandfather, and being

wellnigh deserted by her mother, who came to see her on Thursdays only (she herself spending Sundays at

Auteuil in summer), had no one left to love except her husband, and she did love him,in the first place,

because he was her husband, and secondly, because he still remained to her "that handsome Thuillier."

Besides, he sometimes treated her like a wife, and all these reasons together made her adore him. He seemed

to her all the more perfect because he often took up her defence and scolded his sister, not from any real

interest in his wife, but for pure selfishness, and in order to have peace in the household during the very few

In fact, that handsome Thuillier was never at home except at dinner, after which meal he went out, returning

very late at night. He went to balls and other social festivities by himself, precisely as if he were still a

bachelor. Thus the two women were always alone together. Celeste insensibly fell into a passive attitude, and

became what Brigitte wanted her,a helot. The Queen Elizabeth of the household then passed from

despotism to a sort of pity for the poor victim who was always sacrificed. She ended by softening her haughty

ways, her cutting speech, her contemptuous tones, as soon as she was certain that her sisterinlaw was

completely under the yoke. When she saw the wounds it made on the neck of her victim, she took care of her

as a thing of her own, and Celeste entered upon happier days. Comparing the end with the beginning, she

even felt a sort of love for her torturer. To gain some power of selfdefence, to become something less a

cipher in the household, supported, unknown to herself, by her own means, the poor helot had but a single

Celeste had no child. This barrenness, which, from month to month, brought floods of tears from her eyes,

was long the cause of Brigitte's scorn; she reproached the poor woman bitterly for being fit for nothing, not

even to bear children. The old maid, who had longed to love her brother's child as if it were her own, was

At the time when our history begins, namely, in 1840, Celeste, then fortysix years old, had ceased to weep;

she now had the certainty of never being a mother. And here is a strange thing. After twentyfive years of

this life, in which victory had ended by first dulling and then breaking its own knife, Brigitte loved Celeste as

much as Celeste loved Brigitte. Time, ease, and the perpetual rubbing of domestic life, had worn off the

angles and smoothed the asperities; Celeste's resignation and lamblike gentleness had brought, at last, a

serene and peaceful autumn. The two women were still further united by the one sentiment that lay within

Moreover, these two women, both childless, had each, like all women who have vainly desired children,

fallen in love with a child. This fictitious motherhood, equal in strength to a real motherhood, needs an

explanation which will carry us to the very heart of our drama, and will show the reason of the new

Thuillier had entered the ministry of finance as supernumerary at the same time as Colleville, who has been

mentioned already as his intimate friend. In opposition to the wellregulated, gloomy household of Thuillier,

social nature had provided that of Colleville; and if it is impossible not to remark that this fortuitous contrast

was scarcely moral, we must add that, before deciding that point, it would be well to wait for the end of this

drama, unfortunately too true, for which the present historian is not responsible.

Colleville was the only son of a talented musician, formerly first violin at the Opera under Francoeur and

Rebel, who related, at least six times a month during his lifetime, anecdotes concerning the representations of

the "Village Seer"; and mimicked JeanJacques Rousseau, taking him off to perfection. Colleville and

Thuillier were inseparable friends; they had no secrets from each other, and their friendship, begun at fifteen

years of age, had never known a cloud up to the year 1839. The former was one of those employees who are

called, in the government offices, pluralists. These clerks are remarkable for their industry. Colleville, a good

musician, owed to the name and influence of his father a situation as first clarionet at the OperaComique,

and so long as he was a bachelor, Colleville, who was rather richer than Thuillier, shared his means with his

friend. But, unlike Thuillier, Colleville married for love a Mademoiselle Flavie, the natural daughter of a

celebrated danseuse at the Opera; her reputed father being a certain du Bourguier, one of the richest

contractors of the day. In style and origin, Flavie was apparently destined for a melancholy career, when

Colleville, often sent to her mother's apartments, fell in love with her and married her. Prince Galathionne,

who at that time was "protecting" the danseuse, then approaching the end of her brilliant career, gave Flavie a

"dot" of twenty thousand francs, to which her mother added a magnificent trousseau. Other friends and

operacomrades sent jewels and silverware, so that the Colleville household was far richer in superfluities

than in capital. Flavie, brought up in opulence, began her married life in a charming apartment, furnished by

her mother's upholsterer, where the young wife, who was full of taste for art and for artists, and possessed a

Madame Colleville was pretty and piquant, clever, gay, and graceful; to express her in one sentence,a

charming creature. Her mother, the danseuse, now fortythree years old, retired from the stage and went to

live in the country,thus depriving her daughter of the resources derived from her wasteful extravagance.

Madame Colleville kept a very agreeable but extremely free and easy household. From 1816 to 1826 she had

five children. Colleville, a musician in the evening, kept the books of a merchant from seven to nine in the

morning, and by ten o'clock he was at his ministry. Thus, by blowing into a bit of wood by night, and writing

doubleentry accounts in the early morning, he managed to eke out his earnings to seven or eight thousand

Madame Colleville played the part of a "comme il faut" woman; she received on Wednesdays, gave a concert

once a month and a dinner every fortnight. She never saw Colleville except at dinner and at night, when he

returned about twelve o'clock, at which hour she was frequently not at home herself. She went to the theatres,

where boxes were sometimes given to her; and she would send word to Colleville to come and fetch her from

such or such a house, where she was supping and dancing. At her own house, guests found excellent cheer,

and her society, though rather mixed, was very amusing; she received and welcomed actresses, artists, men of

letters, and a few rich men. Madame Colleville's elegance was on a par with that of Tullia, the leading

primadonna, with whom she was intimate; but though the Collevilles encroached on their capital and were

Colleville was very happy; he still loved his wife, and he made himself her best friend. Always received by

her with affectionate smiles and sympathetic pleasure, he yielded readily to the irresistible grace of her

manners. The vehement activity with which he pursued his three avocations was a part of his natural

character and temperament. He was a fine stout man, ruddy, jovial, extravagant, and full of ideas. In ten years

there was never a quarrel in his household. Among business men he was looked upon, in common with all

artists, as a scatterbrained fellow; and superficial persons thought that the constant hurry of this hard worker

Colleville had the sense to seem stupid; he boasted of his family happiness, and gave himself unheardof

trouble in making anagrams, in order at times to seem absorbed in that passion. The government clerks of his

division at the ministry, the office directors, and even the heads of divisions came to his concerts; now and

then he quietly bestowed upon them opera tickets, when he needed some extra indulgence on account of his

frequent absence. Rehearsals took half the time that he ought to have been at his desk; but the musical

knowledge his father had bequeathed to him was sufficiently genuine and well grounded to excuse him from

all but final rehearsals. Thanks to Madame Colleville's intimacies, both the theatre and the ministry lent

themselves kindly to the needs of this industrious pluralist, who, moreover, was bringing up, with great care,

a youth, warmly recommended to him by his wife, a future great musician, who sometimes took his place in

the orchestra with a promise of eventually succeeding him. In fact, about the year 1827 this young man

The usual comment on Flavie was, "That little slip of a coquette, Madame Colleville." The eldest of the

Colleville children, born in 1816, was the living image of Colleville himself. In 1818, Madame Colleville

held the cavalry in high estimation, above even art; and she distinguished more particularly a sublieutenant

in the dragoons of SaintChamans, the young and rich Charles de Gondreville, who afterwards died in the

Spanish campaign. By that time Flavie had had a second son, whom she henceforth dedicated to a military

career. In 1820 she considered banking the nursing mother of trade, the supporter of Nations, and she made

the great Keller, that famous banker and orator, her idol. She then had another son, whom she named

Francois, resolving to make him a merchant,feeling sure that Keller's influence would never fail him.

About the close of the year 1820, Thuillier, the intimate friend of Monsieur and Madame Colleville, felt the

need of pouring his sorrows into the bosom of this excellent woman, and to her he related his conjugal

miseries. For six years he had longed to have children, but God did not bless him; although that poor

Madame Thuillier had made novenas, and had even gone, uselessly, to NotraDame de Liesse! He depicted

Celeste in various lights, which brought the words "Poor Thuillier!" from Flavie's lips. She herself was rather

sad, having at the moment no dominant opinion. She poured her own griefs into Thuillier's bosom. The great

Keller, that hero of the Left, was, in reality, extremely petty; she had learned to know the other side of public

fame, the follies of banking, the emptiness of eloquence! The orator only spoke for show; to her he had

behaved extremely ill. Thuillier was indignant. "None but stupid fellows know how to love," he said; "take

me!" That handsome Thuillier was henceforth supposed to be paying court to Madame Colleville, and was

"Ha! you are after my wife," said Colleville, laughing. "Take care; she'll leave you in the lurch, like all the

A rather clever speech, by which Colleville saved his marital dignity. From 1820 to 1821, Thuillier, in virtue

of his title as friend of the family, helped Colleville, who had formerly helped him; so much so, that in

eighteen months he had lent nearly ten thousand francs to the Colleville establishment, with no intention of

ever claiming them. In the spring of 1821, Madame Colleville gave birth to a charming little girl, to whom

Monsieur and Madame Thuillier were godfather and godmother. The child was baptized

CelesteLouiseCarolineBrigitte; Mademoiselle Thuillier wishing that her name should be given among

others to the little angel. The name of Caroline was a graceful attention paid to Colleville. Old mother

Lemprun assumed the care of putting the baby to nurse under her own eyes at Auteuil, where Celeste and her

As soon as Madame Colleville recovered she said to Thuillier, frankly, in a very serious tone:

"My dear friend, if we are all to remain good friends, you must be our friend only. Colleville is attached to

"Explain to me," said the handsome Thuillier to Tullia after this remark, "why women are never attached to

me. I am not the Apollo Belvidere, but for all that I'm not a Vulcan; I am passably good looking, I have

"Well, though we can, sometimes, love a stupid fellow, we never love a silly one."

Those words killed Thuillier; he never got over them; henceforth he was a prey to melancholy and accused all

The secretarygeneral of the ministry, des Lupeaulx, whose influence Madame Colleville thought greater

than it was, and of whom she said, later, "That was one of my mistakes," became for a time the great man of

the Colleville salon; but as Flavie found he had no power to promote Colleville into the upper division, she

had the good sense to resent des Lupeaulx's attentions to Madame Rabourdin (whom she called a minx), to

whose house she had never been invited, and who had twice had the impertinence not to come to the

Madame Colleville was deeply affected by the death of young Gondreville; she felt, she said, the finger of

God. In 1824 she turned over a new leaf, talked of economy, stopped her receptions, busied herself with her

children, determined to become a good mother of a family; no favorite friend was seen at her house. She went

to church, reformed her dress, wore gray, and talked Catholicism, mysticism, and so forth. All this produced,

in 1825, another little son, whom she named Theodore. Soon after, in 1826, Colleville was appointed sub

director of the Clergeot division, and later, in 1828, collector of taxes in a Paris arrondissement. He also

received the cross of the Legion of honor, to enable him to put his daughter at the royal school of

SaintDenis. The halfscholarship obtained by Keller for the eldest boy, Charles, was transferred to the

second in 1830, when Charles entered the school of SaintLouis on a full scholarship. The third son, taken

under the protection of Madame la Dauphine, was provided with a threequarter scholarship in the Henri IV.

In 1830 Colleville, who had the good fortune not to lose a child, was obliged, owing to his wellknown

attachment to the fallen royal family, to send in his resignation; but he was clever enough to make a bargain

for it,obtaining in exchange a pension of two thousand four hundred francs, based on his period of service,

and ten thousand francs indemnity paid by his successor; he also received the rank of officer of the Legion of

honor. Nevertheless, he found himself in rather a cramped condition when Mademoiselle Thuillier, in 1832,

advised him to come and live near them; pointing out to him the possibility of obtaining some position in the

mayor's office, which, in fact, he did obtain a few weeks later, at a salary of three thousand francs. Thus

Thuillier and Colleville were destined to end their days together. In 1833 Madame Colleville, then thirtyfive

years old, settled herself in the rue d'Enfer, at the corner of the rue des DeuxEglises with Celeste and little

Theodore, the other boys being at their several schools. Colleville was equidistant between the mayor's office

and the rue SaintDominique d'Enfer. Thus the household, after a brilliant, gay, headlong, reformed, and

calmed existence, subsided finally into bourgeois obscurity with five thousand four hundred francs a year for

Celeste was by this time twelve years of age, and she promised to be pretty. She needed masters, and her

education ought to cost not less than two thousand francs a year. The mother felt the necessity of keeping her

under the eye of her godfather and godmother. She therefore very willingly adopted the proposal of

Mademoiselle Thuillier, who, without committing herself to any engagement, allowed Madame Colleville to

understand that the fortunes of her brother, his wife, and herself would go, ultimately, to the little Celeste.

The child had been left at Auteuil until she was seven years of age, adored by the good old Madame

Lemprun, who died in 1829, leaving twenty thousand francs, and a house which was sold for the enormous

sum of twentyeight thousand. The lively little girl had seen very little of her mother, but very much of

Mademoiselle and Madame Thuillier when she first returned to the paternal mansion in 1829; but in 1833 she

fell under the dominion of Flavie, who was then, as we have said, endeavoring to do her duty, which, like

other women instigated by remorse, she exaggerated. Without being an unkind mother, Flavie was very stern

with her daughter. She remembered her own bringingup, and swore within herself to make Celeste a

virtuous woman. She took her to mass, and had her prepared for her first communion by a rector who has

since become a bishop. Celeste was all the more readily pious, because her godmother, Madame Thuillier,

was a saint, and the child adored her; she felt that the poor neglected woman loved her better than her own

From 1833 to 1840 she received a brilliant education according to the ideas of the bourgeoisie. The best

musicmasters made her a fair musician; she could paint a watercolor properly; she danced extremely well;

and she had studied the French language, history, geography, English, Italian,in short, all that constitutes

the education of a wellbroughtup young lady. Of medium height, rather plump, unfortunately

nearsighted, she was neither plain nor pretty; not without delicacy or even brilliancy of complexion, it is

true, but totally devoid of all distinction of manner. She had a great fund of reserved sensibility, and her

godfather and godmother, Mademoiselle Thuillier and Colleville, were unanimous on one point,the great

resource of mothersnamely, that Celeste was capable of attachment. One of her beauties was a magnificent

head of very fine blond hair; but her hands and feet showed her bourgeois origin.

Celeste endeared herself by precious qualities; she was kind, simple, without gall of any kind; she loved her

father and mother, and would willingly sacrifice herself for their sake. Brought up to the deepest admiration

for her godfather by Brigitte (who taught her to say "Aunt Brigitte"), and by Madame Thuillier and her own

mother, Celeste imbibed the highest idea of the exbeau of the Empire. The house in the rue

SaintDominique d'Enfer produced upon her very much the effect of the Chateau des Tuileries on a courtier

Thuillier had not escaped the action of the administrative rollingpin which thins the mind as it spreads it out.

Exhausted by irksome toil, as much as by his life of gallantry, the exsubdirector had wellnigh lost all his

faculties by the time he came to live in the rue Saint Dominique. But his weary face, on which there still

reigned an air of imperial haughtiness, mingled with a certain contentment, the conceit of an upper official,

made a deep impression upon Celeste. She alone adored that haggard face. The girl, moreover, felt herself to

The Collevilles and their children became, naturally, the nucleus of the circle which Mademoiselle Thuillier

had the ambition to group around her brother. A former clerk in the Billardiere division of the ministry,

named Phellion, had lived for the last thirty years in their present quarter. He was promptly greeted by

Colleville and Thuillier at the first review. Phellion proved to be one of the most respected men in the

arrondissement. He had one daughter, now married to a schoolteacher in the rue SaintHyacinthe, a

Monsieur Barniol. Phellion's eldest son was a professor of mathematics in a royal college; he gave lectures

and private lessons, being devoted, so his father was wont to say, to pure mathematics. A second son was in

the government School of Engineering. Phellion had a pension of nine hundred francs, and he possessed a

little property of nine thousand and a few odd hundred francs; the fruit of his economy and that of his wife

during thirty years of toil and privation. He was, moreover, the owner of a little house and garden where he

lived in the "impasse" des Feuillantines,in thirty years he had never used the oldfashioned word

Dutocq, the clerk of the justice of peace, was also a former employee at the ministry of finance. Sacrificed, in

former days, to one of those necessities which are always met with in representative government, he had

accepted the position of scapegoat, receiving, privately, a round sum of money and the opportunity to buy his

present post of clerk in the arrondissement. This man, not very honorable, and known to be a spy in the

government offices, was never welcomed as he thought he ought to be by the Thuilliers; but the coldness of

his landlords only made him the more persistent in going to see them. He was a bachelor and had various

vices; he therefore concealed his life carefully, knowing well how to maintain his position by flattering his

superiors. The justice of peace was much attached to Dutocq. This man, base as he was, managed, in the end,

to make himself tolerated by the Thuilliers, chiefly by coarse and cringing adulation. He knew the facts of

Thuillier's whole life, his relations with Colleville, and, above all, with Madame Colleville. One and all they

feared his tongue, and the Thuilliers, without admitting him to any intimacy, endured his visits.

The family which became the flower of the Thuillier salon was that of a former ministerial clerk, once an

object of pity in the government offices, who, driven by poverty, left the public service, in 1827, to fling

himself into a business enterprise, having, as he thought, an idea. Minard (that was his name) foresaw a

fortune in one of those wicked conceptions which reflect such discredit on French commerce, but which, in

the year 1827, had not yet been exposed and blasted by publicity. Minard bought tea and mixed it with

tealeaves already used; also he adulterated the elements of chocolate in a manner which enabled him to sell

the chocolate itself very cheaply. This trade in colonial products, begun in the quartier SaintMarcel, made a

merchant of Minard. He started a factory, and through these early connections he was able to reach the

sources of raw material. He then did honorably, and on a large scale, a business begun in the first instance

dishonorably. He became a distiller, worked upon untold quantities of products, and, by the year 1835, was

considered the richest merchant in the region of the Place Maubert. By that time he had bought a handsome

house in the rue des MaconsSorbonne; he had been assistant mayor, and in 1839 became mayor of his

arrondissement and judge in the Court of Commerce. He kept a carriage, had a country place near Lagny;

his wife wore diamonds at the court balls, and he prided himself on the rosette of an officer of the Legion of

Minard and his wife were exceedingly benevolent. Perhaps he wished to return in retail to the poor the sums

he had mulcted from the public by the wholesale. Phellion, Colleville, and Thuillier met their old comrade,

Minard, at election, and an intimacy followed; all the closer with the Thuilliers and Collevilles because

Madame Minard seemed enchanted to make an acquaintance for her daughter in Celeste Colleville. It was at

a grand ball given by the Minards that Celeste made her first appearance in society (being at that time sixteen

and a half years old), dressed as her Christian named demanded, which seemed to be prophetic of her coming

life. Delighted to be friendly with Mademoiselle Minard, her elder by four years, she persuaded her father

and godfather to cultivate the Minard establishment, with its gilded salons and great opulence, where many

political celebrities of the "juste milieu" were wont to congregate, such as Monsieur Popinot, who became,

after a time, minister of commerce; Cochin, since made Baron Cochin, a former employee at the ministry of

finance, who, having a large interest in the drug business, was now the oracle of the Lombard and

Bourdonnais quarters, conjointly with Monsieur Anselme Popinot. Minard's eldest son, a lawyer, aiming to

succeed those barristers who were turned down from the Palais for political reasons in 1830, was the genius

of the household, and his mother, even more than his father, aspired to marry him well. Zelie Minard,

formerly a flower maker, felt an ardent passion for the upper social spheres, and desired to enter them

through the marriages of her son and daughter; whereas Minard, wiser than she, and imbued with the vigor of

the middle classes, which the revolution of July had infiltrated into the fibres of government, thought only of

He frequented the Thuillier salon to gain information as to Celeste's probable inheritance. He knew, like

Dutocq and Phellion, the reports occasioned by Thuillier's former intimacy with Flavie, and he saw at a

glance the idolatry of the Thuilliers for their godchild. Dutocq, to gain admittance to Minard's house, fawned

upon him grossly. When Minard, the Rothschild of the arrondissement, appeared at the Thuilliers', he

compared him cleverly to Napoleon, finding him stout, fat, and blooming, having left him at the ministry

"You looked, in the division Billardiere," he said, "like Napoleon before the 18th Brumaire, and I behold you

Notwithstanding which flattery, Minard received Dutocq very coldly and did not invite him to his house;

Monsieur and Madame Phellion, worthy as they were, could not keep themselves from making calculations

and cherishing hopes; they thought that Celeste would be the very wife for their son the professor; therefore,

to have, as it were, a watcher in the Thuillier salon, they introduced their soninlaw, Monsieur Barniol, a

man much respected in the faubourg SaintJacques, and also an old employee at the mayor's office, an

intimate friend of theirs, named Laudigeois. Thus the Phellions formed a phalanx of seven persons; the

Collevilles were not less numerous; so that on Sundays it often appeared that thirty persons were assembled

in the Thuillier salon. Thuillier renewed acquaintance with the Saillards, Baudoyers, and Falleixs,all

persons of respectability in the quarter of the PalaisRoyal, whom they often invited to dinner.

Madame Colleville was, as a woman, the most distinguished member of this society, just as Minard junior

and Professor Phellion were superior among the men. All the others, without ideas or education, and issuing

from the lower ranks, presented the types and the absurdities of the lesser bourgeoisie. Though all success,

especially if won from distant sources, seems to presuppose some genuine merit, Minard was really an

inflated balloon. Expressing himself in empty phrases, mistaking sycophancy for politeness, and wordiness

for wit, he uttered his commonplaces with a brisk assurance that passed for eloquence. Certain words which

said nothing but answered all things, progress, steam, bitumen, National guard, order, democratic element,

spirit of association, legality, movement, resistance,seemed, as each political phase developed, to have

been actually made for Minard, whose talk was a paraphrase on the ideas of his newspaper. Julien Minard,

the young lawyer, suffered from his father as much as his father suffered from his wife. Zelie had grown

pretentious with wealth, without, at the same time, learning to speak French. She was now very fat, and gave

Phellion, that type and model of the petty bourgeois, exhibited as many virtues as he did absurdities.

Accustomed to subordination during his bureaucratic life, he respected all social superiority. He was

therefore silent before Minard. During the critical period of retirement from office, he had held his own

admirably, for the following reason. Never until now had that worthy and excellent man been able to indulge

his own tastes. He loved the city of Paris; he was interested in its embellishment, in the laying out of its

streets; he was capable of standing for hours to watch the demolition of houses. He might now have been

observed, stolidly planted on his legs, his nose in the air, watching for the fall of a stone which some mason

was loosening at the top of a wall, and never moving till the stone fell; when it had fallen he went away as

happy as an academician at the fall of a romantic drama. Veritable supernumeraries of the social comedy,

Phellion, Laudigeois, and their kind, fulfilled the functions of the antique chorus. They wept when weeping

was in order, laughed when they should laugh, and sang in parts the public joys and sorrows; they triumphed

in their corner with the triumphs of Algiers, of Constantine, of Lisbon, of SainteJean d'Ulloa; they deplored

the death of Napoleon and the fatal catastrophes of the SaintMerri and the rue Transnonnain, grieving over

celebrated men who were utterly unknown to them. Phellion alone presents a double side: he divides himself

conscientiously between the reasons of the opposition and those of the government. When fighting went on in

the streets, Phellion had the courage to declare himself before his neighbors; he went to the Place

SaintMichel, the place where his battalion assembled; he felt for the government and did his duty. Before

and during the riot, he supported the dynasty, the product of July; but, as soon as the political trials began, he

stood by the accused. This innocent "weathercockism" prevails in his political opinions; he produces, in

reply to all arguments, the "colossus of the North." England is, to his thinking, as to that of the old

"Constitutionnel," a crone with two faces,Machiavellian Albion, and the model nation: Machiavellian,

when the interests of France and of Napoleon are concerned; the model nation when the faults of the

government are in question. He admits, with his chosen paper, the democratic element, but refuses in

conversation all compact with the republican spirit. The republican spirit to him means 1793, rioting, the

Terror, and agrarian law. The democratic element is the development of the lesser bourgeoisie, the reign of

The worthy old man is always dignified; dignity serves to explain his life. He has brought up his children

with dignity; he has kept himself a father in their eyes; he insists on being honored in his home, just as he

himself honors power and his superiors. He has never made debts. As a juryman his conscience obliges him

to sweat blood and water in the effort to follow the debates of a trial; he never laughs, not even if the judge,

and audience, and all the officials laugh. Eminently useful, he gives his services, his time,

everythingexcept his money. Felix Phellion, his son, the professor, is his idol; he thinks him capable of

attaining to the Academy of Sciences. Thuillier, between the audacious nullity of Minard, and the solid

silliness of Phellion, was a neutral substance, but connected with both through his dismal experience. He

managed to conceal the emptiness of his brain by commonplace talk, just as he covered the yellow skin of his

bald pate with thready locks of his gray hair, brought from the back of his head with infinite art by the comb

"In any other career," he was wont to say, speaking of the government employ, "I should have made a very

He had seen the RIGHT, which is possible in theory and impossible in practice,results proving contrary to

premises,and he related the intrigues and the injustices of the Rabourdin affair.

"After that, one can believe all, and believe nothing," he would say. "Ah! it is a queer thing, government! I'm

very glad not to have a son, and never to see him in the career of a placehunter."

Colleville, ever gay, rotund, and goodhumored, a sayer of "quodlibets," a maker of anagrams, always busy,

represented the capable and bantering bourgeois, with faculty without success, obstinate toil without result;

he was also the embodiment of jovial resignation, mind without object, art with usefulness, for, excellent

The Thuillier salon was in some sort a provincial salon, lighted, however, by continual flashes from the

Parisian conflagration; its mediocrity and its platitudes followed the current of the times. The popular saying

and thing (for in Paris the thing and its saying are like the horse and its rider) ricochetted, so to speak, to this

company. Monsieur Minard was always impatiently expected, for he was certain to know the truth of

important circumstances. The women of the Thuillier salon held by the Jesuits; the men defended the

University; and, as a general thing, the women listened. A man of intelligence (could he have borne the

dulness of these evenings) would have laughed, as he would at a comedy of Moliere, on hearing, amid

"How could the Revolution of 1789 have been avoided? The loans of Louis XIV. prepared the way for it.

Louis XV., an egotist, a man of narrow mind (didn't he say, 'If I were lieutenant of police I would suppress

cabriolets'?), that dissolute kingyou remember his Parc aux Cerfs?did much to open the abyss of

revolution. Monsieur de Necker, an evilminded Genovese, set the thing agoing. Foreigners have always

tried to injure France. The maximum did great harm to the Revolution. Legally Louis XVI. should never have

been condemned; a jury would have acquitted him. Why did Charles X. fall? Napoleon was a great man, and

the facts that prove his genius are anecdotal: he took five pinches of snuff a minute out of a pocket lined with

leather made in his waistcoat. He looked into all his tradesmen's accounts; he went to SaintDenis to judge

for himself the prices of things. Talma was his friend; Talma taught him his gestures; nevertheless, he always

refused to give Talma the Legion of honor! The emperor mounted guard for a sentinel who went to sleep, to

save him from being shot. Those were the things that made his soldiers adore him. Louis XVIII., who

certainly had some sense, was very unjust in calling him Monsieur de Buonaparte. The defect of the present

government is in letting itself be led instead of leading. It holds itself too low. It is afraid of men of energy. It

ought to have torn up all the treaties of 1815 and demanded the Rhine. They keep the same men too long in

"Come, you've exerted your minds long enough," said Mademoiselle Thuillier, interrupting one of these

If these anterior facts and all these generalities were not placed here as the frame of the present Scene, to give

an idea of the spirit of this society, the following drama would certainly have suffered greatly. Moreover, this

sketch is historically faithful; it shows a social stratum of importance in any portrayal of manners and morals,

especially when we reflect that the political system of the Younger branch rests almost wholly upon it.

The winter of the year 1839 was, it may be said, the period when the Thuillier salon was in its greatest glory.

The Minards came nearly every Sunday, and began their evening by spending an hour there, if they had other

engagements elsewhere. Often Minard would leave his wife at the Thuilliers and take his son and daughter to

other houses. This assiduity on the part of the Minards was brought about by a somewhat tardy meeting

between Messieurs Metivier, Barbet, and Minard on an evening when the two former, being tenants of

Mademoiselle Thuillier, remained rather longer than usual in discussing business with her. From Barbet,

Minard learned that the old maid had money transactions with himself and Metivier to the amount of sixty

"I believe so," replied Barbet. "I give her at least eighty thousand francs there."

Being on intimate terms with a governor of the Bank, Minard ascertained that Mademoiselle Thuillier had, in

point of fact, an account of over two hundred thousand francs, the result of her quarterly deposits for many

years. Besides this, she owned the house they lived in, which was not mortgaged, and was worth at least one

"Why should Mademoiselle Thuillier work in this way?" said Minard to Metivier. "She'd be a good match for

"I? oh, no," replied Metivier. "I shall do better by marrying a cousin; my uncle Metivier has given me the

succession to his business; he has a hundred thousand francs a year and only two daughters."

However secretive Mademoiselle Thuillier might be,and she said nothing of her investments to any one,

not even to her brother, although a large amount of Madame Thuillier's fortune went to swell the amount of

her own savings,it was difficult to prevent some ray of light from gliding under the bushel which covered

Dutocq, who frequented Barbet, with whom he had some resemblance in character and countenance, had

appraised, even more correctly than Minard, the Thuillier finances. He knew that their savings amounted, in

1838, to one hundred and fifty thousand francs, and he followed their progress secretly, calculating profits by

"Celeste will have from my brother and myself two hundred thousand francs in ready money," the old maid

had said to Barbet in confidence, "and Madame Thuillier wishes to secure to her by the marriage contract the

ultimate possession of her own fortune. As for me, my will is made. My brother will have everything during

his lifetime, and Celeste will be my heiress with that reservation. Monsieur Cardot, the notary, is my

Mademoiselle Thuillier now instigated her brother to renew his former relations with the Saillards,

Baudoyers, and others, who held a position similar to that of the Thuilliers in the quartier Saint Antoine, of

which Monsieur Saillard was mayor. Cardot, the notary, had produced his aspirant for Celeste's hand in the

person of Monsieur Godeschal, attorney and successor to Derville; an able man, thirtysix years of age, who

had paid one hundred thousand francs for his practice, which the two hundred thousand of the "dot" would

doubly clear off. Minard, however, got rid of Godeschal by informing Mademoiselle Thuillier that Celeste's

"She came from the stage," said Colleville, alluding to his wife, "and there's no need she should return to it."

"And ought we not," added Madame Thuillier, timidly, "to let her marry according to her own taste, so as to

The poor woman had detected in Felix Phellion a true love for Celeste; the love that a woman crushed by

Brigitte and wounded by her husband's indifference (for Thuillier cared less for his wife than he did for a

servant) had dreamed that love might be,bold in heart, timid externally, sure of itself, reserved, hidden

from others, but expanding toward heaven. At twentythree years of age, Felix Phellion was a gentle,

pureminded young man, like all true scholars who cultivate knowledge for knowledge's sake. He had been

sacredly brought up by his father, who, viewing all things seriously, had given him none but good examples

accompanied by trivial maxims. He was a young man of medium height, with light chestnut hair, gray eyes,

and a skin full of freckles; gifted with a charming voice, a tranquil manner; making few gestures; thoughtful,

saying little, and that little sensible; contradicting no one, and quite incapable of a sordid thought or a selfish

"That," thought Madame Thuillier, "is what I should have liked my husband to be."

One evening, in the month of February, 1840, the Thuillier salon contained the various personages whose

silhouettes we have just traced out, together with some others. It was nearly the end of the month. Barbet and

Metivier having business with mademoiselle Brigitte, were playing whist with Minard and Phellion. at

another table were Julien the advocate (a nickname given by Colleville to young Minard), Madame

Colleville, Monsieur Barniol, and Madame Phellion. "Bouillotte," at five sous a stake, occupied Madame

Minard, who knew no other game, Colleville, old Monsieur Saillard, and Bandoze, his soninlaw. The

substitutes were Laudigeois and Dutocq. Mesdames Falleix, Baudoyer, Barniol, and Mademoiselle Minard

were playing boston, and Celeste was sitting beside Prudence Minard. Young Phellion was listening to

At a corner of the fireplace sat enthroned on a sofa the Queen Elizabeth of the family, as simply dressed as

she had been for the last thirty years; for no prosperity could have made her change her habits. She wore on

her chinchilla hair a black gauze cap, adorned with the geranium called Charles X.; her gown, of

plumcolored stuff, made with a yoke, cost fifteen francs, her embroidered collarette was worth six, and it ill

disguised the deep wrinkle produced by the two muscles which fastened the head to the vertebral column.

The actor, Monvel, playing Augustus Caesar in his old age, did not present a harder and sterner profile than

that of this female autocrat, knitting socks for her brother. Before the fireplace stood Thuillier in an attitude,

ready to go forward and meet the arriving guests; near him was a young man whose entrance had produced a

great effect, when the porter (who on Sundays wore his best clothes and waited on the company) announced

A private communication made by Cardot to the celebrated "procureur general," father of this young man,

was the cause of his visit. Olivier Vinet had just been promoted from the court of ArcissurAube to that of

the Seine, where he now held the post of substitute "procureurderoi." Cardot had already invited Thuillier

and the elder Vinet, who was likely to become minister of justice, with his son, to dine with him. The notary

estimated the fortunes which would eventually fall to Celeste at seven hundred thousand francs. Vinet junior

appeared charmed to obtain the right to visit the Thuilliers on Sundays. Great dowries make men commit

Ten minutes later another young man, who had been talking with Thuillier before the arrival of Olivier Vinet,

raised his voice eagerly, in a political discussion, and forced the young magistrate to follow his example in

the vivacious argument which now ensued. The matter related to the vote by which the Chamber of Deputies

had just overthrown the ministry of the 12th of May, refusing the allowance demanded for the Duc de

"Assuredly," said the young man, "I am far from belonging to the dynastic party; I am very far from

approving of the rise of the bourgeoisie to power. The bourgeoisie ought not, any more than the aristocracy of

other days, to assume to be the whole nation. But the French bourgeoisie has now taken upon itself to create a

new dynasty, a royalty of its own, and behold how it treats it! When the people allowed Napoleon to rise to

power, it created with him a splendid and monumental state of things; it was proud of his grandeur; and it

nobly gave its blood and sweat in building up the edifice of the Empire. Between the magnificence of the

aristocratic throne and those of the imperial purple, between the great of the earth and the People, the

bourgeoisie is proving itself petty; it degrades power to its own level instead of rising up to it. The saving of

candleends it has so long practised behind its counters, it now seeks to impose on its princes. What may

perhaps have been virtue in its shops is a blunder and a crime higher up. I myself have wanted many things

for the people, but I never should have begun by lopping off ten millions of francs from the new civil list. In

becoming, as it were, nearly the whole of France, the bourgeoisie owed to us the prosperity of the people,

The father of Olivier Vinet was just now sulking with the government. The robe of Keeper of the Seals,

which had been his dream, was slow in coming to him. The young substitute did not, therefore, know exactly

how to answer this speech; he thought it wise to enlarge on one of its side issues.

"You are right, monsieur," said Olivier Vinet. "But, before manifesting itself magnificently, the bourgeoisie

has other duties to fulfil towards France. The luxury you speak of should come after duty. That which seems

to you so blameable is the necessity of the moment. The Chamber is far from having its full share in public

affairs; the ministers are less for France than they are for the crown, and parliament has determined that the

administration shall have, as in England, a strength and power of its own, and not a mere borrowed power.

The day on which the administration can act for itself, and represent the Chamber as the Chamber represents

the country, parliament will be found very liberal toward the crown. The whole question is there. I state it

without expressing my own opinion, for the duties of my post demand, in politics, a certain fealty to the

"Setting aside the political question," replied the young man, whose voice and accent were those of a native

of Provence, "it is certainly true that the bourgeoisie has ill understood its mission. We can see, any day, the

great law officers, attorneygenerals, peers of France in omnibuses, judges who live on their salaries, prefects

without fortunes, ministers in debt! Whereas the bourgeoisie, who have seized upon those offices, ought to

dignify them, as in the olden time when aristocracy dignified them, and not occupy such posts solely for the

"Who is this young man?" thought Olivier Vinet. "Is he a relative? Cardot ought to have come with me on

"Who is that little monsieur?" asked Minard of Barbet. "I have seen him here several times."

"A lawyer," added Barbet, in a low voice, "who occupies a small apartment on the third floor front. Oh! HE

At that moment the women present, as well as the men, looked at the two young fellows, and Madame

"I have made his anagram," replied Colleville, "and his name, Charles MarieTheodose de la Peyrade,

prophecies: 'Eh! monsieur payera, de la dot, des oies et le char.' Therefore, my dear Mamma Minard, be sure

"They say that young man is betterlooking than my son," said Madame Phellion to Madame Colleville.

"Oh! in the matter of physical beauty a woman might hesitate before choosing," replied Madame Colleville.

At that moment it occurred to young Vinet as he looked round the salon, so full of the lesser bourgeoisie, that

it might be a shrewd thing to magnify that particular class; and he thereupon enlarged upon the meaning of

the young Provencal barrister, declaring that men so honored by the confidence of the government should

imitate royalty and encourage a magnificence surpassing that of the former court. It was folly, he said, to lay

by the emoluments of an office. Besides, could it be done, in Paris especially, where costs of living had

trebled, the apartment of a magistrate, for instance, costing three thousand francs a year?

"My father," he said in conclusion, "allows me three thousand francs a year, and that, with my salary, barely

When the young substitute rode boldly into this boghole, the Provencal, who had slyly enticed him there,

exchanged, without being observed, a wink with Dutocq, who was just then waiting for the place of a player

"There is such a demand for offices," remarked the latter, "that they talk of creating two justices of the peace

to each arrondissement in order to make a dozen new clerkships. As if they could interfere with our rights and

"I have not yet had the pleasure of hearing you at the Palais," said Vinet to Monsieur de la Peyrade.

"I am advocate for the poor, and I plead only before the justice of peace," replied la Peyrade.

Mademoiselle Thuillier, as she listened to young Vinet's theory of the necessity of spending an income,

assumed a distant air and manner, the significance of which was well understood by Dutocq and the young

Provencal. Vinet left the house in company with Minard and Julien the advocate, so that the battlefield

"The upper bourgeoisie," said Dutocq to Thuillier, "will behave, in future, exactly like the old aristocracy.

The nobility wanted girls with money to manure their lands, and the parvenus of today want the same to

"That's exactly what Monsieur Thuillier was saying to me this morning," remarked la Peyrade, boldly.

"Vinet's father," said Dutocq, "married a Demoiselle de Chargeboeuf and has caught the opinions of the

"Oh!" said Thuillier, in whom the jealousy between the two classes of the bourgeoisie was fully roused, "take

Mademoiselle was knitting with such precipitous haste that she seemed to be propelled by a steamengine.

"Take my place, Monsieur Dutocq," said Madame Minard, rising. "My feet are cold," she added, going to the

fire, where the golden ornaments of her turban made fireworks in the light of the SaintAurora waxcandles

"He is very small fry, that young substitute," said Madame Minard, glancing at Mademoiselle Thuillier.

"But madame has so long accustomed us to that sort of thing," said the handsome Thuillier.

Madame Colleville was examining la Peyrade and comparing him with young Phellion, who was just then

talking to Celeste, neither of them paying any heed to what was going on around them. This is, certainly, the

right moment to depict the singular personage who was destined to play a signal part in the Thuillier

There exists in Provence, especially about Avignon, a race of men with blond or chestnut hair, fair skin, and

eyes that are almost tender, their pupils calm, feeble, or languishing, rather than keen, ardent, or profound, as

they usually are in the eyes of Southerners. Let us remark, in passing, that among Corsicans, a race subject to

fits of anger and dangerous irascibility, we often meet with fair skins and physical natures of the same

apparent tranquillity. These pale men, rather stout, with somewhat dim and hazy eyes either green or blue, are

the worst species of humanity in Provence; and CharlesMarie Theodose de la Peyrade presents a fine type

of that race, the constitution of which deserves careful examination on the part of medical science and

philosophical physiology. There rises, at times, within such men, a species of bile,a bitter gall, which flies

to their head and makes them capable of ferocious actions, done, apparently, in cold blood. Being the result

of an inward intoxication, this sort of dumb violence seems to be irreconcilable with their quasilymphatic

Born in the neighborhood of Avignon, the young Provencal whose name we have just mentioned was of

middle height, wellproportioned, and rather stout; the tone of his skin had no brilliancy; it was neither livid

nor deadwhite, nor colored, but gelatinous,that word can alone give a true idea of the flabby, hueless

envelope, beneath which were concealed nerves that were less vigorous than capable of enormous resistance

at certain given moments. His eyes, of a pale cold blue, expressed in their ordinary condition a species of

deceptive sadness, which must have had great charms for women. The forehead, finely cut, was not without

dignity, and it harmonized well with the soft, light chestnut hair curling naturally, but slightly, at its tips. The

nose, precisely like that of a hunting dog, flat and furrowed at the tip, inquisitive, intelligent, searching,

always on the scent, instead of expressing goodhumor, was ironical and mocking; but this particular aspect

of his nature never showed itself openly; the young man must have ceased to watch himself, he must have

flown into fury before the power came to him to flash out the sarcasm and the wit which embittered, tenfold,

his infernal humor. The mouth, the curving lines and pomegranatecolored lips of which were very pleasing,

seemed the admirable instrument of an organ that was almost sweet in its middle tones, where its owner

usually kept it, but which, in its higher key, vibrated on the ear like the sound of a gong. This falsetto was the

voice of his nerves and his anger. His face, kept expressionless by an inward command, was oval in form. His

manners, in harmony with the sacerdotal calmness of the face, were reserved and conventional; but he had

supple, pliant ways which, though they never descended to wheedling, were not lacking in seduction;

although as soon as his back was turned their charm seemed inexplicable. Charm, when it takes its rise in the

heart, leaves deep and lasting traces; that which is merely a product of art, or of eloquence, has only a passing

power; it produces its immediate effect, and that is all. But how many philosophers are there in life who are

able to distinguish the difference? Almost always the trick is played (to use a popular expression) before the

Everything about this young man of twentyseven was in harmony with his character; he obeyed his vocation

by cultivating philanthropy, the only expression which explains the philanthropist. Theodose loved the

People, for he limited his love for humanity. Like the horticulturist who devotes himself to roses, or dahlias,

or heart's ease, or geraniums, and pays no attention to the plants his fancy has not selected, so this young La

RochefoucaultLiancourt gave himself to the workingmen, the proletariat and the paupers of the faubourgs

SaintJacques and SaintMarceau. The strong man, the man of genius at bay, the worthy poor of the

bourgeois class, he cut them off from the bosom of his charity. The heart of all persons with a mania is like

those boxes with compartments, in which sugarplums are kept in sorts: "suum cuique tribuere" is their motto;

they measure to each duty its dose. There are some philanthropists who pity nothing but the man condemned

to death. Vanity is certainly the basis of philanthropy; but in the case of this Provencal it was calculation, a

predetermined course, a "liberal" and democratic hypocrisy, played with a perfection that no other actor will

Theodose did not attack the rich; he contented himself with not understanding them; he endured them; every

one, in his opinion, ought to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He had been, he said, a fervent disciple of

SaintSimon, but that mistake must be attributed to his youth: modern society could have no other basis than

heredity. An ardent Catholic, like all men from the Comtat, he went to the earliest morning masses, and thus

concealed his piety. Like other philanthropists, he practised a sordid economy, and gave to the poor his time,

his legal advice, his eloquence, and such money as he extracted for them from the rich. His clothes, always of

black cloth, were worn until the seams became white. Nature had done a great deal for Theodose in not

giving him that fine manly Southern beauty which creates in others an imaginary expectation, to which it is

more than difficult for a man to respond. As it was, he could be what suited him at the moment,an

agreeable man or a very ordinary one. Never, since his admission to the Thuilliers', had he ventured, till this

evening, to raise his voice and speak as dogmatically as he had risked doing to Olivier Vinet; but perhaps

Theodose de la Peyrade was not sorry to seize the opportunity to come out from the shade in which he had

hitherto kept himself. Besides, it was necessary to get rid of the young substitute, just as the Minards had

previously ruined the hopes of Monsieur Godeschal. Like all superior men (for he certainly had some

superiority), Vinet had never lowered himself to the point where the threads of these bourgeois spiderwebs

became visible to him, and he had therefore plunged, like a fly, headforemost, into the almost invisible trap to

To complete this portrait of the poor man's lawyer we must here relate the circumstances of his first arrival at

Theodose came to lodge in Mademoiselle Thuillier's house toward the close of the year 1837. He had taken

his degree about five years earlier, and had kept the proper number of terms to become a barrister.

Circumstances, however, about which he said nothing, had interfered to prevent his being called to the bar; he

was, therefore, still a licentiate. But soon after he was installed in the little apartment on the third floor, with

the furniture rigorously required by all members of his noble profession,for the guild of barristers admits

no brother unless he has a suitable study, a legal library, and can thus, as it were, verify his

claims,Theodose de la Peyrade began to practise as a barrister before the Royal Court of Paris.

The whole of the year 1838 was employed in making this change in his condition, and he led a most regular

life. He studied at home in the mornings till dinnertime, going sometimes to the Palais for important cases.

Having become very intimate with Dutocq (so Dutocq said), he did certain services to the poor of the

faubourg SaintJacques who were brought to his notice by that official. He pleaded their cases before the

court, after bringing them to the notice of the attorneys, who, according to the statutes of their order, are

obliged to take turns in doing business for the poor. As Theodose was careful to plead only safe cases, he

won them all. Those persons whom he thus obliged expressed their gratitude and their admiration, in spite of

the young lawyer's admonitions, among their own class, and to the porters of private houses, through whom

many anecdotes rose to the ears of the proprietors. Delighted to have in their house a tenant so worthy and so

charitable, the Thuilliers wished to attract him to their salon, and they questioned Dutocq about him. The

mayor's clerk replied as the envious reply; while doing justice to the young man he dwelt on his remarkable

"I have had other information about him. He belongs to the Peyrades, an old family of the 'comtat' of

Avignon; he came here toward the end of 1829, to inquire about an uncle whose fortune was said to be

considerable; he discovered the address of the old man only three days before his death; and the furniture of

the deceased merely sufficed to bury him and pay his debts. A friend of this useless uncle gave a couple of

hundred louis to the poor fortunehunter, advising him to finish his legal studies and enter the judiciary

career. Those two hundred louis supported him for three years in Paris, where he lived like an anchorite. But

being unable to discover his unknown friend and benefactor, the poor student was in abject distress in 1833.

He worked then, like so many other licentiates, in politics and literature, by which he kept himself for a time

above wantfor he had nothing to expect from his family. His father, the youngest brother of the dead uncle,

has eleven other children, who live on a small estate called Les Canquoelles. He finally obtained a place on a

ministerial newspaper, the manager of which was the famous Cerizet, so celebrated for the persecutions he

met with, under the Restoration, on account of his attachment to the liberals,a man whom the new Left will

never forgive for having made his paper ministerial. As the government of these days does very little to

protect even its most devoted servants (witness the Gisquet affair), the republicans have ended by ruining

Cerizet. I tell you this to explain how it is that Cerizet is now a copying clerk in my office. Well, in the days

when he flourished as managing editor of a paper directed by the Perier ministry against the incendiary

journals, the 'Tribune' and others, Cerizet, who is a worthy fellow after all, though he is too fond of women,

pleasure, and good living, was very useful to Theodose, who edited the political department of the paper; and

if it hadn't been for the death of Casimir Perier that young man would certainly have received an appointment

as substitute judge in Paris. As it was, he dropped back in 183435, in spite of his talent; for his connection

with a ministerial journal of course did him harm. 'If it had not been for my religious principles,' he said to

me, 'I should have thrown myself into the Seine.' However, it seems that the friend of his uncle must have

heard of his distress, for again he sent him a sum of money; enough to complete his terms for the bar; but,

strange to say, he has never known the name or the address of this mysterious benefactor. After all, perhaps,

under such circumstances, his economy is excusable, and he must have great strength of mind to refuse what

the poor devils whose cases he wins by his devotion offer him. He is indignant at the way other lawyers

speculate on the possibility or impossibility of poor creatures, unjustly sued, paying for the costs of their

defence. Oh! he'll succeed in the end. I shouldn't be surprised to see that fellow in some very brilliant

Notwithstanding the favor with which he was greeted, la Peyrade went discreetly to the Thuilliers'. When

reproached for this reserve he went oftener, and ended by appearing every Sunday; he was invited to all

dinnerparties, and became at last so familiar in the house that whenever he came to see Thuillier about four

o'clock he was always requested to take "potluck" without ceremony. Mademoiselle Thuillier used to

A social phenomenon which has certainly been observed, but never, as yet, formulated, or, if you like it

better, published, though it fully deserves to be recorded, is the return of habits, mind, and manners to

primitive conditions in certain persons who, between youth and old age, have raised themselves above their

first estate. Thus Thuillier had become, once more, morally speaking, the son of a concierge. He now made

use of many of his father's jokes, and a little of the slime of early days was beginning to appear on the surface

of his declining life. About five or six times a month, when the soup was rich and good he would deposit his

On hearing that witticism for the first time Theodose, to whom it was really new, laughed so heartily that the

handsome Thuillier was tickled in his vanity as he had never been before. After that, Theodose greeted the

same speech with a knowing little smile. This slight detail will explain how it was that on the morning of the

day when Theodose had his passage at arms with Vinet he had said to Thuillier, as they were walking in the

"In any other career, my dear Theodose, I should have made my way nobly; but the fall of the Emperor broke

"There is still time," said the young lawyer. "In the first place, what did that mountebank, Colleville, ever do

There la Peyrade laid his finger on a sore wound which Thuillier hid from every eye so carefully that even his

sister did not know of it; but the young man, interested in studying these bourgeois, had divined the secret

"If you, experienced as you are, will do the honor to follow my advice," added the philanthropist, "and, above

all, not mention our compact to any one, I will undertake to have you decorated with the Legion of honor, to

"Oh! if we succeed in that," cried Thuillier, "you don't know what I would do for you."

This explains why Thuillier carried his head high when Theodose had the audacity that evening to put

In artand perhaps Moliere had placed hypocrisy in the rank of art by classing Tartuffe forever among

comediansthere exists a point of perfection to which genius alone attains; mere talent falls below it. There

is so little difference between a work of genius and a work of talent, that only men of genius can appreciate

the distance that separates Raffaelle from Correggio, Titian from Rubens. More than that; common minds are

easily deceived on this point. The sign of genius is a certain appearance of facility. In fact, its work must

appear, at first sight, ordinary, so natural is it, even on the highest subjects. Many peasantwomen hold their

children as the famous Madonna in the Dresden gallery holds hers. Well, the height of art in a man of la

Peyrade's force was to oblige others to say of him later: "Everybody would have been taken in by him."

Now, in the salon Thuillier, he noted a dawning opposition; he perceived in Colleville the somewhat

clearsighted and criticising nature of an artist who has missed his vocation. The barrister felt himself

displeasing to Colleville, who (as the result of circumstances not necessary to here report) considered himself

justified in believing in the science of anagrams. None of this anagrams had ever failed. The clerks in the

government office had laughed at him when, demanding an anagram on the name of the poor helpless

AugusteJean Francois Minard, he had produced, "J'amassai une si grande fortune"; and the event had

justified him after the lapse of ten years! Theodose, on several occasions, had made advances to the jovial

secretary of the mayor's office, and had felt himself rebuffed by a coldness which was not natural in so

sociable a man. When the game of bouillotte came to an end, Colleville seized the moment to draw Thuillier

"You are letting that lawyer get too much foothold in your house; he kept the ball in his own hands all the

"Thank you, my friend; forewarned is forearmed," replied Thuillier, inwardly scoffing at Colleville.

Theodose, who was talking at the moment to Madame Colleville, had his eye on the two men, and, with the

same prescience by which women know when and how they are spoken of, he perceived that Colleville was

trying to injure him in the mind of the weak and silly Thuillier. "Madame," he said in Flavie's ear, "if any one

here is capable of appreciating you it is certainly I. You seem to me a pearl dropped into the mire. You say

you are fortytwo, but a woman is no older than she looks, and many women of thirty would be thankful to

have your figure and that noble countenance, where love has passed without ever filling the void in your

heart. You have given yourself to God, I know, and I have too much religion myself to regret it, but I also

know that you have done so because no human being has proved worthy of you. You have been loved, but

you have never been adoredI have divined that. There is your husband, who has not known how to please

you in a position in keeping with your deserts. He dislikes me, as if he thought I loved you; and he prevents

me from telling you of a way that I think I have found to place you in the sphere for which you were destined.

No, madame," he continued, rising, "the Abbe Gondrin will not preach this year through Lent at our humble

SaintJacques du HautPas; the preacher will be Monsieur d'Estival, a compatriot of mine, and you will hear

in him one of the most impressive speakers that I have ever known,a priest whose outward appearance is

"Then my desire will be gratified," said poor Madame Thuillier. "I have never yet been able to understand a

A smile flickered on the lips of Mademoiselle Thuillier and several others who heard the remark.

"They devote themselves too much to theological demonstration," said Theodose. "I have long thought so

myselfbut I never talk religion; if it had not been for Madame DE Colleville, I"

"Are there demonstrations in theology?" asked the professor of mathematics, naively, plunging headlong into

"I think, monsieur," replied Theodose, looking straight at Felix Phellion, "that you cannot be serious in asking

"Felix," said old Phellion, coming heavily to the rescue of his son, and catching a distressed look on the pale

face of Madame Thuillier, "Felix separates religion into two categories; he considers it from the human

"That is heresy, monsieur," replied Theodose. "Religion is one; it requires, above all things, faith."

"Oh, Monsieur Felix," said Celeste in a whisper to the candid mathematician, "Couldn't you be, like Pascal

The Phellions, on departing, carried the Collevilles with them. Soon no one remained in the salon but Dutocq,

The flattery administered by Theodose to Flavie seems at the first sight coarsely commonplace, but we must

here remark, in the interests of this history, that the barrister was keeping himself as close as possible to these

vulgar minds; he was navigating their waters; he spoke their language. His painter was Pierre Grassou, and

not Joseph Bridau; his book was "Paul and Virginia." The greatest living poet for him was Casimire de la

Vigne; to his eyes the mission of art was, above all things, utility. Parmentier, the discoverer of the potato,

was greater to him that thirty Raffaelles; the man in the blue cloak seemed to him a sister of charity. These

"That young Felix Phellion," he now remarked, "is precisely the academical man of our day; the product of

knowledge which sends God to the rear. Heavens, what are we coming to? Religion alone can save France;

nothing but the fear of hell will preserve us from domestic robbery, which is going on at all hours in the

bosom of families, and eating into the surest fortunes. All of you have a secret warfare in your homes."

After this shrewd tirade, which made a great impression upon Brigitte, he retired, followed by Dutocq, after

"Monsieur," Phellion was saying to Colleville as they came abreast of the Ecole de Mines, looking about him

to see that no one was near, "it is usually my custom to submit my insight to that of others, but it is

impossible for me not to think that that young lawyer plays the master at our friend Thuillier's."

"My own opinion," said Colleville, who was walking with Phellion behind his wife, Madame Phellion, and

Celeste, "is that he's a Jesuit; and I don't like Jesuits; the best of them are no good. To my mind a Jesuit

means knavery, and knavery for knavery's sake; they deceive for the pleasure of deceiving, and, as the saying

"No, Monsieur Phellion," remarked Flavie in a shrill voice, "you don't understand Colleville; but I know what

he means, and I think he had better stop saying it. Such subjects are not to be talked of in the street, at eleven

When they reached the rue des DeuxEglises, which Phellion was to take, they all stopped to say goodnight,

"Monsieur, your son Francois could enter the Ecole Polytechnique if he were wellcoached; I propose to you

"That's an offer not to be refused! Thank you, my friend," said Colleville. "We'll see about it."

"May I never find the solution of my problem if I even thought of it!" cried the young professor. "I

discovered, when talking with the little Collevilles, that Francois has a strong turn for mathematics, and I

"Good, my son!" repeated Phellion. "I wouldn't have you otherwise. My prayers are granted! I have a son

"Colleville, don't utter those blunt opinions about people without knowing something about them. When you

talk of Jesuits I know you mean priests; and I wish you would do me the kindness to keep your opinions on

religion to yourself when you are in company with your daughter. We may sacrifice our own souls, but not

the souls of our children. You don't want Celeste to be a creature without religion? And remember, my dear,

that we are at the mercy of others; we have four children to provide for; and how do you know that, some day

or other, you may not need the services of this one or that one? Therefore don't make enemies. You haven't

any now, for you are a goodnatured fellow; and, thanks to that quality, which amounts in you to a charm, we

"That's enough!" said Colleville, flinging his coat on a chair and pulling off his cravat. "I'm wrong, and you

"And on the next occasion, my dear old sheep," said the sly creature, tapping her husband's cheek, "you must

try to be polite to that young lawyer; he is a schemer and we had better have him on our side. He is playing

comedywell! play comedy with him; be his dupe apparently; if he proves to have talent, if he has a future

before him, make a friend of him. Do you think I want to see you forever in the mayor's office?"

"Come, wife Colleville," said the former clarionet, tapping his knee to indicate the place he wished his wife

to take. "Let us warm our toes and talk.When I look at you I am more than ever convinced that the youth

"What is good about you is that you have kept your fairness without growing fat. But the fact is, you have

such tiny bones. Flavie, it is a fact that if I had life to live over again I shouldn't wish for any other wife than

"You know very well I have always preferred you to OTHERS. How unlucky that monseigneur is dead! Do

"Some office at the Hotel de Ville,an office worth twelve thousand francs a year; cashier, or something of

that kind; either there, or at Poissy, in the municipal department; or else as manufacturer of musical

"Well, then! if that queer barrister has power, and he certainly has plenty of intrigue, let us manage him. I'll

sound him; leave me to do the thingand, above all, don't thwart his game at the Thuilliers'."

Theodose had laid a finger on a sore sport in Flavie Colleville's heart; and this requires an explanation, which

At forty years of age a woman, above all, if she has tasted the poisoned apple of passion, undergoes a solemn

shock; she sees two deaths before her: that of the body and that of the heart. Dividing women into two great

categories which respond to the common ideas, and calling them either virtuous or guilty, it is allowable to

say that after that fatal period they both suffer pangs of terrible intensity. If virtuous, and disappointed in the

deepest hopes of their nature whether they have had the courage to submit, whether they have buried their

revolt in their hearts or at the foot of the altarthey never admit to themselves that all is over for them

without horror. That thought has such strange and diabolical depths that in it lies the reason of some of those

apostasies which have, at times, amazed the world and horrified it. If guilty, women of that age fall into one

of several delirious conditions which often turn, alas! to madness, or end in suicide, or terminate in some with

The following is the "dilemmatic" meaning of this crisis. Either they have known happiness, known it in a

virtuous life, and are unable to breathe in any air but that surcharged with incense, or act in any but a balmy

atmosphere of flattery and worship,if so, how is it possible to renounce it?or, by a phenomenon less rare

than singular, they have found only wearying pleasures while seeking for the happiness that escaped

themsustained in that eager chase by the irritating satisfactions of vanity, clinging to the game like a

gambler to his double or quits; for to them these last days of beauty are their last stake against despair.

That speech of Theodose, accompanied by a look which read, not into her heart, but into her life, was the

The lawyer had merely repeated ideas which literature has rendered trivial; but what matter where the whip

comes from, or how it is made, if it touches the sensitive spot of a horse's hide? The emotion was in Flavie,

not in the speech, just as the noise is not in the avalanche, though it produces it.

A young officer, two fops, a banker, a clumsy youth, and Colleville, were poor attempts at happiness. Once in

her life Madame Colleville had dreamed of it, but never attained it. Death had hastened to put an end to the

only passion in which she had found a charm. For the last two years she had listened to the voice of religion,

which told her that neither the Church, nor its votaries, should talk of love or happiness, but of duty and

resignation; that the only happiness lay in the satisfaction of fulfilling painful and costly duties, the rewards

for which were not in this world. All the same, however, she was conscious of another clamoring voice; but,

inasmuch as her religion was only a mask which it suited her to wear, and not a conversion, she did not lay it

aside, thinking it a resource. Believing also that piety, false or true, was a becoming manner in which to meet

her future, she continued in the Church, as though it were the crossroads of a forest, where, seated on a

bench, she read the signposts, and waited for some lucky chance; feeling all the while that night was coming

Thus it happened that her interest was keenly excited when Theodose put her secret condition of mind into

words, seeming to promise her the realization of her castle in the air, already built and overthrown some six

From the beginning of the winter she had noticed that Theodose was examining and studying her, though

cautiously and secretly. More than once, she had put on her gray moire silk with its black lace, and her

headdress of Mechlin with a few flowers, in order to appear to her best advantage; and men know very well

when a toilet has been made to please them. The old beau of the Empire, that handsome Thuillier,

overwhelmed her with compliments, assuring her she was queen of the salon, but la Peyrade said infinitely

Flavie had expected, Sunday after Sunday, a declaration, saying to herself at times:

Theodose did nothing rashly; like a wise musician, he had marked the place in his symphony where he

intended to tap his drum. When he saw Colleville attempting to warn Thuillier against him, he fired his

broadside, cleverly prepared during the three or four months in which he had been studying Flavie; he now

"The wife is on my side; the husband can't endure me; they are now quarrelling; and I shall get the better of

The lawyer was mistaken in one thing: there was no dispute whatever, and Colleville was sleeping peacefully

Many men, like la Peyrade, derive their superiority from the audacity, or the difficulty, of an enterprise; the

strength they display increases their muscular power, and they spend it freely. Then when success is won, or

defeat is met, the public is astonished to find how small, exhausted, and puny those men really are. After

casting into the minds of the two persons on whom Celeste's fate chiefly depended, an interest and curiosity

that were almost feverish, Theodose pretended to be a very busy man; for five or six days he was out of the

house from morning till night, in order not to meet Flavie until the time when her interest should increase to

the point of overstepping conventionality, and also in order to force the handsome Thuillier to come and fetch

The following Sunday he felt certain he should find Madame Colleville at church; he was not mistaken, for

they came out, each of them, at the same moment, and met at the corner of the rue des DeuxEglises.

Theodose offered his arm, which Flavie accepted, leaving her daughter to walk in front with her brother

Anatole. This youngest child, then about twelve years old, being destined for the seminary, was now at the

Barniol institute, where he obtained an elementary education; Barniol, the soninlaw of the Phellions, was

naturally making the tuition fees light, with a view to the hopedfor alliance between Felix and Celeste.

"Have you done me the honor and favor of thinking over what I said to you so badly the other day?" asked

the lawyer, in a caressing tone, pressing the lady's arm to his heart with a movement both soft and strong; for

he seemed to wish to restrain himself and appear respectful, in spite of his evident eagerness. "Do not

misunderstand my intentions," he continued, after receiving from Madame Colleville one of those looks

which women trained to the management of passion know how to give,a look that, by mere expression,

can convey both severe rebuke and secret community of sentiment. "I love you as we love a noble nature

struggling against misfortune; Christian charity enfolds both the strong and the weak; its treasure belongs to

both. Refined, graceful, elegant as you are, made to be an ornament of the highest society, what man could

see you without feeling an immense compassion in his heartburied here among these odious bourgeois,

who know nothing of you, not even the aristocratic value of a single one of your attitudes, or those

enchanting inflections of your voice! Ah! if I were only rich! if I had power! your husband, who is certainly a

good fellow, should be made receivergeneral, and you yourself could get him elected deputy. But, alas! poor

ambitious man, my first duty is to silence my ambition. Knowing myself at the bottom of the bag like the last

number in a family lottery, I can only offer you my arm and not my heart. I hope all from a good marriage,

and, believe me, I shall make my wife not only happy, but I shall make her one of the first in the land,

receiving from her the means of success. It is so fine a day, will you not take a turn in the Luxembourg?" he

added, as they reached the rue d'Enfer at the corner of Colleville's house, opposite to which was a passage

leading to the gardens by the stairway of a little building, the last remains of the famous convent of the

The soft yielding of the arm within his own, indicated a tacit consent to this proposal, and as Flavie deserved

"Come! we may never have so good a momentBut see!" he added, "there is your husband at the window

"You have nothing to fear from Monsieur Colleville," said Flavie, smiling; "he leaves me mistress of my own

"Ah! here, indeed, is the woman I have dreamed of," cried the Provencal, with that ecstasy that inflames the

soul only, and in tones that issue only from Southern lips. "Pardon me, madame," he said, recovering himself,

and returning from an upper sphere to the exiled angel whom he looked at piously,"pardon me, I abandon

what I was saying; but how can a man help feeling for the sorrows he has known himself when he sees them

the lot of a being to whom life should bring only joy and happiness? Your sufferings are mine; I am no more

in my right place than you are in yours; the same misfortune has made us brother and sister. Ah! dear Flavie,

the first day it was granted to me to see youthe last Sunday in September, 1838you were very beautiful;

I shall often recall you to memory in that pretty little gown of mousselinedelaine of the color of some

Scottish tartan! That day I said to myself: 'Why is that woman so often at the Thuilliers'; above all, why did

"Monsieur!" said Flavie, alarmed at the singular course la Peyrade was giving to the conversation.

"Eh! I know all," he cried, accompanying the words with a shrug of his shoulders. "I explain it all to my own

mind, and I do not respect you less. You now have to gather the fruits of your sin, and I will help you. Celeste

will be very rich, and in that lies your own future. You can have only one soninlaw; chose him wisely. An

ambitious man might become a minister, but you would humble your daughter and make her miserable; and

if such a man lost his place and fortune he could never recover it. Yes, I love you," he continued. "I love you

with an unlimited affection; you are far above the mass of petty considerations in which silly women entangle

Flavie was bewildered; she was, however, awake to the extreme frankness of such language, and she said to

herself, "He is not a secret manoeuvrer, certainly." Moreover, she admitted to her own mind that no one had

"Monsieur," she said, "I do not know who could have put into your mind so great an error as to my life, nor

"Ah! pardon me, madame," interrupted the Provencal with a coolness that smacked of contempt. "I must have

dreamed it. I said to myself, 'She is all that!' But I see I was judging from the outside. I know now why you

And he pointed his speech with an energetic gesture toward the Colleville windows, which could be seen

through the passage from the alley of the Luxembourg, where they were walking alone, in that immense tract

"I have been frank, and I expected reciprocity," resumed Theodose. "I myself have had days without food,

madame; I have managed to live, pursue my studies, obtain my degree, with two thousand francs for my sole

dependence; and I entered Paris through the Barriere d'Italie, with five hundred francs in my pocket, firmly

resolved, like one of my compatriots, to become, some day, one of the foremost men of our country. The man

who has often picked his food from baskets of scraps where the restaurateurs put their refuse, which are

emptied at six o'clock every morningthat man is not likely to recoil before any means,avowable, of

course. Well, do you think me the friend of the people?" he said, smiling. "One has to have a

speakingtrumpet to reach the ear of Fame; she doesn't listen if you speak with your lips; and without fame

of what use is talent? The poor man's advocate means to be some day the advocate of the rich. Is that plain

speaking? Don't I open my inmost being to you? Then open your heart to me. Say to me, 'Let us be friends,'

"Good heavens! why did I ever come here? Why did I ever take your arm?" cried Flavie.

"Because it is in your destiny," he replied. "Ah! my dear, beloved Flavie," he added, again pressing her arm

upon his heart, "did you expect to hear the vulgarities of love from me? We are brother and sister; that is all."

Flavie felt a sort of terror in the depths of the contentment which all women find in violent emotions; and she

took that terror for the sort of fear which a new passion always excites; but for all that, she felt she was

"What are you thinking of?" asked Theodose, when they reached the middle of the passage.

"At our age," he said, "it is best to suppress preliminaries; we are not children; we both belong to a sphere in

which we should understand each other. Remember this," he added, as they reached the rue d'Enfer. "I am

"The iron's in the fire now!" he thought to himself as he watched his giddy prey on her way home.

When Theodose reached home he found, waiting for him on the landing, a personage who is, as it were, the

submarine current of this history; he will be found within it like some buried church on which has risen the

facade of a palace. The sight of this man, who, after vainly ringing at la Peyrade's door, was now trying that

of Dutocq, made the Provencal barrister tremblebut secretly, within himself, not betraying externally his

inward emotion. This man was Cerizet, whom Dutocq had mentioned to Thuillier as his copyingclerk.

Cerizet was only thirtyeight years old, but he looked a man of fifty, so aged had he become from causes

which age all men. His hairless head had a yellow skull, illcovered by a rusty, discolored wig; the mask of

his face, pale, flabby, and unnaturally rough, seemed the more horrible because the nose was eaten away,

though not sufficiently to admit of its being replaced by a false one. From the spring of this nose at the

forehead, down to the nostrils, it remained as nature had made it; but disease, after gnawing away the sides

near the extremities, had left two holes of fantastic shape, which vitiated pronunciation and hampered speech.

The eyes, originally handsome, but weakened by misery of all kinds and by sleepless nights, were red around

the edges, and deeply sunken; the glance of those eyes, when the soul sent into them an expression of

malignancy, would have frightened both judges and criminals, or any others whom nothing usually affrights.

The mouth, toothless except for a few black fangs, was threatening; the saliva made a foam within it, which

did not, however, pass the pale thin lips. Cerizet, a short man, less spare than shrunken, endeavored to

remedy the defects of his person by his clothes, and although his garments were not those of opulence, he

kept them in a condition of neatness which may even have increased his forlorn appearance. Everything about

him seemed dubious; his age, his nose, his glance inspired doubt. It was impossible to know if he were

thirtyeight or sixty; if his faded blue trousers, which fitted him well, were of a coming or a past fashion. His

boots, worn at the heels, but scrupulously blacked, resoled for the third time, and very choice, originally, may

have trodden in their day a ministerial carpet. The frock coat, soaked by many a downpour, with its

brandebourgs, the frogs of which were indiscreet enough to show their skeletons, testified by its cut to

departed elegance. The satin stock cravat fortunately concealed the shirt, but the tongue of the buckle

behind the neck had frayed the satin, which was resatined, that is, repolished, by a species of oil distilled

from the wig. In the days of its youth the waistcoat was not, of course, without freshness, but it was one of

those waistcoats, bought for four francs, which come from the hooks of the readymade clothing dealer. All

these things were carefully brushed, and so was the shiny and misshapen hat. They harmonized with each

other, even to the black gloves which covered the hands of this subaltern Mephistopheles, whose whole

He was an artist in evil, with whom, from the first, evil had succeeded; a man misled by these early successes

to continue the plotting of infamous deeds within the lines of strict legality. Becoming the head of a

printingoffice by betraying his master [see "Lost Illusions"], he had afterwards been condemned to

imprisonment as editor of a liberal newspaper. In the provinces, under the Restoration, he became the bete

noire of the government, and was called "that unfortunate Cerizet" by some, as people spoke of "the

unfortunate Chauvet" and "the heroic Mercier." He owed to this reputation of persecuted patriotism a place as

subprefect in 1830. Six months later he was dismissed; but he insisted that he was judged without being

heard; and he made so much talk about it that, under the ministry of Casimir Perier, he became the editor of

an antirepublican newspaper in the pay of the government. He left that position to go into business, one

phase of which was the most nefarious stockcompany that ever fell into the hands of the correctional police.

Cerizet proudly accepted the severe sentence he received; declaring it to be a revengeful plot on the part of

the republicans, who, he said, would never forgive him for the hard blows he had dealt them in his journal.

He spent the time of his imprisonment in a hospital. The government by this time were ashamed of a man

whose almost infamous habits and shameful business transactions, carried on in company with a former

Cerizet, thus fallen, step by step, to the lowest rung of the social ladder, had recourse to pity in order to obtain

the place of copying clerk in Dutocq's office. In the depths of his wretchedness the man still dreamed of

revenge, and, as he had nothing to lose, he employed all means to that end. Dutocq and himself were bound

together in depravity. Cerizet was to Dutocq what the hound is the huntsman. Knowing himself the

necessities of poverty and wretchedness, he set up that business of gutter usury called, in popular parlance,

"the loan by the little week." He began this at first by help of Dutocq, who shared the profits; but, at the

present moment this man of many legal crimes, now the banker of fishwives, the moneylender of

"Well," said Cerizet as Dutocq opened his door, "Theodose has just come in; let us go to his room."

All three crossed a little room, the tiled floor of which, covered with a coating of red encaustic, shone in the

light; thence into a little salon with crimson curtains and mahogany furniture, covered with red Utrecht

velvet; the wall opposite the window being occupied by bookshelves containing a legal library. The

chimneypiece was covered with vulgar ornaments, a clock with four columns in mahogany, and candelabra

under glass shades. The study, where the three men seated themselves before a softcoal fire, was the study

of a lawyer just beginning to practise. The furniture consisted of a desk, an armchair, little curtains of green

silk at the windows, a green carpet, shelves for lawyer's boxes, and a couch, above which hung an ivory

Christ on a velvet background. The bedroom, kitchen, and rest of the apartment looked out upon the

"You must admit," cried Dutocq, "that my idea was a famous one, in laying hold of that imbecile of a

"Yes, but I'm not behindhand either," exclaimed Cerizet. "I have come now to show you a way to put the

thumbscrews on the old maid and make her spin like a teetotum. We mustn't deceive ourselves;

Mademoiselle Thuillier is the head and front of everything in this affair; if we get her on our side the town is

won. Let us say little, but that little to the point, as becomes strong men with each other. Claparon, you know,

is a fool; he'll be all his life what he always was,a cat'spaw. Just now he is lending his name to a notary in

Paris, who is concerned with a lot of contractors, and they are allnotary and masonson the point of ruin.

Claparon is going headlong into it. He never yet was bankrupt; but there's a first time for everything. He is

hidden now in my hovel in the rue des Poules, where no one will ever find him. He is desperate, and he hasn't

a penny. Now, among the five or six houses built by these contractors, which have to be sold, there's a jewel

of a house, built of freestone, in the neighborhood of the Madeleine,a frontage laced like a melon, with

beautiful carvings,but not being finished, it will have to be sold for what it will bring; certainly not more

than a hundred thousand francs. By spending twentyfive thousand francs upon it it could be let,

undoubtedly, for ten thousand. Make Mademoiselle Thuillier the proprietor of that house and you'll win her

love; she'll believe that you can put such chances in her way every year. There are two ways of getting hold

of vain people: flatter their vanity, OR threaten them; and there are also two ways of managing misers: fill

their purse, or else attack it. Now, this stroke of business, while it does good to Mademoiselle Thuillier, does

"The notary, my dear fellow! Why, he's the very one who saves us. Forced to sell his practice, and utterly

ruined besides, he reserved for himself this crumb of the cake. Believing in the honesty of that idiot Claparon,

he has asked him to find a dummy purchaser. We'll let him suppose that Mademoiselle Thuillier is a worthy

soul who allows Claparon to use her name; they'll both be fooled, Claparon and the notary too. I owe this

little trick to my friend Claparon, who left me to bear the whole weight of the trouble about his

stockcompany, in which we were tricked by Conture, and I hope you may never be in that man's skin!" he

added, infernal hatred flashing from his worn and withered eyes. "Now, I've said my say, gentlemen," he

continued, sending out his voice through his nasal holes, and taking a dramatic attitude; for once, at a

As he finished making his proposition some one rang at the outer door, and la Peyrade rose to go and open it.

"Are you sure of him? I see a sort of air about himAnd I'm a good judge of treachery."

"He is so completely in our power," said Dutocq, "that I don't trouble myself to watch; but, between

ourselves, I didn't think him as strong as he proves to be. The fact is, we thought we were putting a barb

between the legs of a man who didn't know how to ride, and the rogue is an old jockey!"

"Let him take care," growled Cerizet. "I can blow him down like a house of cards any day. As for you, papa

Dutocq, you are able to see him at work all the time; watch him carefully. Besides, I'll feel his pulse by

getting Claparon to propose to him to get rid of us; that will help us to judge him."

These words were exchanged in a low voice during the time that it took Theodose to go to the outer door and

"It is Thuillier," said Theodose. "I thought he'd come; he is in the salon. He mustn't see Cerizet's frockcoat;

"Pooh! you receive the poor in your office, don't you? That's in your role. Do you want any money?" added

Cerizet, pulling a hundred francs out of his trousers' pocket. "There it is; it won't look amiss."

"Well, goodbye," said Theodose, opening a hidden door which communicated from the study to the

bedroom. "Come in, Monsieur Thuillier," he called out to the beau of the Empire.

When he saw him safely in the study he went to let out his two associates through the bedroom and kitchen

"In six months," said Cerizet, "you'll have married Celeste and got your foot into the stirrup. You are lucky,

you are, not to have sat, like me, in the prisoners' dock. I've been there twice: once in 1825, for 'subversive

articles' which I never wrote, and the second time for receiving the profits of a jointstock company which

had slipped through my fingers! Come, let's warm this thing up! Sacapapier! Dutocq and I are sorely in

need of that twentyfive thousand francs. Good courage, old fellow!" he added, holding out his hand to

"My good fellow," he said, "be very sure that in whatever position I may find myself I shall never forget that

from which you have drawn me by putting me in the saddle here. I'm simply your bait; but you are giving me

the best part of the catch, and I should be more infamous than a galleyslave who turns policeman if I didn't

As soon as the door was closed, Cerizet peeped through the keyhole, trying to catch sight of la Peyrade's

face. But the Provencal had turned back to meet Thuillier, and his distrustful associate could not detect the

That expression was neither disgust nor annoyance, it was simply joy, appearing on a face that now seemed

freed. Theodose saw the means of success approaching him, and he flattered himself that the day would come

when he might get rid of his ignoble associates, to whom he owed everything. Poverty has unfathomable

depths, especially in Paris, slimy bottoms, from which, when a drowned man rises to the surface of the water,

he brings with him filth and impurity clinging to his clothes, or to his person. Cerizet, the once opulent friend

and protector of Theodose, was the muddy mire still clinging to the Provencal, and the former manager of the

jointstock company saw very plainly that his tool wanted to brush himself on entering a sphere where

"Well, my dear Theodose," began Thuillier, "we have hoped to see you every day this week, and every

evening we find our hopes deceived. As this is our Sunday for a dinner, my sister and my wife have sent me

"I have been so busy," said Theodose, "that I have not had two minutes to give to any one, not even to you,

"What? have you really been thinking seriously over what you said to me?" cried Thuillier, interrupting him.

"If you had not come here now for a full understanding, I shouldn't respect you as I do," replied la Peyrade,

smiling. "You have been a subdirector, and therefore you must have the remains of ambition which is

deucedly legitimate in your case! Come, now, between ourselves, when one sees a Minard, that gilded pot,

displaying himself at the Tuileries, and complimenting the king, and a Popinot about to become a minister of

State, and then look at you! a man trained to administrative work, a man with thirty years' experience, who

has seen six governments, left to plant balsams in a little garden! Heavens and earth!I am frank, my dear

Thuillier, and I'll say, honestly, that I want to advance you, because you'll draw me after you. Well, here's my

plan. We are soon to elect a member of the councilgeneral from this arrondissement; and that member must

be you. And," he added, dwelling on the word, "it WILL be you! After that, you will certainly be deputy from

the arrondissement when the Chamber is reelected, which must surely be before long. The votes that elect

you to the municipal council will stand by you in the election for deputy, trust me for that."

"You shall know in good time; but you must let me conduct this long and difficult affair; if you commit the

slightest indiscretion as to what is said, or planned, or agreed between us, I shall have to drop the whole

"Oh! you can rely on the absolute dumbness of a former subdirector; I've had secrets to keep."

"That's all very well; but these are secrets to keep from your wife and sister, and from Monsieur and Madame

"Not a muscle of my face shall reveal them," said Thuillier, assuming a stolid air.

"Very good," continued Theodose. "I shall test you. In order to make yourself eligible, you must pay taxes on

"I beg your pardon; I'm all right for the municipal council at any rate; I pay two francs ninetysix centimes."

"Yes, but the tax on property necessary for election to the chamber is five hundred francs, and there is no

time to lose in acquiring that property, because you must prove possession for one year."

"The devil!" cried Thuillier; "between now and a year hence to be taxed five hundred francs on property

"Between now and the end of July, at the latest, you must pay that tax. Well, I feel enough interest in you to

tell you the secret of an affair by which you might make from thirty to forty thousand francs a year, by

employing a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand at most. I know that in your family it is your sister

who does your business; I am far from thinking that a mistake; she has, they tell me, excellent judgment; and

you must let me begin by obtaining her goodwill and friendship, and proposing this investment to her. And

this is why: If Mademoiselle Thuillier is not induced to put faith in my plan, we shall certainly have difficulty

with her. Besides, it won't do for YOU to propose to her that she should put the investment of her money in

your name. The idea had better come from me. As to my means of getting you elected to the municipal

council, they are these: Phellion controls one quarter of the arrondissement; he and Laudigeois have lived in

it these thirty years, and they are listened to like oracles. I have a friend who controls another quarter; and the

rector of SaintJacques, who is not without influence, thanks to his virtues, disposes of certain votes. Dutocq,

in his close relation to the people, and also the justice of peace, will help me, above all, as I'm not acting for

myself; and Colleville, as secretary of the mayor's office, can certainly manage to obtain another fourth of the

"Do you think so?" said la Peyrade, in a voice of the deepest sarcasm. "Very good! then go and ask your

friend Colleville to help you, and see what he'll say. No triumph in election cases is ever brought about by the

candidate himself, but by his friends. He should never ask anything himself for himself; he must be invited to

"La Peyrade!" cried Thuillier, rising, and taking the hand of the young lawyer, "you are a very capable man."

"Ah! that, indeed! I am afraid you will think me impertinent, but remember, there is a true feeling in my heart

which offers some excuse for me; in fact, it has given me the spirit to undertake this affair. I loveand I take

"Your dear little Celeste," replied la Peyrade. "My love for her will be a pledge to you of my devotion. What

would I not do for a FATHER INLAW! This is pure selfishness; I shall be working for myself."

"Eh, my friend!" said la Peyrade, catching Thuillier round the body; "if I hadn't Flavie on my side, and if I

didn't know ALL, should I venture to be talking to you thus? But please say nothing to Flavie about this; wait

till she speaks to you. Listen to me; I'm of the metal that makes ministers; I do not seek to obtain Celeste until

I deserve her. You shall not be asked to give her to me until the day when your election as a deputy of Paris is

assured. In order to be deputy of Paris, we must get the better of Minard; and in order to crush Minard you

must keep in your own hands all your means of influence; for that reason use Celeste as a hope; we'll play

them off, these people, against each other and fool them allMadame Colleville and you and I will be

persons of importance one of these days. Don't think me mercenary. I want Celeste without a "dot," with

nothing more than her future expectations. To live in your family with you, to keep my wife in your midst,

that is my desire. You see now that I have no hidden thoughts. As for you, my dear friend, six months after

your election to the municipal council, you will have the cross of the Legion of honor, and when you are

deputy you will be made an officer of it. As for your speeches in the Chamberwell! we'll write them

together. Perhaps it would be desirable for you to write a book,a serious book on matters half moral and

philanthropic, half political; such, for instance, as charitable institutions considered from the highest

standpoint; or reforms in the pawning system, the abuses of which are really frightful. Let us fasten some

slight distinction to your name; it will help you,especially in the arrondissement. Now, I say again, trust

me, believe in me; do not think of taking me into your family until you have the ribbon in your buttonhole on

the morrow of the day when you take your seat in the Chamber. I'll do more than that, however; I'll put you in

"Ah! what a pearl she is!" exclaimed la Peyrade, raising his eyes to heaven. "I have the weakness to pray to

God for her every day. She is charming; she is exactly like youoh! nonsense; surely you needn't caution

me! Dutocq told me all. Well, I'll be with you tonight. I must go to the Phellions' now, and begin to work

our plan. You don't need me to caution you not to let it be known that you are thinking of me for Celeste; if

you do, you'll cut off my arms and legs. Therefore, silence! even to Flavie. Wait till she speaks to you herself.

Phellion shall tonight broach the matter of proposing you as candidate for the council."

"That's a very superior man; we shall always understand each other. Faith! it might be hard to do better for

Celeste. They will live with us, as in our own family, and that's a good deal! Yes, he's a fine fellow, a sound

To minds of Thuillier's calibre, a secondary consideration often assumes the importance of a principal reason.

The house to which Theodose de la Peyrade now bent his steps had been the "hoc erat in votis" of Monsieur

Phellion for twenty years; it was the house of the Phellions, just as much as Cerizet's frogged coat was the

This dwelling was stuck against the side of a large house, but only to the depth of one room (about twenty

feet or so), and terminated at each end in a sort of pavilion with one window. Its chief charm was a garden,

one hundred and eighty feet square, longer than the facade of the house by the width of a courtyard which

opened on the street, and a little clump of lindens. Beyond the second pavilion, the courtyard had, between

itself and the street, an iron railing, in the centre of which was a little gate opening in the middle.

This building, of rouge stone covered with stucco, and two storeys in height, had received a coat of

yellowwash; the blinds were painted green, and so were the shutters on the lower storey. The kitchen

occupied the groundfloor of the pavilion on the courtyard, and the cook, a stout, strong girl, protected by

two enormous dogs, performed the functions of portress. The facade, composed of five windows, and the two

pavilions, which projected nine feet, were in the style Phellion. Above the door the master of the house had

inserted a tablet of white marble, on which, in letters of gold, were read the words, "Aurea mediocritas."

Above the sundial, affixed to one panel of the facade, he had also caused to be inscribed this sapient maxim:

The former windowsills had recently been superceded by sills of red Languedoc marble, found in a marble

shop. At the bottom of the garden could be seen a colored statue, intended to lead casual observers to imagine

that a nurse was carrying a child. The groundfloor of the house contained only the salon and the

diningroom, separated from each other by the well of the staircase and the landing, which formed a sort of

antechamber. At the end of the salon, in the other pavilion, was a little study occupied by Phellion.

On the first upper floor were the rooms of the father and mother and that of the young professor. Above were

the chambers of the children and the servants; for Phellion, on consideration of his own age and that of his

wife, had set up a male domestic, aged fifteen, his son having by that time entered upon his duties of tuition.

To right, on entering the courtyard, were little offices where wood was stored, and where the former

proprietor had lodged a porter. The Phellions were no doubt awaiting the marriage of their son to allow

This property, on which the Phellions had long had their eye, cost them eighteen thousand francs in 1831.

The house was separated from the courtyard by a balustrade with a base of freestone and a coping of tiles;

this little wall, which was breasthigh, was lined with a hedge of Bengal roses, in the middle of which

opened a wooden gate opposite and leading to the large gates on the street. Those who know the cul desac

of the Feuillantines, will understand that the Phellion house, standing at right angles to the street, had a

southern exposure, and was protected on the north by the immense wall of the adjoining house, against which

the smaller structure was built. The cupola of the Pantheon and that of the ValdeGrace looked from there

like two giants, and so diminished the sky space that, walking in the garden, one felt cramped and oppressed.

Such was the retreat of the great unknown citizen who was now tasting the sweets of repose, after discharging

his duty to the nation in the ministry of finance, from which he had retired as registration clerk after a service

of thirtysix years. In 1832 he had led his battalion of the National Guard to the attack on SaintMerri, but

his neighbors had previously seen tears in his eyes at the thought of being obliged to fire on misguided

Frenchmen. The affair was already decided by the time his legion crossed the pont NotreDame at a quick

step, after debouching by the flowermarket. This noble hesitation won him the respect of his whole quarter,

but he lost the decoration of the Legion of honor; his colonel told him in a loud voice that, under arms, there

was no such thing as deliberation,a saying of LouisPhilippe to the National Guard of Metz. Nevertheless,

the bourgeois virtues of Phellion, and the great respect in which he was held in his own quarter had kept him

major of the battalion for eight years. He was now nearly sixty, and seeing the moment coming when he must

lay off the sword and stock, he hoped that the king would deign to reward his services by granting him at last

Truth compels us to say, in spite of the stain this pettiness will put upon so fine a character, that Commander

Phellion rose upon the tips of his toes at the receptions in the Tuileries, and did all that he could to put

himself forward, even eyeing the citizenking perpetually when he dined at his table. In short, he intrigued in

a dumb sort of way; but had never yet obtained a look in return from the king of his choice. The worthy man

had more than once thought, but was not yet decided, to beg Monsieur Minard to assist him in obtaining his

Phellion, a man of passive obedience, was stoical in the matter of duty, and iron in all that touched his

conscience. To complete this picture by a sketch of his person, we must add that at fiftynine years of age

Phellion had "thickened," to use a term of the bourgeois vocabulary. His face, of one monotonous tone and

pitted with the smallpox, had grown to resemble a full moon; so that his lips, formerly large, now seemed of

ordinary size. His eyes, much weakened, and protected by glasses, no longer showed the innocence of their

lightblue orbs, which in former days had often excited a smile; his white hair now gave gravity to much that

twelve years earlier had looked like silliness, and lent itself to ridicule. Time, which does such damage to

faces with refined and delicate features, only improves those which, in their youth, have been course and

massive. This was the case with Phellion. He occupied the leisure of his old age in making an abridgment of

the History of France; for Phellion was the author of several works adopted by the University.

When la Peyrade presented himself, the family were all together. Madame Barniol was just telling her mother

about one of her babies, which was slightly indisposed. They were dressed in their Sunday clothes, and were

sitting before the fireplace of the wainscoted salon on chairs bought at a bargain; and they all felt an emotion

when Genevieve, the cook and portress, announced the personage of whom they were just then speaking in

connection with Celeste, whom, we must here state, Felix Phellion loved, to the extent of going to mass to

behold her. The learned mathematician had made that effort in the morning, and the family were joking him

about it in a pleasant way, hoping in their hearts that Celeste and her parents might understand the treasure

"Alas! the Thuilliers seem to me infatuated with a very dangerous man," said Madame Phellion. "He took

Madame Colleville by the arm this morning after church, and they went together to the Luxembourg."

"There is something about that lawyer," remarked Felix Phellion, "that strikes me as sinister. He might be

"That's going too far," said old Phellion. "He is cousingermain to Tartuffe, that immortal figure cast in

bronze by our honest Moliere; for Moliere, my children, had honesty and patriotism for the basis of his

It was at that instant that Genevieve came in to say, "There's a Monsieur de la Peyrade out there, who wants

"To see me!" exclaimed Phellion. "Ask him to come in," he added, with that solemnity in little things which

gave him even now a touch of absurdity, though it always impressed his family, which accepted him as king.

Phellion, his two sons, and his wife and daughter, rose and received the circular bow made by the lawyer.

"To your importance in this arrondissement, my dear Monsieur Phellion, and to public interests," replied

"No, no, my friend," said the rigid Madame Phellion, a small woman, flat as a flounder, who retained upon

her features the grim severity with which she taught music in boardingschools for young ladies; "we will

An upright Erard piano, placed between the two windows and opposite to the fireplace, showed the constant

"Am I so unfortunate as to put you to flight?" said Theodose, smiling in a kindly way at the mother and

daughter. "You have a delightful retreat here," he continued. "You only lack a pretty daughterinlaw to pass

the rest of your days in this 'aurea mediocritas,' the wish of the Latin poet, surrounded by family joys. Your

antecedents, my dear Monsieur Phellion, ought surely to win you such rewards, for I am told that you are not

"Monsieur," said Phellion, embarrassed, "monsieur, I have only done my duty." At the word

"daughterinlaw," uttered by Theodose, Madame Barniol, who resembled her mother as much as one drop

of water is like another, looked at Madame Phellion and at Felix as if she would say, "Were we mistaken?"

The desire to talk this incident over carried all four personages into the garden, for, in March, 1840, the

"Commander," said Theodose, as soon as he was alone with Phellion, who was always flattered by that title,

"Yes, true; we are about to nominate a municipal councillor," said Phellion, interrupting him.

"And it is apropos of that candidacy that I have come to disturb your Sunday joys; but perhaps in so doing we

It would be impossible for Phellion to be more Phellion than Theodose was Phellion at that moment.

"I shall not let you say another word," replied the commander, profiting by the pause made by Theodose, who

"We have had the same idea!" exclaimed Theodose; "men of the same character agree as well as men of the

"In this case I do not believe in that phenomenon," replied Phellion. "This arrondissement had for its

representative in the municipal council the most virtuous of men, as he was the noblest of magistrates. I

allude to the late Monsieur Popinot, the deceased judge of the Royal courts. When the question of replacing

him came up, his nephew, the heir to his benevolence, did not reside in this quarter. He has since, however,

purchased, and now occupies, the house where his uncle lived in the rue de la MontagneSainteGenevieve;

he is the physician of the Ecole Polytechnique and that of our hospitals; he does honor to this quarter; for

these reasons, and to pay homage in the person of the nephew to the memory of the uncle, we have decided to

nominate Doctor Horace Bianchon, member of the Academy of Sciences, as you are aware, and one of the

most distinguished young men in the illustrious faculty of Paris. A man is not great in our eyes solely because

he is celebrated; to my mind the late Councillor Popinot was almost another Saint Vincent de Paul."

"But a doctor is not an administrator," replied Theodose; "and, besides, I have come to ask your vote for a

man to whom your dearest interests require that you should sacrifice a predilection, which, after all, is quite

"Monsieur!" cried Phellion, rising and striking an attitude like that of Lafon in "Le Glorieux," "Do you

despise me sufficiently to suppose that my personal interests could ever influence my political conscience?

When a matter concerns the public welfare, I am a citizen nothing more, and nothing less."

Theodose smiled to himself at the thought of the battle which was now to take place between the father and

"Do not bind yourself to your present ideas, I entreat you," he said, "for this matter concerns the happiness of

"What do you mean by those words?" asked Phellion, stopping short in the middle of the salon and posing,

with his hand thrust through the bosom of his waistcoat from right to left, in the wellknown attitude of

"I have come in behalf of our mutual friend, the worthy and excellent Monsieur Thuillier, whose influence on

the destiny of that beautiful Celeste Colleville must be well known to you. If, as I think, your son, whose

merits are incontestable, and of whom both families may well be proud, if, I say, he is courting Celeste with a

view to a marriage in which all expediencies may be combined, you cannot do more to promote that end than

to obtain Thuillier's eternal gratitude by proposing your worthy friend to the suffrages of your

fellowcitizens. As for me, though I have lately come into the quarter, I can, thanks to the influence I enjoy

through certain legal benefits done to the poor, materially advance his interests. I might, perhaps, have put

myself forward for this position; but serving the poor brings in but little money; and, besides, the modesty of

my life is out of keeping with such distinctions. I have devoted myself, monsieur, to the service of the weak,

like the late Councillor Popinot,a sublime man, as you justly remarked. If I had not already chosen a career

which is in some sort monastic, and precludes all idea of marriage and public office, my taste, my second

vocation, would lead me to the service of God, to the Church. I do not trumpet what I do, like the

philanthropists; I do not write about it; I simply act; I am pledged to Christian charity. The ambition of our

friend Thuillier becoming known to me, I have wished to contribute to the happiness of two young people

who seem to me made for each other, by suggesting to you the means of winning the rather cold heart of

Phellion was bewildered by this tirade, admirably delivered; he was dazzled, attracted; but he remained

Phellion; he walked up to the lawyer and held out his hand, which la Peyrade took.

"Monsieur," said the commander, with emotion, "I have misjudged you. What you have done me the honor to

confide to me will die THERE," laying his hand on his heart. "You are one of the men of whom we have too

few,men who console us for many evils inherent in our social state. Righteousness is seen so seldom that

our too feeble natures distrust appearances. You have in me a friend, if you will allow me the honor of

assuming that title. But you must learn to know me, monsieur. I should lose my own esteem if I nominated

Thuillier. No, my son shall never own his happiness to an evil action on his father's part. I shall not change

my candidate because my son's interests demand it. That is civic virtue, monsieur."

La Peyrade pulled out his handkerchief and rubbed it in his eye so that it drew a tear, as he said, holding out

"Ah! monsieur, how sublime a struggle between public and private duty! Had I come here only to see this

sight, my visit would not have been wasted. You cannot do otherwise! In your place, I should do the same.

You are that noblest thing that God has madea righteous man! a citizen of the JeanJacques type! With

many such citizens, oh France! my country! what mightest thou become! It is I, monsieur, who solicit,

"What can be happening?" said Madame Phellion, watching the scene through the window. "Do see your

"My dear Felix," said the old man, pointing to la Peyrade, who was bowing to Madame Phellion, "be very

The lawyer walked for about five minutes with Madame Barniol and Madame Phellion beneath the leafless

lindens, and gave them (in consequence of the embarrassing circumstances created by Phellion's political

obstinacy) a piece of advice, the effects of which were to bear fruit that evening, while its first result was to

make both ladies admire his talents, his frankness, and his inappreciable good qualities. When the lawyer

departed the whole family conducted him to the street gate, and all eyes followed him until he had turned the

corner of the rue du FaubourgSaintJacques. Madame Phellion then took the arm of her husband to return to

"Hey! my friend! what does this mean? You, such a good father, how can you, from excessive delicacy, stand

"My dear," replied Phellion, "the great men of antiquity, Brutus and others, were never fathers when called

upon to be citizens. The bourgeoisie has, even more than the aristocracy whose place it has been called upon

to take, the obligations of the highest virtues. Monsieur de SaintHilaire did not think of his lost arm in

presence of the dead Turenne. We must give proof of our worthiness; let us give it at every state of the social

hierarchy. Shall I instruct my family in the highest civic principles only to ignore them myself at the moment

for applying them? No, my dear; weep, if you must, today, but tomorrow you will respect me," he added,

These noble words were said on the sill of the door, above which was written, "Aurea mediocritas."

"I ought to have put, 'et digna,'" added Phellion, pointing to the tablet, "but those two words would imply

"Father," said MarieTheodore Phellion, the future engineer of "ponts et chaussees," when the family were

once more seated in the salon, "it seems to me that there is nothing dishonorable in changing one's

determination about a choice which is of no real consequence to public welfare."

"No consequence, my son!" cried Phellion. "Between ourselves I will say, and Felix shares my opinion,

Monsieur Thuillier is absolutely without capacity; he knows nothing. Monsieur Horace Bianchon is an able

man; he will obtain a thousand things for our arrondissement, and Thuillier will obtain none! Remember this,

my son; to change a good determination for a bad one from motives of selfinterest is one of those infamous

actions which escape the control of men but are punished by God. I am, or I think I am, void of all blame

before my conscience, and I owe it to you, my children, to leave my memory unstained among you. Nothing,

"Oh, my good father!" cried the little Barniol woman, flinging herself on a cushion at Phellion's knees, "don't

ride your high horse! There are many fools and idiots in the municipal council, and France gets along all the

same. That old Thuillier will adopt the opinions of those about him. Do reflect that Celeste will probably

"She might have millions," said Phellion, "and I might see them there at my feet before I would propose

Thuillier, when I owe to the memory of the best of men to nominate, if possible, Horace Bianchon, his

nephew. From the heaven above us Popinot is contemplating and applauding me!" cried Phellion, with

exaltation. "It is by such considerations as you suggest that France is being lowered, and the bourgeoisie are

"My father is right," said Felix, coming out of a deep reverie. "He deserves our respect and love; as he has

throughout the whole course of his modest and honored life. I would not owe my happiness either to remorse

in his noble soul, or to a low political bargain. I love Celeste as I love my own family; but, above all that, I

place my father's honor, and since this question is a matter of conscience with him it must not be spoken of

Phellion, with his eyes full of tears, went up to his eldest son and took him in his arms, saying, "My son! my

"All that is nonsense," whispered Madame Phellion in Madame Barniol's ear. "Come and dress me; I shall

make an end of this; I know your father; he has put his foot down now. To carry out the plan that pious young

man, Theodose, suggested, I want your help; hold yourself ready to give it, my daughter."

"An invitation for dinner today, for Madame Phellion and Felix and myself, at the Thuilliers'," he said.

The magnificent and surprising idea of Thuillier's municipal advancement, put forth by the "advocate of the

poor" was not less upsetting in the Thuillier household than it was in the Phellion salon. Jerome Thuillier,

without actually confiding anything to his sister, for he made it a point of honor to obey his Mephistopheles,

"My dearest girl" (he always touched her heart with those caressing words), "we shall have some bigwigs at

dinner today. I'm going to ask the Minards; therefore take pains about your dinner. I have written to

Monsieur and Madame Phellion; it is rather late; but there's no need of ceremony with them. As for the

Minards, I must throw a little dust in their eyes; I have a particular need of them."

"Four Minards, three Phellions, four Collevilles, and ourselves; that makes thirteen"

"La Peyrade, fourteen; and it is worth while to invite Dutocq; he may be useful to us. I'll go up and see him."

"What are you scheming?" cried his sister. "Fifteen to dinner! There's forty francs, at the very least, waltzing

"You won't regret them, my dearest. I want you to be particularly agreeable to our young friend, la Peyrade.

There's a friend, indeed! you'll soon have proofs of that! If you love me, cosset him well."

"Proofs, indeed! yes, I'll look out for proofs," she said. "I'm not to be caught with fine words, not I! He is an

amiable fellow; but before I take him into my heart I shall study him a little closer."

After inviting Dutocq, Thuillier, having bedizened himself, went to the hotel Minard, rue des

MaconsSorbonne, to capture the stout Zelie, and gloss over the shortness of the invitation.

Minard had purchased one of those large and sumptuous habitations which the old religious orders built about

the Sorbonne, and as Thuillier mounted the broad stone steps with an iron balustrade, that proved how arts of

the second class flourished under Louis XIII., he envied both the mansion and its occupant,the mayor.

This vast building, standing between a courtyard and garden, is noticeable as a specimen of the style, both

noble and elegant, of the reign of Louis XIII., coming singularly, as it did, between the bad taste of the

expiring renaissance and the heavy grandeur of Louis XIV., at its dawn. This transition period is shown in

many public buildings. The massive scrollwork of several facadesthat of the Sorbonne, for

instance,and columns rectified according to the rules of Grecian art, were beginning to appear in this

A grocer, a lucky adulterator, now took the place of the former ecclesiastical governor of an institution called

in former times L'Economat; an establishment connected with the general agency of the old French clergy,

and founded by the longsighted genius of Richelieu. Thuillier's name opened for him the doors of the salon,

where sat enthroned in velvet and gold, amid the most magnificent "Chineseries," the poor woman who

weighed with all her avoirdupois on the hearts and minds of princes and princesses at the "popular balls" of

"Isn't she a good subject for 'La Caricature'?" said a socalled lady of the bedchamber to a duchess, who

could hardly help laughing at the aspect of Zelie, glittering with diamonds, red as a poppy, squeezed into a

"Will you pardon me, fair lady," began Thuillier, twisting his body, and pausing in pose number two of his

imperial repertory, "for having allowed this invitation to remain in my desk, thinking, all the while, that it

Zelie examined her husband's face as he approached them to receive Thuillier; then she said:

"We intended to drive into the country and dine at some chance restaurant; but we'll give up that idea and all

the more readily because, in my opinion, it is getting devilishly vulgar to drive out of Paris on Sundays."

"We will have a little dance to the piano for the young people, if enough come, as I hope they will. I have

sent a line to Phellion, whose wife is intimate with Madame Pron, the successor"

"No," said Thuillier, "it ought to be success'ress; just as we say may'ress, dropping the O, you know."

"Heavens! no," replied Thuillier; "you would get me finely scolded by my sister. No, it is only a family party.

Under the Empire, madame, we all devoted ourselves to dancing. At that great epoch of our national life they

thought as much of a fine dancer as they did of a good soldier. Nowadays the country is so matteroffact."

"Well, we won't talk politics," said the mayor, smiling. "The King is grand; he is very able. I have a deep

admiration for my own time, and for the institutions which we have given to ourselves. The King, you may

be sure, knows very well what he is doing by the development of industries. He is struggling hand to hand

against England; and we are doing him more harm during this fruitful peace than all the wars of the Empire

"What a deputy Minard would make!" cried Zelie, naively. "He practises speechifying at home. You'll help

"Will that little Vinet be there?" asked Minard; "he comes, no doubt, for Celeste."

"Then he may go into mourning," replied Thuillier. "Brigitte won't hear of him."

"To think that we must hobnob with such common people, all for the sake of our son!" cried Zelie, when

Thuillier was safely down the staircase, to which the mayor had accompanied him.

"Ha! he thinks to be deputy!" thought Thuillier, as he walked away. "These grocers! nothing satisfies them.

Heavens! what would Napoleon say if he could see the government in the hands of such people! I'm a trained

administrator, at any rate. What a competitor, to be sure! I wonder what la Peyrade will say?"

The ambitious exbeau now went to invite the whole Laudigeois family for the evening, after which he went

to the Collevilles', to make sure that Celeste should wear a becoming gown. He found Flavie rather pensive.

"My old and ever young friend," he said, taking her round the waist, for she was alone in her little salon, "I

won't have any secret from you. A great affair is in the wind for me. I can't tell you more than that, but I can

"He holds my future in his hands. Besides, he's a man of genius. I know what that is. He's got this sort of

thing,"and Thuillier made the gesture of a dentist pulling out a back tooth. "We must bind him to us,

Flavie. But, above all, don't let him see his power. As for me, I shall just give and take with him."

For these reasons she dressed her hair with marabouts, put on her prettiest gown of gray and pink, which

allowed her fine shoulders to be seen beneath a pelerine of black lace, and took care to keep Celeste in a little

silk frock made with a yoke and a large plaited collarette, telling her to dress her hair plainly, a la Berthe.

At halfpast four o'clock Theodose was at his post. He had put on his vacant, halfservile manner and soft

"My friend," he said, "I don't doubt your triumph, but I feel the necessity of again warning you to be

absolutely silent. If you are questioned about anything, especially about Celeste, make evasive answers which

will keep your questioners in suspense. You must have learned how to do that in a government office."

"You'll see what a fine dessert I have prepared for you. But please be modest. There come the Minards; let

After the first salutations, la Peyrade was careful to keep close to the mayor, and presently at an opportune

"Monsieur le maire, a man of your political importance doesn't come to bore himself in a house of this kind

without an object. I don't want to fathom your motiveswhich, indeed, I have no right to doand my part

in this world is certainly not to mingle with earthly powers; but please pardon my apparent presumption, and

deign to listen to a piece of advice which I shall venture to give you. If I do you a service today you are in a

position to return it to me tomorrow; therefore, in case I should be so fortunate as to do you a good turn, I

am really only obeying the law of selfinterest. Our friend Thuillier is in despair at being a nobody; he has

taken it into his head that he wants to become a personage in this arrondissement"

"Oh! nothing very exalted; he wants to be elected to the municipal council. Now, I know that Phellion, seeing

the influence such a service would have on his family interests, intends to propose your poor friend as

candidate. Well, perhaps you might think it wise, in your own interests, to be beforehand with him. Thuillier's

nomination could only be favorable for youI mean agreeable; and he'll fill his place in the council very

well; there are some there who are not as strong as he. Besides, owing to his place to your support, he will see

"My dear fellow, I thank you very much," replied Minard. "You are doing me a service I cannot sufficiently

"That I don't like those Phellions," said la Peyrade, taking advantage of a slight hesitation on the part of the

mayor, who feared to express an idea in which the lawyer might see contempt. "I hate people who make

"You know them well," said Minard; "they are sycophants. That man's whole life for the last ten years is

explained by this bit of red ribbon," added the mayor, pointing to his own buttonhole.

"Take care!" said the lawyer, "his son is in love with Celeste, and he's fairly in the heart of the family."

"Oh!" said Theodose, with a start, "Mademoiselle Brigitte was saying the other day that she wanted at least as

much as that in Celeste's suitor. Moreover, six months hence you'll probably hear that Thuillier has a property

"The devil! well, I thought as much. Yes, certainly, he shall be made a member of the municipal council."

"In any case, don't say anything about me to him," said the advocate of the poor, who now hastened away to

speak to Madame Phellion. "Well, my fair lady," he said, when he reached her, "have you succeeded?"

"I waited till four o'clock, and then that worthy and excellent man would not let me finish what I had to say.

He is much to busy to accept such an office, and he sent a letter which Monsieur Phellion has read, saying

that he, Doctor Bianchon, thanked him for his good intentions, and assured him that his own candidate was

Monsieur Thuillier. He said that he should use all his influence in his favor, and begged my husband to do the

"'I have done my duty,' he said. 'I have not been false to my conscience, and now I am all for Thuillier.'"

"Well, then, the thing is settled," said la Peyrade. "Ignore my visit, and take all the credit of the idea to

Then he went to Madame Colleville, composing himself in the attitude and manner of the deepest respect.

"Madame," he said, "have the goodness to send out to me here that kindly papa Colleville. A surprise is to be

given to Monsieur Thuillier, and I want Monsieur Colleville to be in the secret."

While la Peyrade played the part of man of the world with Colleville, and allowed himself various witty

sarcasms when explaining to him Thuillier's candidacy, telling him he ought to support it, if only to exhibit

his incapacity, Flavie was listening in the salon to the following conversation, which bewildered her for the

"I should like to know what Monsieur Colleville and Monsieur de la Peyrade can be saying to each other to

make them laugh like that," said Madame Thuillier, foolishly, looking out of the window.

"A lot of improper things, as men always do when they talk together," replied Mademoiselle Thuillier, who

"No, they are incapable of that," said Phellion, gravely. "Monsieur de la Peyrade is one of the most virtuous

young men I have ever met. People know what I think of Felix; well, I put the two on the same line; indeed, I

"You are right; he is a man of great merit, who is sure to succeed," said Minard. "As for me, my

"His mother, if he has the happiness to still possess her, must be proud of him," remarked Madame Thuillier,

"He is a real treasure for us," said Thuillier. "If you only knew how modest he is! He doesn't do himself

"I can answer for one thing," added Dutocq; "no young man ever maintained a nobler attitude in poverty; he

"Any one could safely trust both secrets and fortune to him," said Thuillier; "and in these days that is the

Just then Colleville and la Peyrade returned from the garden the very best friends in the world.

"Messieurs," said Brigitte, "the soup and the King must never be kept waiting; give your hand to the ladies."

Five minutes after this little pleasantry (issuing from the lodge of her father the porter) Brigitte had the

satisfaction of seeing her table surrounded by the principal personages of this drama; the rest, with the one

The portrait of the former maker of canvas moneybags would be incomplete if we omitted to give a

description of one of her best dinners. The physiognomy of the bourgeois cook of 1840 is, moreover, one of

those details essentially necessary to a history of manners and customs, and clever housewives may find some

lessons in it. A woman doesn't make empty bags for twenty years without looking out for the means to fill a

few of them. Now Brigitte had one peculiar characteristic. She united the economy to which she owed her

fortune with a full understanding of necessary expenses. Her relative prodigality, when it concerned her

brother or Celeste, was the antipodes of avarice. In fact, she often bemoaned herself that she couldn't be

miserly. At her last dinner she had related how, after struggling ten minute and enduring martyrdom, she had

ended by giving ten francs to a poor workwoman whom she knew, positively, had been without food for two

The soup was a rather pale bouillon; for, even on an occasion like this, the cook had been enjoined to make a

great deal of bouillon out of the beef supplied. Then, as the said beef was to feed the family on the next day

and the day after that, the less juice it expended in the bouillon, the more substantial were the subsequent

dinners. The beef, little cooked, was always taken away at the following speech from Brigitte, uttered as soon

"I think it is rather tough; send it away, Thuillier, nobody will eat it; we have other things."

The soup was, in fact, flanked by four viands mounted on old hotwater chafingdishes, with the plating

worn off. At this particular dinner (afterwards called that of the candidacy) the first course consisted of a pair

of ducks with olives, opposite to which was a large pie with forcemeat balls, while a dish of eels "a la tartare"

corresponded in like manner with a fricandeau on chicory. The second course had for its central dish a most

dignified goose stuffed with chestnuts, a salad of vegetables garnished with rounds of beetroot opposite to

custards in cups, while lower down a dish of turnips "au sucre" faced a timbale of macaroni. This gala dinner

of the concierge type cost, at the utmost, twenty francs, and the remains of the feast provided the household

The table was lighted by two hideous candlesticks of plated silver with four branches each, in which shone

eight of those thrifty wax candles that go by the name of Aurora. The linen was dazzling in whiteness, and

the silver, with beaded edges, was the fruit, evidently, of some purchase made during the Revolution by

Thuillier's father. Thus the fare and the service were in keeping with the house, the diningroom, and the

Thuilliers themselves, who could never, under any circumstances, get themselves above this style of living.

The Minards, Collevilles, and la Peyrade exchanged now and then a smile which betrayed their mutually

satirical but repressed thoughts. La Peyrade, seated beside Flavie, whispered in her ear:

"You must admit that they ought to be taught how to live. But those Minards are no better in their way. What

cupidity! they've come here solely after Celeste. Your daughter will be lost to you if you let them have her.

These parvenus have all the vices of the great lords of other days without their elegance. Minard's son, who

has twelve thousand francs a year of his own, could very well find a wife elsewhere, instead of pushing his

speculating rake in here. What fun it would be to play upon those people as one would on a bassviol or a

While the dishes of the second course were being removed, Minard, afraid that Phellion would precede him,

"My dear Thuillier, in accepting your dinner, I did so for the purpose of making an important communication,

which does you so much honor that all here present ought to be made participants in it."

"Have you obtained the cross for me?" he cried, on receiving a glance from Theodose, and wishing to prove

"You will doubtless receive it ere long," replied the mayor. "But the matter now relates to something better

than that. The cross is a favor due to the good opinion of a minister, whereas the present question concerns an

election due to the consent of your fellow citizens. In a word, a sufficiently large number of electors in your

arrondissement have cast their eyes upon you, and wish to honor you with their confidence by making you

the representative of this arrondissement in the municipal council of Paris; which, as everybody knows, is the

"Monsieur le maire has forestalled me," he said in an agitated voice, "but it is so flattering for our friend to be

the object of eagerness on the part of all good citizens, and to obtain the public vote of high and low, that I

cannot complain of being obliged to come second only; therefore, all honor to the initiatory authority!" (Here

he bowed respectfully to Minard.) "Yes, Monsieur Thuillier, many electors think of giving you their votes in

that portion of the arrondissement where I keep my humble penates; and you have the special advantage of

being suggested to their minds by a distinguished man." (Sensation.) "By a man in whose person we desired

to honor one of the most virtuous inhabitants of the arrondissement, who for twenty years, I may say, was the

father of it. I allude to the late Monsieur Popinot, counsellor, during his lifetime, to the Royal court, and our

delegate in the municipal council of Paris. But his nephew, of whom I speak, Doctor Bianchon, one of our

glories, has, in view of his absorbing duties, declined the responsibility with which we sought to invest him.

While thanking us for our compliment he hastake note of thisindicated for our suffrages the candidate

of Monsieur le maire as being, in his opinion, capable, owing to the position he formerly occupied, of

At this moment the guests were sincerely touched by the sight presented of old Mademoiselle Brigitte and

Madame Thuillier. Brigitte, pale as though she were fainting, was letting the slow tears run, unheeded, down

her cheeks, tears of deepest joy; while Madame Thuillier sat, as if struck by lightning, with her eyes fixed.

Suddenly the old maid darted into the kitchen, crying out to Josephine the cook:

"My friends," said Thuillier, in a shaking voice, "this is the finest moment of my life, finer than even the day

of my election, should I consent to allow myself to be presented to the suffrages of my fellow citizens"

("You must! you must!"); "for I feel myself much worn down by thirty years of public service, and, as you

may well believe, a man of honor has need to consult his strength and his capacities before he takes upon

"I expected nothing less of you, Monsieur Thuillier," cried Phellion. "Pardon me; this is the first time in my

"Accept! accept!" cried Zelie. "Bless my soul! what we want are men like you to govern us."

"Resign yourself, my chief!" cried Dutocq, and, "Long live the future municipal councillor! but we haven't

"Come, come!" cried Colleville. "A man who has done thirty years in the galleys of the ministry of finance is

"You are much too modest," said the younger Minard; "your capacity is well known to us; it remains a

"The King will be pleased with our choice; I can assure you of that," said Minard, pompously.

"Gentlemen," said la Peyrade, "will you permit a recent dweller in the faubourg SaintJacques to make one

The consciousness that everybody had of the sterling merits of the advocate of the poor produced the deepest

"The influence of Monsieur le maire of an adjoining arrondissement, which is immense in ours where he has

left such excellent memories; that of Monsieur Phellion, the oracleyes, let the truth be spoken," he

exclaimed, noticing a gesture made by Phellion"the ORACLE of his battalion; the influence, no less

powerful, which Monsieur Colleville owes to the frank heartiness of his manner, and to his urbanity; that of

Monsieur Dutocq, the clerk of the justice court, which will not be less efficacious, I am sure; and the poor

efforts which I can offer in my humble sphere of activity,are pledges of success, but they are not success

itself. To obtain a rapid triumph we should pledge ourselves, now and here, to keep the deepest secrecy on

the manifestation of sentiments which has just taken place. Otherwise, we should excite, without knowing or

willing it, envy and all the other secondary passions, which would create for us later various obstacles to

overcome. The political meaning of the new social organization, its very basis, its token, and the guarantee

for its continuance, are in a certain sharing of the governing power with the middle classes, classes who are

the true strength of modern societies, the centre of morality, of all good sentiments and intelligent work. But

we cannot conceal from ourselves that the principle of election, extended now to almost every function, has

brought the interests of ambition, and the passion for being SOMETHING, excuse the word, into social

depths where they ought never to have penetrated. Some see good in this; others see evil; it is not my place to

judge between them in presence of minds before whose eminence I bow. I content myself by simply

suggesting this question in order to show the dangers which the banner of our friend must meet. See for

yourselves! the decease of our late honorable representative in the municipal council dates back scarcely one

week, and already the arrondissement is being canvassed by inferior ambitions. Such men put themselves

forward to be seen at any price. The writ of convocation will, probably, not take effect for a month to come.

Between now and then, imagine the intrigues! I entreat you not to expose our friend Thuillier to the blows of

his competitors; let us not deliver him over to public discussion, that modern harpy which is but the trumpet

of envy and calumny, the pretext seized by malevolence to belittle all that is great, soil all that is immaculate

and dishonor whatever is sacred. Let us, rather, do as the Third Party is now doing in the Chamber,keep

"Unanimously adopted!" cried Colleville. "Messieurs, we are men of honor; it suffices to understand each

At this moment, Mademoiselle Thuillier reappeared, followed by her two servants; the key of the cellar was

hanging from her belt, and three bottles of champagne, three of hermitage, and one bottle of malaga were

placed upon the table. She herself was carrying, with almost respectful care, a smaller bottle, like a fairy

Carabosse, which she placed before her. In the midst of the hilarity caused by this abundance of excellent

thingsa fruit of gratitude, which the poor spinster in the delirium of her joy poured out with a profusion

which put to shame the sparing hospitality of her usual fortnightly dinners numerous dessert dishes made

their appearance: mounds of almonds, raisins, figs, and nuts (popularly known as the "four beggars"),

pyramids of oranges, confections, crystallized fruits, brought from the hidden depths of her cupboards, which

"Celeste, they will bring you a bottle of brandy which my father obtained in 1802; make an orangesalad!"

cried Brigitte to her sister inlaw. "Monsieur Phellion, open the champagne; that bottle is for you three.

Monsieur Dutocq, take this one. Monsieur Colleville, you know how to pop corks!"

The two maids distributed champagne glasses, also claret glasses, and wine glasses. Josephine also brought

"The year of the comet!" cried Thuillier, laughing, "Messieurs, you have turned my sister's head."

"And this evening you shall have punch and cakes," she said. "I have sent to the chemists for some tea.

Heavens! if I had only known the affair concerned an election," she cried, looking at her sisterin law, "I'd

"The carts are unloading!" cried Madame Thuillier, as "marrons glaces" and "meringues" were placed upon

Mademoiselle Thuillier's face was blazing. She was really superb to behold. Never did sisterly love assume

The glasses were filled. The guests all looked at one another, evidently expecting a toast, whereupon la

They all rose, clinked glasses, and cried with one voice, "Mademoiselle Brigitte!" so much enthusiasm did

"Messieurs," said Phellion, reading from a paper written in pencil, "To work and its splendors, in the person

of our former comrade, now become one of the mayors of Paris,to Monsieur Minard and his wife!"

"Messieurs, To the King and the royal family! I add nothing; the toast says all."

"To Woman!" he said; "that enchanting sex to whom we owe our happiness,not to speak of our mothers,

This toast excited general hilarity, and Colleville, already somewhat gay, exclaimed:

"Messieurs, our institutions! from which come the strength and grandeur of dynastic France!"

The bottles disappeared amid a chorus of admiration as to the marvellous goodness and delicacy of their

The good girl had noticed the dull, bewildered look of her godmother, neglected and forgotten,she, the

mistress of that house, wearing almost the expression of a dog that is doubtful which master to obey, looking

from the face of her terrible sisterinlaw to that of Thuillier, consulting each countenance, and oblivious of

herself; but joy on the face of that poor helot, accustomed to be nothing, to repress her ideas, her feelings, had

the effect of a pale wintry sun behind a mist; it barely lighted her faded, flabby flesh. The gauze cap trimmed

with dingy flowers, the hair illdressed, the gloomy brown gown, with no ornament but a thick gold

chainall, combined with the expression of her countenance, stimulated the affection of the young Celeste,

whoalone in the worldknew the value of that woman condemned to silence but aware of all about her,

suffering from all yet consoling herself in God and in the girl who now was watching her.

"Yes, let the dear child give us her little toast," said la Peyrade to Madame Colleville.

"Go on, my daughter," cried Colleville; "here's the hermitage still to be drunkand it's hoary with age," he

"To my kind godmother!" said the girl, lowering her glass respectfully before Madame Thuillier, and holding

The poor woman, startled, looked through a veil of tears first at her husband, and then at Brigitte; but her

position in the family was so well known, and the homage paid by innocence to weakness had something so

beautiful about it, that the emotion was general; the men all rose and bowed to Madame Thuillier.

"Ah! Celeste, I would I had a kingdom to lay at your feet," murmured Felix Phellion.

"Oh! the charming child!" cried Mademoiselle Thuillier, rising, and going round to kiss her sisterinlaw.

"My turn now!" said Colleville, posing like an athlete. "Now listen: To friendship! Empty your glasses; refill

your glasses. Good! To the fine arts,the flower of social life! Empty your glasses; refill your glasses. To

"What is that little bottle you have there?" said Dutocq to Mademoiselle Thuillier.

"That," she said, "is one of my three bottles of Madame Amphoux' liqueur; the second is for the day of

Celeste's marriage; the third for the day on which her first child is baptized."

The dinner ended with a toast, offered by Thuillier, but suggested to him by Theodose at the moment when

"Colleville, messieurs, has drunk to FRIENDSHIP. I now drink, in this most generous wine, To my friends!"

An hurrah, full of heartiness, greeted that fine sentiment, but Dutocq remarked aside to Theodose:

"Ah! if we could only make such wine as that!" cried Zelie, making her glass ring by the way in which she

Zelie had now reached her highest point of incandescence, and was really alarming.

"Don't you think, sister," said Brigitte to Madame Thuillier, "that we had better take coffee in the salon?"

"Ah! you are a great wizard," said Flavie Colleville, accepting la Peyrade's arm to return to the salon.

"And yet I care only to bewitch you," he answered. "I think you more enchanting than ever this evening."

"Thuillier," she said, to evade the subject, "Thuillier made to think himself a political character! oh! oh!"

"But, my dear Flavie, half the absurdities of life are the result of such conspiracies; and men are not alone in

these deceptions. In how many families one sees the husband, children, and friends persuading a silly mother

that she is a woman of sense, or an old woman of fifty that she is young and beautiful. Hence, inconceivable

contrarieties for those who go about the world with their eyes shut. One man owes his illsavored conceit to

the flattery of a mistress; another owes his versifying vanity to those who are paid to call him a great poet.

Every family has its great man; and the result is, as we see it in the Chamber, general obscurity of the lights

of France. Well, men of real mind are laughing to themselves about it, that's all. You are the mind and the

beauty of this little circle of the petty bourgeoisie; it is this superiority which led me in the first instance to

worship you. I have since longed to drag you out of it; for I love you sincerely more in friendship than in

love; though a great deal of love is gliding into it," he added, pressing her to his heart under cover of the

"Madame Phellion will play the piano," cried Colleville. "We must all dance tonightbottles and Brigitte's

He gave his empty coffeecup to his wife, smiling to see her so friendly with la Peyrade.

"What have you said and done to my husband?" asked Flavie, when Colleville had left them.

"Ah! you don't love me," she replied, looking at him with the coquettish slyness of a woman who is not quite

"Well, since you tell me yours," he said, letting himself go to the lively impulse of Provencal gaiety, always

so charming and apparently so natural, "I will not conceal from you an anxiety in my heart."

"Colleville, poor man, has seen in me the artist repressed by all these bourgeois; silent before them because I

feel misjudged, misunderstood, and repelled by them. He has felt the heat of the sacred fire that consumes

me. Yes I am," he continued, in a tone of conviction, "an artist in words after the manner of Berryer; I could

make juries weep, by weeping myself, for I'm as nervous as a woman. Your husband, who detests the

bourgeoisie, began to tease me about them. At first we laughed; then, in becoming serious, he found out that I

was as strong as he. I told him of the plan concocted to make SOMETHING of Thuillier, and I showed him

all the good he could get himself out of a political puppet. 'If it were only,' I said to him, 'to make yourself

Monsieur DE Colleville, and to put your charming wife where I should like to see her, as the wife of a

receiver general, or deputy. To make yourself all that you and she ought to be, you have only to go and live

a few years in the Upper or Lower Alps, in some hole of a town where everybody will like you, and your

wife will seduce everybody; and this,' I added, 'you cannot fail to obtain, especially if you give your dear

Celeste to some man who can influence the Chamber.' Good reasons, stated in jest, have the merit of

penetrating deeper into some minds than if they were given soberly. So Colleville and I became the best

friends in the world. Didn't you hear him say to me at table, 'Rascal! you have stolen my speech'? Tonight

we shall be theeing and thouing each other. I intend to have a choice little supperparty soon, where artists,

tied to the proprieties at home, always compromise themselves. I'll invite him, and that will make us as

solidly good friends as he is with Thuillier. There, my dear adorned one, is what a profound sentiment gives a

man the courage to produce. Colleville must adopt me; so that I may visit your house by his invitation. But

what couldn't you make me do? lick lepers, swallow live toads, seduce Brigitteyes, if you say so, I'll

"But this evening you are reassured. Yes," he added, "no harm will ever happen to you through me."

"Why, no! the smallest as well as the greatest of my efforts are merely the reflections of the flame which you

have kindled. I intend to be your soninlaw that we may never part. My wife, heavens! what could she be to

me but a machine for childbearing? whereas the divinity, the sublime being will beyou," he whispered in

"No, I am something of a poet, like all the men of my region. Come, be my Josephine! I'll go and see you

tomorrow. I have the most ardent desire to see where you live and how you live, the furniture you use, the

color of your stuffs, the arrangement of all things about you. I long to see the pearl in its shell."

Flavie, to whom in all her life love had never taken the language of romance, sat still, but happy, her heart

palpitating, and saying to herself that it was very difficult to escape such influence. For the first time

Theodose had appeared in a pair of new trousers, with gray silk stockings and pumps, a waistcoat of black

silk, and a cravat of black satin on the knot of which shone a plain gold pin selected with taste. He wore also

a new coat in the last fashion, and yellow gloves, relieved by white shirtcuffs; he was the only man who had

Madame Pron, nee Barniol, arrived with two schoolgirls, aged seventeen, confided to her maternal care by

families residing in Martinique. Monsieur Pron, professor of rhetoric in a college presided over by priests,

belonged to the Phellion class; but, instead of expanding on the surface in phrases and demonstrations, and

posing as an example, he was dry and sententious. Monsieur and Madame Pron, the flowers of the Phellion

salon, received every Monday. Though a professor, the little man danced. He enjoyed great influence in the

quarter enclosed by the boulevard du MontParnasse, the Luxembourg, and the rue de Sevres. Therefore, as

soon as Phellion saw his friend, he took him by the arm into a corner to inform him of the Thuillier

candidacy. After ten minutes' consultation they both went to find Thuillier, and the recess of a window,

opposite to that where Flavie still sat absorbed in her reflections, no doubt, heard a "trio" worthy, in its way,

"Do you see," said Theodose, returning to Flavie, "the pure and honest Phellion intriguing over there? Give a

personal reason to a virtuous man and he'll paddle in the slimiest puddle; he is hooking that little Pron, and

Pron is taking it all in, solely to get your little Celeste for Felix Phellion. Separate them, and in ten minutes

they'll get together again, and that young Minard will be growling round them like an angry bulldog."

Felix, still under the strong emotion imparted to him by Celeste's generous action and the cry that came from

the girl's heart, though no one but Madame Thuillier still thought of it, became inspired by one of those

ingenuous artfulnesses which are the honest charlatanism of true love; but he was not to the manner born of

it, and mathematics, moreover, made him somewhat absentminded. He stationed himself near Madame

Thuillier, imagining that Madame Thuillier would attract Celeste to her side. This astute calculation

succeeded all the better because young Minard, who saw in Celeste nothing more than a "dot," had no such

sudden inspiration, and was drinking his coffee and talking politics with Laudigeois, Monsieur Barniol, and

Dutocq by order of his father, who was thinking and planning for the general election of the legislature in

"Little darling, no one in the world loves me as she does," replied the poor slave, with difficulty restraining

"My child," said the pious woman, drawing her goddaughter down to her and kissing her on the forehead.

"Do not be angry with my presumption, mademoiselle. Let me do all I can to prove it," murmured Felix. "Ah!

I cannot help it, I was made this way; injustice revolts me to the soul! Yes, the Saviour of men was right to

promise the future to the meek heart, to the slain lamb! A man who did not love you, Celeste, must have

adored you after that sublime impulse of yours at table. Ah, yes! innocence alone can console the martyr. You

are a kind young girl; you will be one of those wives who make the glory and the happiness of a family.

"If you knew how happy I am that my father can do a service to Monsieur Thuillier, and how I wish I could

True love wraps itself in the mysteries of reserve, even in its expression; it proves itself by itself; it does not

feel the necessity, as a false love does, of lighting a conflagration. By an observer (if such a being could have

glided into the Thuillier salon) a book might have been made in comparing the two scenes of love making,

and in watching the enormous preparations of Theodose and the simplicity of Felix: one was nature, the other

was society,the true and the false embodied. Noticing her daughter glowing with happiness, exhaling her

soul through the pores of her face, and beautiful with the beauty of a young girl gathering the first roses of an

indirect declaration, Flavie had an impulse of jealousy in her heart. She came across to Celeste and said in her

"You are not behaving well, my daughter; everybody is observing you; you are compromising yourself by

That reply stung Madame Colleville, who regarded it as a barbed arrow. She cast a haughty glance at Felix

and said to Celeste, "Sit there, my daughter," seating herself at the same time beside Madame Thuillier and

"I will work myself to death," said Felix to Madame Thuillier. "I'll be a member of the Academy of Sciences;

"Ah!" thought the poor woman to herself, "I ought to have had a gentle, peaceful, learned man like that. I

might have slowly developed in a life of quietness. It was not thy will, O God! but, I pray thee, unite and

And she sat there, pensive, listening to the racket made by her sisterinlawa tenhorse power at

workwho now, lending a hand to her two servants, cleared the table, taking everything out of the

diningroom to accommodate the dancers, vociferating, like the captain of a frigate on his quarterdeck

when taking his ship into action: "Have you plenty of raspberry syrup?" "Run out and buy some more

orgeat!" "There's not enough glasses. Where's the 'eau rougie'? Take those six bottles of 'vin ordinaire' and

make more. Mind that Coffinet, the porter, doesn't get any." "Caroline, my girl, you are to wait at the

sideboard; you'll have tongue and ham to slice in case they dance till morning. But mind, no waste! Keep an

eye on everything. Pass me the broom; put more oil in those lamps; don't make blunders. Arrange the remains

of the dessert so as to make a show on the sideboard; ask my sister to come and help us. I'm sure I don't know

what she's thinking about, that dawdle! Heavens, how slow she is! Here, take away these chairs, they'll want

The salon was full of Barniols, Collevilles, Phellions, Laudigeois, and many others whom the announcement

of a dance at the Thuilliers', spread about in the Luxembourg between two and four in the afternoon, the hour

"Are you ready, Brigitte?" said Colleville, bolting into the dining room; "it is nine o'clock, and they are

packed as close as herrings in the salon. Cardot, his wife and son and daughter and future soninlaw have

just come, accompanied by that young Vinet; the whole faubourg Saint Antoine is debouching. Can't we

Then he gave the signal, by tuning his clarionet, the joyous sounds of which were greeted with huzzas from

It is useless to describe a ball of this kind. The toilets, faces, and conversations were all in keeping with one

fact which will surely suffice even the dullest imagination; they passed round, on tarnished and discolored

trays, common tumblers filled with wine, "eau rougie," and "eau sucree." The trays on which were glasses of

orgeat and glasses of syrup and water appeared only at long intervals. There were five cardtables and

twentyfive players, and eighteen dancers of both sexes. At one o'clock in the morning, all

presentMadame Thuillier, Mademoiselle Brigitte, Madame Phellion, even Phellion himselfwere

dragged into the vivacities of a countrydance, vulgarly called "La Boulangere," in which Dutocq figured

with a veil over his head, after the manner of the Kabyl. The servants who were waiting to escort their

masters home, and those of the household, were audience to this performance; and after the interminable

dance had lasted one whole hour it was proposed to carry Brigitte in triumph when she gave the

announcement that supper was served. This circumstance made her see the necessity of hiding a dozen bottles

of old burgundy. In short, the company had amused themselves so well, the matrons as well as the young

"Well, well, this morning we little thought we should have such a fete tonight."

"There's never more pleasure," said the notary Cardot, "than in just such improvised balls. Don't talk to me of

"We didn't mean that for you, madame; your salon is the chosen haunt of pleasure," said Dutocq.

When "La Boulangere" came to an end, Theodose pulled Dutocq from the sideboard where he was preparing

"Let us go; we must be at Cerizet's very early in the morning; we ought both of us to think over that affair; it

"I know enough of it to be aware of the dangers of the affair. If that notary wants the house and we filch it

from him, there are means by which he can recover it; he can put himself into the skin of a registered creditor.

By the present legal system relating to mortgages, when a house is sold at the request of creditors, if the price

obtained for it at auction is not enough to pay all debts, the owners have the right to bid it in and hold it for a

higher sum; now the notary, seeing himself caught, may back out of the sale in that way."

These words, "go and see Cerizet," were overheard by Minard, who was following the two associates; but

they offered no meaning to his mind. The two men were so outside of his own course and projects that he

"This has been one of the finest days in our lives," said Brigitte to her brother, when she found herself alone

with him in the deserted salon, at halfpast two in the morning. "What a distinction! to be thus selected by

It was not on the next day, Monday, but on the following day, Tuesday, that Dutocq and Theodose went to

see Cerizet, the former having called la Peyrade's attention to the fact that Cerizet always absented himself on

Sundays and Mondays, taking advantage of the total absence of clients on those days, which are devoted by

the populace to debauch. The house toward which they directed their steps is one of the striking features in

the faubourg SaintJacques, and it is quite as important to study it here as it was to study those of Phellion

and Thuillier. It is not known (true, no commission has yet been appointed to examine this phenomenon), no

one knows why certain quarters become degraded and vulgarized, morally as well as materially; why, for

instance, the ancient residence of the court and the church, the Luxembourg and the Latin quarter, have

become what they are today, in spite of the presence of the finest palaces in the world, in spite of the bold

cupola of SainteGenevieve, that of Mansard on the Valde Grace, and the charms of the Jardin des

Plantes. One asks one's self why the elegance of life has left that region; why the Vauquer houses, the

Phellion and the Thuillier houses now swarm with tenants and boarders, on the site of so many noble and

religious buildings, and why such mud and dirty trades and poverty should have fastened on a hilly piece of

ground, instead of spreading out upon the flat land beyond the confines of the ancient city.

The angel whose beneficence once hovered above this quarter being dead, usury, on the lowest scale, rushed

in and took his place. To the old judge, Popinot, succeeded Cerizet; and strange to say,a fact which it is

well to study,the effect produced, socially speaking, was much the same. Popinot loaned money without

interest, and was willing to lose; Cerizet lost nothing, and compelled the poor to work hard and stay virtuous.

The poor adored Popinot, but they did not hate Cerizet. Here, in this region, revolves the lowest wheel of

Parisian financiering. At the top, Nucingen Co., the Kellers, du Tillet, and the Mongenods; a little lower

down, the Palmas, Gigonnets, and Gobsecks; lower still, the Samonons, Chaboisseaus, and Barbets; and

lastly (after the pawnshops) comes this king of usury, who spreads his nets at the corners of the streets to

The frogged frockcoat will have prepared you for the den in which this convicted stockbroker carried on

The house was humid with saltpetre; the walls, sweating moisture, were enamelled all over with large slabs of

mould. Standing at the corner of the rue des Postes and rue des Poules, it presented first a ground floor,

occupied partly by a shop for the sale of the commonest kind of wine, painted a coarse bright red, decorated

with curtains of red calico, furnished with a leaden counter, and guarded by formidable iron bars. Above the

gate of an odious alley hung a frightful lantern, on which were the words "Night lodgings here." The outer

walls were covered with iron crossbars, showing, apparently, the insecurity of the building, which was owned

by the winemerchant, who also inhabited the entresol. The widow Poiret (nee Michonneau) kept furnished

lodgings on the first, second, and third floors, consisting of single rooms for workmen and for the poorest

Cerizet occupied one room on the groundfloor and another in the entresol, to which he mounted by an

interior staircase; this entresol looked out upon a horrible paved court, from which arose mephitic odors.

Cerizet paid forty francs a month to the widow Poiret for his breakfast and dinner; he thus conciliated her by

becoming her boarder; he also made himself acceptable to the winemerchant by procuring him an immense

sale of wine and liquors among his clientsprofits realized before sunrise; the wineshop beginning

The hour of the great Market, which so many of his clients, male and female, attended, was the determining

cause of Cerizet's early hours. The Sieur Cadenet, the winemerchant, in view of the custom which he owed

to the usurer, had let him the two rooms for the low price of eighty francs a year, and had given him a lease

for twelve years, which Cerizet alone had a right to break, without paying indemnity, at three months' notice.

Cadenet always carried in a bottle of excellent wine for the dinner of this useful tenant; and when Cerizet was

short of money he had only to say to his friend, "Cadenet, lend me a few hundred francs,"loans which he

Cadenet, it was said, had proof of the widow Poiret having deposited in Cerizet's hands some two thousand

francs for investment, which may explain the progress of the latter's affairs since the day when he first took

up his abode in the quarter, supplied with a last note of a thousand francs and Dutocq's protection. Cadenet,

prompted by a cupidity which success increased, had proposed, early in the year, to put twenty thousand

francs into the hands of his friend Cerizet. But Cerizet had positively declined them, on the ground that he ran

"I could only," he said to Cadenet, "take them at six per cent interest, and you can do better than that in your

own business. We will go into partnership later, if you like, in some serious enterprise, some good

opportunity which may require, say, fifty thousand francs. When you have got that sum to invest, let me

Cerizet had only suggested the affair of the house to Theodose after making sure that among the three,

Madame Poiret, Cadenet, and himself, it was impossible to raise the full sum of one hundred thousand francs.

The "lender by the little week" was thus in perfect safety in his den, where he could even, if necessity came,

appeal to the law. On certain mornings there might be seen as many as sixty or eighty persons, men as often

as women, either in the wineshop, or the alley, or sitting on the staircase, for the distrustful Cerizet would

only admit six persons at a time into his office. The first comers were first served, and each had to go by his

number, which the winemerchant, or his shopboy, affixed to the hats of the man and the backs of the

women. Sometimes the clients would sell to each other (as hackneycoachmen do on the cabstands), head

numbers for tail numbers. On certain days, when the market business was pressing, a head number was often

sold for a glass of brandy and a sou. The numbers, as they issued from Cerizet's office, called up the

succeeding numbers; and if any disputes arose Cadenet put a stop to the fray at once my remarking:

HE was Cerizet's name. When, in the course of the day, some hapless woman, without an atom of food in her

room, and seeing her children pale with hunger, would come to borrow ten or twenty sous, she would say to

Cadenet, a short, stout man, dressed in blue, with outer sleeves of black stuff and a winemerchant's apron,

and always wearing a cap, seemed an angel to these mothers when he replied to them:

"HE told me that you were an honest woman and I might give you forty sous. You know what you must do

And, strange to say, HE was blessed by these poor people, even as they had lately blessed Popinot.

But Cerizet was cursed on Sunday mornings when accounts were settled; and they cursed him even more on

Saturdays, when it was necessary to work in order to repay the sum borrowed with interest. But, after all, he

The room which he made his office, formerly the kitchen of the next floor, was bare; the beams of the ceiling

had been whitewashed, but still bore marks of smoke. The walls, along which he had put benches, and the

stone floor, retained and gave out dampness. The fireplace, where the crane remained, was partly filled by an

iron stove in which Cerizet burned seacoal when the weather was severe. A platform about half a foot high

and eight feet square extended from the edge of the fireplace; on it was fastened a common table and an

armchair with a round cushion covered with green leather. Behind him, Cerizet had sheathed the walls with

planks; also protecting himself with a little wooden screen, painted white, from the draught between the

window and door; but this screen, made of two leaves, was so placed that the warmth from the stove reached

him. The window had enormous inside shutters of castiron, held, when closed, by a bar. The door

At the farther end of this room, in a corner, was a spiralstaircase, coming, evidently, from some

pulleddown shop, and bought in the rue Chapon by Cadenet, who had fitted it through the ceiling into the

room in the entresol occupied by Cerizet. In order to prevent all communication with the upper floors, Cerizet

had exacted that the door of that room which opened on the common landing should be walled up. The place

had thus become a fortress. The bedroom above had a cheap carpet bought for twenty francs, an iron

bedstead, a bureau, three chairs, and an iron safe, made by a good workman, which Cerizet had bought at a

bargain. He shaved before a glass on the chimneypiece; he owned two pairs of cotton sheets and six cotton

shirts; the rest of his visible wardrobe was of the same character. Cadenet had once seen Cerizet dressed like

a dandy of the period; he must, therefore, have kept hidden, in some drawer of his bureau, a complete

disguise with which he could go to the opera, see the world, and not be recognized, for, had it not been that

What pleased the clients of this man most was his joviality and his repartees; he talked their language.

Cadenet, his two shopmen, and Cerizet, living in the midst of dreadful misery, behaved with the calmness of

undertakers in presence of afflicted heirs, of old sergeants of the Guard among heaps of dead. They no more

shuddered on hearing cries of hunger and despair than surgeons shudder at the cries of their patients in

hospital; they said, as the soldiers and the dressers said, the perfunctory words, "Have patience! a little

courage! What's the good of grieving? Suppose you kill yourself, what then? One gets accustomed to

Though Cerizet took the precaution to hide the money necessary for his morning operations in the hollow seat

of the chair in which he sat, taking out no more than a hundred francs at a time, which he put in the pockets

of his trousers, never dipping into the funds of the chair except between the entrance of two batches of clients

(keeping his door locked and not opening it till all was safely stowed in his pockets), he had really nothing to

fear from the various despairs which found their way from all sides to this rendezvous of misery. Certainly,

there are many different ways of being honest and virtuous; and the "Monograph of Virtue" has no other

basis than this social axiom.[*] A man is false to his conscience; he fails, apparently, in delicacy; he forfeits

that bloom of honor which, though lost, does not, as yet, mean general disrepute; at last, however, he fails

decidedly in honor; if he falls into the hands of the correctional police, he is not, as yet, guilty of crime before

the court of assizes; but after he is branded with infamy by the verdict of a jury he may still be honored at the

galleys for the species of honor and integrity practised by criminals among themselves, which consists in not

betraying each other, in sharing booty loyally, and in running all dangers. Well, this last form of

honorwhich is perhaps a calculation, a necessity, the practice of which offers certain opportunities for

grandeur to the guilty man and the possibility of a return to goodreigned absolutely between Cerizet and

his clients. Never did Cerizet make an error, nor his poor people either; neither side ever denied what was

due, either capital or interests. Many a time Cerizet, who was born among the people, corrected from one

week to another some accidental error, to the benefit of a poor man who had never discovered it. He was

called a Jew, but an honest one, and his word in that city of sorrows was sacred. A woman died, causing a

[*] A book on which the author has been at work since 1833, the year in which it was first

"See my profits! there they go!" he said to his assemblage, "and you howl upon me! You know I'll never

The "loan by the little week," as interpreted by Cerizet, is not, considering all things, so cruel a thing as the

pawnshop. Cerizet loaned ten francs Tuesday on condition of receiving twelve francs Sunday morning. In

five weeks he doubled his capital; but he had to make many compromises. His kindness consisted in

accepting, from time to time, eleven francs and fifty centimes; sometimes the whole interest was still owing.

When he gave fifty francs for sixty to a fruitstall man, or a hundred francs for one hundred and twenty to a

On reaching the rue des Poules through the rue des Postes, Theodose and Dutocq saw a great assemblage of

men and women, and by the light which the winemerchant's little oillamps cast upon these groups, they

were horrified at beholding that mass of red, seamed, haggard faces; solemn with suffering, withered,

distorted, swollen with wine, pallid from liquor; some threatening, others resigned, some sarcastic or jeering,

others besotted; all rising from the midst of those terrible rags, which no designer can surpass in his most

"I shall be recognized," said Theodose, pulling Dutocq away; "we have done a foolish thing to come here at

"All the more that Claparon may be sleeping in his lair, the interior of which we know nothing about. Yes,

there are dangers for you, but none for me; I shall be thought to have business with my copying clerk, and

I'll go and tell him to come and dine with us; this is court day, so we can't have him to breakfast. I'll tell him

"Bad; anybody could listen to us there without being seen," said la Peyrade. "I prefer the 'Petit Rocher de

Dutocq advanced alone into the midst of that congress of beggars, and he heard his own name repeated from

mouth to mouth, for he could hardly fail to encounter among them some jailbird familiar with the judge's

In these quarters the justiceofpeace is the supreme authority; all legal contests stop short at his office,

especially since the law was passed giving to those judges sovereign power in all cases of litigation involving

not over one hundred and forty francs. A way was made for the judge's clerk, who was not less feared than

the judge himself. He saw women seated on the staircase; a horrible display of pallor and suffering of many

kinds. Dutocq was almost asphyxiated when he opened the door of the room in which already sixty persons

"Hold your jaw!" cried a gruff voice from the street, "that's the pen of the judge."

Profound silence followed. Dutocq found his copying clerk clothed in a jacket of yellow leather like that of

the gloves of the gendarmerie, beneath which he wore an ignoble waistcoat of knitted wool. The reader must

imagine the man's diseased head issuing from this species of scabbard and covered with a miserable Madras

handkerchief, which, leaving to view the forehead and neck, gave to that head, by the gleam of a tallow

"It can't be done that way, papa Lantimeche," Cerizet was saying to a tall old man, seeming to be about

seventy years of age, who was standing before him with a red woollen cap in his hand, exhibiting a bald head,

and a breast covered with white hairs visible through his miserable linen jacket. "Tell me exactly what you

want to undertake. One hundred francs, even on condition of getting back one hundred and twenty, can't be

The five other applicants, among whom were two women, both with infants, one knitting, the other suckling

When Cerizet saw Dutocq, he rose respectfully and went rather hastily to meet him, adding to his client:

"Take time to reflect; for, don't you see? it makes me doubtful to have such a sum as that, one hundred

"An invention and one hundred francs!" said Dutocq. "You don't know the laws; you must take out a patent,

"All that is true," said Cerizet, who, however, reckoned a good deal on such chances. "Come tomorrow

morning, papa Lantimeche, at six o'clock, and we'll talk it over; you can't talk inventions in public."

"Why did you get up at this time in the morning to come here and say that to me?" demanded the distrustful

Cerizet, already displeased with the mention of "half profits." "You could have seen me as usual at the

And he looked askance at Dutocq; the latter, while telling him his errand and speaking of Claparon and the

"All the same you could have seen me this morning at the office," repeated Cerizet, conducting his visitor to

"There's a man," thought he, as he returned to his seat, "who seems to me to have breathed on his lantern so

that I may not see clear. Well, well, I'll give up that place of copying clerk. Ha! your turn, little mother!" he

cried; "you invent children! That's amusing enough, though the trick is well known."

It is all the more useless to relate the conversation which took place between the three confederates at the

"Cheval Rouge," because the arrangements there concluded were the basis of certain confidences made, as

we shall see, by Theodose to Mademoiselle Thuillier; but it is necessary to remark that the cleverness

displayed by la Peyrade seemed almost alarming to Cerizet and Dutocq. After this conference, the banker of

the poor, finding himself in company with such powerful players, had it in mind to make sure of his own

stake at the first chance. To win the game at any price over the heads of the ablest gamblers, by cheating if

necessary, is the inspiration of a special sort of vanity peculiar to friends of the green cloth. Hence came the

He knew his two associates well; and therefore, in spite of the perpetual activity of his intellectual forces, in

spite of the perpetual watchfulness his personality of ten faces required, nothing fatigued him as much as the

part he had to play with his two accomplices. Dutocq was a great knave, and Cerizet had once been a comic

actor; they were both experts in humbug. A motionless face like Talleyrand's would have made then break at

once with the Provencal, who was now in their clutches; it was necessary, therefore, that he should make a

show of ease and confidence and of playing above board the very height of art in such affairs. To delude

the pit is an every day triumph, but to deceive Mademoiselle Mars, Frederic Lemaitre, Potier, Talma,

This conference at the "Cheval Rouge" had therefore the result of giving to la Peyrade, who was fully as

sagacious as Cerizet, a secret fear, which, during the latter period of this daring game, so fired his blood and

heated his brain that there came moments when he fell into the morbid condition of the gambler, who follows

with his eye the roll of the ball on which he has staked his last penny. The senses then have a lucidity in their

action and the mind takes a range, which human knowledge has no means of measuring.

The day after this conference at the "Cheval Rouge," la Peyrade went to dine with the Thuilliers, and on the

commonplace pretext of a visit to pay, Thuillier carried off his wife, leaving Theodose alone with Brigitte.

Neither Thuillier, nor his sister, nor Theodose, were the dupes of this comedy; but the old beau of the Empire

"Young man, do not take advantage of my sister's innocence; respect it," said Thuillier solemnly, as he

"Mademoiselle," said Theodose, drawing his chair closer to the sofa where Brigitte sat knitting, "have you

thought of inducing the business men of the arrondissement to support Thuillier's interests?"

To capture Brigitte would be like carrying the redoubt of the Moskowa, the culminating strategic point. But it

was necessary to possess that old maid as the devil was supposed in the middle ages to possess men, and in a

way to make any awakening impossible for her. For the last three days la Peyrade had been measuring

himself for the task; he had carefully reconnoitred the ground to see all difficulty. Flattery, that almost

infallible means in able hands, would certainly miscarry with a woman who for years had known she had no

beauty. But a man of strong will finds nothing impregnable; the Lamarques could never have failed to take

Capri. Therefore, nothing must be omitted from the memorable scene which was now to take place; all things

about it had their own importance,inflections of the voice, pauses, glances, lowered eyes.

"Yes, mademoiselle, I have; for you are the man of the family. In reflecting on this matter, I find many

dangers for myself, such as a man only risks for his nearest and dearest. It involves a fortune; thirty to forty

thousand francs a year, and not the slightest speculationa piece of landed property. The hope of helping

Thuillier to win such a fortune enticed me from the first. 'It fascinates me,' I said to himfor, unless a man is

an absolute fool, he can't help asking himself: 'Why should he care to do us all this good?' So I told him

frankly that in working for his interests, I flattered myself I was working for my own, as I'll explain to you

later. If he wishes to be deputy, two things are absolutely necessary: to comply with the law as to property,

and to win for his name some sort of public celebrity. If I myself push my devotion to the point of helping

him to write a book on public financieringor anything else, no matter whatwhich would give him that

celebrity, I ought also to think of the other matter, his propertyit would be absurd to expect you to give him

"For my brother? Why, I'd put it in his name tomorrow," cried Brigitte. "You don't know me."

"I don't know you thoroughly," said la Peyrade, "but I do know things about you which now make me regret

that I did not tell you the whole affair from its origin; I mean from the moment when I conceived the plan to

which Thuillier will owe his nomination. He will be hunted down by envy and jealousy, and the task of

upholding him will be a hard one; we must, however, get the better of his rivals and take the wind out of their

"Mademoiselle, the difficulties lie within my own conscience. Assuredly, I could not serve you in this matter

without first consulting my confessor. From a worldly point of viewoh! the affair is perfectly legal, and I

amyou'll understand me?a barrister inscribed on the panel, that is, member of a bar controlled by the

strictest rules. I am therefore incapable of proposing an enterprise which might give occasion for blame. In

Brigitte was on thorns; her face was flaming; she broke her wool, mended it, broke it again, and did not know

"One can't get," she said, "in these days, forty thousand francs a year from landed property unless it is worth

"Well, I will undertake that you shall see a piece of property and estimate yourself its probable revenue,

"Oh! if you can make us obtain that!" cried Brigitte, worked up to the highest excitement by the spur of her

"No, on my word of honor!" cried Brigitte, "but I myself was just about to speak of her."

"And offer her to me? Oh! may God forgive us! I can only win her of herself, her parents, by a free

choiceNo, no, all I ask of you is your goodwill, your protection. Promise me, as Thuillier has, in return

for my services your influence, your friendship; tell me that you will treat me as a son. If you will do that, I

will abide by your decision in this matter; I can trust it; I need not speak to my confessor. For the last two

years, ever since I have seen much of this family, to whom I would fain give my powers and devote my

utmost energyfor, I shall succeed! surely I shall!I have observed that your integrity, your honor is that

of the olden time, your judgment righteous and inflexible. Also, you have a knowledge of business; and these

qualities combined are precious helps to a man. With a mother inlaw, as I may say, of your powers, I

should find my home life relieved of a crowd of cares and details as to property, which hinder a man's

advance in a political career if he is forced to attend to them. I admired you deeply on Sunday evening. Ah!

you were fine! How you did manage matters! In ten minutes that diningroom was cleared! And, without

going outside of your own apartment, you had everything at hand for the refreshments, for the supper!

'There,' I said to myself, as I watched you, 'is a true "maitressefemme"a masterly woman!'"

Brigitte's nostrils dilated; she breathed in the words of the young lawyer. He gave her a sidelong glance to

At this moment he was standing, but he now resumed his seat beside her, and said:

"I'll tell you the matter roughlyand remark, if you please, that I compromise myself in telling it to you; for

these secrets are entrusted to me as a lawyer. Therefore understand that you and I are both committing a

crime, so to speak, of lezeconfidence! A notary of Paris was in partnership with an architect; they bought

land and built upon it; at the present moment, property has come down with a rush; they find themselves

embarrassedbut all that doesn't concern us. Among the houses built by this illegal partnershipfor

notaries, you know, are sworn to have nothing to do with enterprisesis a very good one which, not being

finished, must be sold at a great sacrifice; so great that they now ask only one hundred thousand francs for it,

although the cost of the land and the building was at least four hundred thousand. As the whole interior is still

unfinished, the value of what is still to do is easily appraised; it will probably not be more than fifty thousand

francs. Now, owing to its excellent position, this house, when finished, will certainly bring in a rental, over

and above the taxes, of forty thousand francs a year. It is built of freestone, the corners and copings of cut

granite; the facade is covered with handsome carvings, on which they spent more than twenty thousand

francs; the windows are plate glass with a new style of fastening called 'cremona.'"

"Just here: the notary wants to reserve to himself this bit of the cake he is forced to surrender; he is, under the

name of a friend, the creditor who requests the sale of the property by the assignee of the bankruptcy. The

case has not been brought into court; for legal proceedings cost so much money. The sale is to be made by

voluntary agreement. Now, this notary has applied to one of my clients to lend him his name for this

purchase. My client, a poor devil, says to me: 'There's a fortune to made out of that house by fooling the

"If that were the only difficulty," continued Theodose, "it would be, as a friend of mine said to his pupil, who

was complaining of the length of time it took to produce masterpieces in painting: 'My dear young fellow, if

it were not so, our valets would be painting pictures.' But, mademoiselle, if we now get the better of this

notary, who certainly deserves it, for he has compromised a number of private fortunes, yet, as he is a very

shrewd man (though a notary), it might perhaps be very difficult to do it a second time, and here's the rub:

When a piece of landed property is bought at a forced sale, if those who have lent money on that property see

that is likely to be sold so low as not to cover the sum loaned upon it, they have the right, until the expiration

of a certain time, to bid it in; that is, to offer more and keep the property in their own hands. If this trickster

can't be hoodwinked as to the sale being a bona fide one until the time when his right to buy it expires, some

other scheme must be resorted to. Now, is this business strictly legal? Am I justified in doing it for the benefit

of a family I seek to enter? That is the question I have been revolving in my mind for the last three days."

Brigitte, we must acknowledge, hesitated, and Theodose then brought forward his last card:

"My young friend," said Brigitte, looking at the lawyer with an almost loving air, "the first thing to be done is

"Near the Madeleine. That will be the heart of Paris in ten years. All that property has been desirable since

1819; the banker Du Tillet's fortune was derived from property about there. The famous failure of Maitre

Roquin, which carried terror to all Paris, and did such harm to the confidence given to the notariat, was also

caused by it; they went into heavy speculations on that land too soon; they should have waited until now."

"The house might be finished by the end of the year," continued Theodose, "and the rentals could begin next

"Ah ca!" she cried, "don't call me that before people. As to this affair," she continued, "I can't have any

"It has six storeys; nine windows on the front; a fine courtyard, four shops, and it stands on a corner. Ah! that

notary knows what he is about in wishing to hold on to such pieces of property! But let political events

interfere, and down go the Funds! If I were you, I should sell out all that you and Madame Thuillier have on

the Grand Livre and buy this fine piece of real estate for Thuillier, and I'd recover the fortune of that poor,

pious creature by savings from its proceeds. Can the Funds go higher than they are today? One hundred and

Brigitte licked her lips; she perceived the means of keeping her own property intact, and of enriching her

"My brother is right," she said to Theodose; "you certainly are a rare man; you'll get on in the world."

"And he'll walk before me," responded Theodose with a naivete that touched the old maid.

"There may be obstacles to that," he remarked. "Madame Thuillier is very queer at times; she doesn't like

"Ha! I'll settle that," cried Brigitte. "Do you attend to that affair and carry it through if it is feasible, and leave

"Thuillier, member of the municipal council, owner of an estate with a rental of forty thousand francs a year,

with the cross of the Legion of honor and the author of a political work, grave, serious, important, will be

deputy at the forthcoming general election. But, between ourselves, little aunt, one couldn't devote one's self

"Though I have no fortune I shall have doubled yours; and if this affair goes through discreetly, others will

"Until I have seen the house," said Mademoiselle Thuillier again, "I can decide on nothing."

"Well then, send for a carriage tomorrow and let us go there. I will get a ticket early in the morning to view

"Tomorrow, then, about midday," responded Brigitte, holding out her hand to Theodose that he might

shake it, but instead of that he laid upon it the most respectful and the most tender kiss that Brigitte had ever

"Josephine," she cried, "go at once to Madame Colleville, and ask her to come over and speak to me."

Fifteen minutes later Flavie entered the salon, where Brigitte was walking up and down, in a state of extreme

"My dear," she cried on seeing Flavie, "you can do me a great service, which concerns our dear Celeste. You

know Tullia, don't you?a danseuse at the opera; my brother was always dinning her into my ears at one

"Yes, I know her; but she is no longer a danseuse; she is Madame la Comtesse du Bruel. Her husband is peer

"Well, I know that Chaffaroux, the rich contractor, is her uncle," said Brigitte. "He is old and wealthy. Go and

see your former friend, and get her to give you a line of introduction to him, saying he would do her an

eminent favor if he would give a piece of friendly advice to the bearer of the note, and then you and I will

take it to him tomorrow about one o'clock. But tell Tullia she must request her uncle to keep secret about it.

Go, my dear. Celeste, our dear child, will be a millionaire! I can't say more; but she'll have, from me, a

"T. P.,Theodose de la Peyrade. You are right. That's a man who may, if supported by a woman like you,

Five days later, in the month of April, the ordinance which convoked the electors to appoint a member of the

municipal council on the 20th of the same month was inserted in the "Moniteur," and placarded about Paris.

For several weeks the ministry, called that of March 1st, had been in power. Brigitte was in a charming

humor. She had been convinced of the truth of all la Peyrade's assertions. The house, visited from garret to

cellar by old Chaffaroux, was admitted by him to be an admirable construction; poor Grindot, the architect,

who was interested with the notary and Claparon in the affair, thought the old man was employed in the

interests of the contractor; the old fellow himself thought he was acting in the interests of his niece, and he

gave it as his opinion that thirty thousand francs would finish the house. Thus, in the course of one week la

Peyrade became Brigitte's god; and she proved to him by the most naively nefarious arguments that fortune

"Well, if there IS any sin in the business," she said to him in the middle of the garden, "you can confess it."

"The devil!" cried Thuillier, "a man owes himself to his relatives, and you are one of us now."

"Then I decide to do it," replied la Peyrade, in a voice of emotion; "but on conditions that I must now

distinctly state. I will not, in marrying Celeste, be accused of greed and mercenary motives. If you lay

remorse upon me, at least you must consent that I shall remain as I am for the present. Do not settle upon

Celeste, my old Thuillier, the future possession of the property I am about to obtain for you"

"Don't rob yourself; and let my dear little aunt here act in the same way in relation to the marriage contract.

Put the remainder of the capital in Madame Thuillier's name, on the Grand Livre, and she can do what she

likes with it. We shall all live together as one family, and I'll undertake to make my own fortune, now that I

"Let me kiss you on the forehead, my son," said the old maid; "but, inasmuch as Celeste cannot be allowed to

"We are all three persons of honor," cried Thuillier. "It is now settled, isn't it? You are to manage the

purchase of the house; we are to write together, you and I, my political work; and you'll bestir yourself to get

"You will have that as soon as you are made a municipal councillor on the 1st of May. Only, my good friend,

I must beg you, and you, too, dear aunt, to keep the most profound secrecy about me in this affair; and do not

listen to the calumnies which all the men I am about to trick will spread about me. I shall become, you'll see,

a vagabond, a swindler, a dangerous man, a Jesuit, an ambitious fortunehunter. Can you hear those

From that day forth Thuillier became a dear, good friend. "My dear, good friend," was the name given to him

by Theodose, with voice inflections of varieties of tenderness which astonished Flavie. But "little aunt," a

name that flattered Brigitte deeply, was only given in family secrecy, and occasionally before Flavie. The

activity of Theodose and Dutocq, Cerizet, Barbet, Metivier, Minard, Phellion, Colleville, and others of the

Thuillier circle was extreme. Great and small, they all put their hands to the work. Cadenet procured thirty

votes in his section. On the 30th of April Thuillier was proclaimed member of the Councilgeneral of the

department of the Seine by an imposing majority; in fact, he only needed sixty more votes to make his

election unanimous. May 1st Thuillier joined the municipal body and went to the Tuileries to congratulate the

Ten days later a yellow poster announced the sale of the house, after due publication; the price named being

seventyfive thousand francs; the final purchase to take place about the last of July. On this point Cerizet and

Claparon had an agreement by which Cerizet pledged the sum of fifteen thousand francs (in words only, be it

understood) to Claparon in case the latter could deceive the notary and keep him quiet until the time expired

during which he might withdraw the property by bidding it in. Mademoiselle Thuillier, notified by Theodose,

agreed entirely to this secret clause, understanding perfectly the necessity of paying the culprits guilty of the

treachery. The money was to pass through la Peyrade's hands. Claparon met his accomplice, the notary, on

the Place de l'Observatoire by midnight. This young man, the successor of Leopold Hannequin, was one of

those who run after fortune instead of following it leisurely. He now saw another future before him, and he

managed his present affairs in order to be free to take hold of it. In this midnight interview, he offered

Claparon ten thousand francs to secure himself in this dirty business,a sum which was only to be paid on

receipt, through Claparon, of a counterdeed from the nominal purchaser of the property. The notary was

aware that that sum was allimportant to Claparon to extricate him from present difficulties, and he felt

"Who but you, in all Paris, would give me such a fee for such an affair?" Claparon said to him, with a false

show of naivete. "You can sleep in peace; my ostensible purchaser is one of those men of honor who are too

stupid to have ideas of your kind; he is a retired government employee; give him the money to make the

When the notary had made Claparon clearly understand that he could not get more than the ten thousand

francs from him, Cerizet offered the latter twelve thousand down, and asked Theodose for fifteen thousand,

intending to keep the balance for himself. All these scenes between the four men were seasoned with the

finest speeches about feelings, integrity, and the honor that men owed to one another in doing business.

While these submarine performances were going on, apparently in the interests of Thuillier, to whom

Theodose related them with the deepest manifestations of disgust at being implicated therein, the pair were

meditating the great political work which "my dear good friend" was to publish. Thus the new municipal

councillor naturally acquired a conviction that he could never do or be anything without the help of this man

of genius; whose mind so amazed him, and whose ability was now so important to him, that every day he

became more and more convinced of the necessity of marrying him to Celeste, and of taking the young

couple to live with him. In fact, after May the 1st, Theodose had already dined four times a week with "my

This was the period when Theodose reigned without a dissenting voice in the bosom of that household, and

all the friends of the family approved of himfor the following reason: The Phellions, hearing his praises

sung by Brigitte and Thuillier, feared to displease the two powers and chorussed their words, even when such

perpetual laudation seemed to them exaggerated. The same may be said of the Minards. Moreover la

Peyrade's behavior, as "friend of the family" was perfect. He disarmed distrust by the manner in which he

effaced himself; he was there like a new piece of furniture; and he contrived to make both the Phellions and

Minards believe that Brigitte and Thuillier had weighed him, and found him too light in the scales to be

anything more in the family than a young man whose services were useful to them.

"He may think," said Thuillier one day to Minard, "that my sister will put him in her will; he doesn't know

This speech, inspired by Theodose himself, calmed the uneasiness of Minard "pere."

"He is devoted to us," said Brigitte to Madame Phellion; "but he certainly owes us a great deal of gratitude.

This speech of the old maid, also instigated by Theodose, went from ear to ear among the families who

frequented the Thuillier salon, and dissipated all fears. The young man called attention to the remarks of

Thuillier and his sister with the servility of a parasite; when he played whist he justified the blunders of his

dear, good friend, and he kept upon his countenance a smile, fixed and benign, like that of Madame Thuillier,

He obtained, what he wanted above all, the contempt of his true antagonists; and he used it as a cloak to hide

his real power. For four consecutive months his face wore a torpid expression, like that of a snake as it gulps

and digests its prey. But at times he would rush into the garden with Colleville or Flavie, to laugh and lay off

his mask, and rest himself; or get fresh strength by giving way before his future motherinlaw to fits of

"Don't you pity me?" he cried to her the evening before the preparatory sale of the house, when Thuillier was

to make the purchase at seventyfive thousand francs. "Think of a man like me, forced to creep like a cat, to

choke down every pointed word, to swallow my own gall, and submit to your rebuffs!"

These words are a thermometer which will show the temperature at which this clever manipulator maintained

his intrigue with Flavie. He kept her floating between her heart and her moral sense, between religious

During this time Felix Phellion was giving, with a devotion and constancy worthy of all praise, regular

lessons to young Colleville. He spent much of his time upon these lessons, feeling that he was thus working

for his future family. To acknowledge this service, he was invited, by advice of Theodose to Flavie, to dine at

the Collevilles' every Thursday, where la Peyrade always met him. Flavie was usually making either a purse

or slippers or a cigarcase for the happy young man, who would say, deprecatingly:

"I am only too well rewarded, madame, by the happiness I feel in being useful to you."

"We are not rich, monsieur," replied Colleville, "but, God bless me! we are not ungrateful."

Old Phellion would rub his hands as he listened to his son's account of these evenings, beholding his dear and

But Celeste, the more she loved Felix, the more grave and serious she became with him; partly because her

"Don't give any hope whatever to that young Phellion. Neither your father nor I can arrange your marriage.

You have expectations to be consulted. It is much less important to please a professor without a penny than to

make sure of the affection and goodwill of Mademoiselle Brigitte and your godfather. If you don't want to

kill your mother yes, my dear, kill heryou must obey me in this affair blindly; and remember that what

As the date of the final sale was set for the last of July, Theodose advised Brigitte by the end of June to

arrange her affairs in time to be ready for the payment. Accordingly, she now sold out her own and her

sisterinlaw's property in the Funds. The catastrophe of the treaty of the four powers, an insult to France, is

now an established historical fact; but it is necessary to remind the reader that from July to the last of August

the French funds, alarmed by the prospect of war, a fear which Monsieur Thiers did much to promote, fell

twenty francs, and the Threepercents went down to sixty. That was not all: this financial fiasco had a most

unfortunate influence on the value of real estate in Paris; and all those who had such property then for sale

suffered loss. These events made Theodose a prophet in the eyes of Brigitte and Thuillier, to whom the house

was now about to be definitely sold for seventyfive thousand francs. The notary, involved in the political

disaster, and whose practice was already sold, concealed himself for a time in the country; but he took with

him the ten thousand francs for Claparon. Advised by Theodose, Thuillier made a contract with Grindot, who

supposed he was really working for the notary in finishing the house; and as, during this period of financial

depression, suspended work left many workmen with their arms folded, the architect was able to finish off the

building in a splendid manner at a low cost. Theodose insisted that the agreement should be in writing.

This purchase increased Thuillier's importance tenfold. As for the notary, he had temporarily lost his head in

presence of political events which came upon him like a waterspout out of cloudless skies. Theodose, certain

now of his supremacy, holding Thuillier fast by his past services and by the literary work in which they were

both engaged, admired by Brigitte for his modesty and discretion,for never had he made the slightest

allusion to his own poverty or uttered one word about money,Theodose began to assume an air that was

rather less servile than it had been. Brigitte and Thuillier said to him one day:

"Nothing can deprive you of our esteem; you are here in this house as if in your own home; the opinion of

Minard and Phellion, which you seem to fear, has no more value for us than a stanza of Victor Hugo.

"But we shall still need them for Thuillier's election to the Chamber," said Theodose. "Follow my advice; you

have found it good so far, haven't you? When the house is actually yours, you will have got it for almost

nothing; for you can now buy into the Threepercents at sixty in Madame Thuillier's name, and thus replace

nearly the whole of her fortune. Wait only for the expiration of the time allowed to the nominal creditor to

Brigitte did not wait; she took her whole capital with the exception of a sum of one hundred and twenty

thousand francs, and bought into the Threepercents in Madame Thuillier's name to the amount of twelve

thousand francs a year, and in her own for ten thousand a year, resolving in her own mind to choose no other

kind of investment in future. She saw her brother secure of forty thousand francs a year besides his pension,

twelve thousand a year for Madame Thuillier and eighteen thousand a year for herself, besides the house they

"Don't chant victory before you win it," said Theodose. "The right of redemption doesn't expire for another

"My dear child, you have friends," cried Brigitte; "if you should happen to want five hundred francs or so,

Theodose exchanged a smile with Thuillier, who hastened to carry him off, saying:

"Excuse my poor sister; she sees the world through a small hole. But if you should want twentyfive

"Thuillier," exclaimed Theodose, "the rope is round my neck. Ever since I have been a barrister I have had

notes of hand running. But say nothing about it," added Theodose, frightened himself at having let out the

secret of his situation. "I'm in the claws of scoundrels, but I hope to crush them yet."

In telling this secret Theodose, though alarmed as he did so, had a twofold purpose: first, to test Thuillier;

and next, to avert the consequences of a fatal blow which might be dealt to him any day in a secret and

sinister struggle he had long foreseen. Two words will explain his horrible position.

During the extreme poverty of la Peyrade's first years in Paris, none but Cerizet had ever gone to see him in

the wretched garret where, in severely cold weather, he stayed in bed for want of clothes. Only one shirt

remained to him. For three days he lived on one loaf of bread, cutting it into measured morsels, and asking

himself, "What am I to do?" At this moment it was that his former partner came to him, having just left

prison, pardoned. The projects which the two men then formed before a fire of laths, one wrapped in his

landlady's counterpane, the other in his infamy, it is useless to relate. The next day Cerizet, who had talked

with Dutocq in the course of the morning, returned, bringing trousers, waistcoat, coat, hat, and boots, bought

in the Temple, and he carried off Theodose to dine with himself and Dutocq. The hungry Provencal ate at

Pinson's, rue de l'Ancienne Comedie, half of a dinner costing fortyseven francs. At dessert, after Theodose

"Will you sign me bills of exchange for fifty thousand francs in your capacity as a barrister?"

"That's not your affair, but ours; I mean monsieur's here, who is giving us this dinner, and mine, in a matter

where you risk nothing, but in which you'll get your title as barrister, a fine practice, and the hand in marriage

of a girl about the age of an old dog, and rich by twenty or thirty thousand francs a year. Neither Dutocq nor I

can marry her; but we'll equip you, give you the look of a decent man, feed and lodge you, and set you up

generally. Consequently, we want security. I don't say that on my own account, for I know you, but for

monsieur here, whose proxy I am. We'll equip you as a pirate, hey! to do the whiteslave trade! If we can't

capture that 'dot,' we'll try other plans. Between ourselves, none of us need be particular what we

touchthat's plain enough. We'll give you careful instructions; for the matter is certain to take time, and

there'll probably be some bother about it. Here, see, I have brought stamped paper."

"Sign: 'Theodose de la Peyrade,' and after your name put 'Barrister, rue SaintDominique d'Enfer,' under the

words 'Accepted for ten thousand.' We'll date the notes and sue you,all secretly, of course, but in order to

have a hold upon you; the owners of a privateer ought to have security when the brig and the captain are at

The day after this interview the bailiff of the justiceofpeace did Cerizet the service of suing la Peyrade

secretly. He went to see the barrister that evening, and the whole affair was done without any publicity. The

Court of commerce has a hundred such cases in the course of one term. The strict regulations of the council

of barristers of the bar of Paris are well known. This body, and also the council of attorneys, exercise severe

discipline over their members. A barrister liable to go to Clichy would be disbarred. Consequently, Cerizet,

under Dutocq's advice, had taken against their puppet measures which were certain to secure to each of them

twentyfive thousand francs out of Celeste's "dot." In signing the notes, Theodose saw but one thing,his

means of living secured; but as time had gone on, and the horizon grew clearer, and he mounted, step by step,

to a better position on the social ladder, he began to dream of getting rid of his associates. And now, on

obtaining twentyfive thousand francs from Thuillier, he hoped to treat on the basis of fifty per cent for the

Unfortunately, this sort of infamous speculation is not an exceptional fact; it takes place in Paris under

various forms too little disguised for the historian of manners and morals to pass them over unnoticed in a

complete and accurate picture of society in the nineteenth century. Dutocq, an arrant scoundrel, still owed

fifteen thousand francs on his practice, and lived in hopes of something turning up to keep his head, as the

saying is, above water until the close of 1840. Up to the present time none of the three confederates had

flinched or groaned. Each felt his strength and knew his danger. Equals they were in distrust, in watchfulness;

equals, too, in apparent confidence; and equally stolid in silence and look when mutual suspicions rose to the

surface of face or speech. For the last two months the position of Theodose was acquiring the strength of a

detached fort. But Cerizet and Dutocq held it undermined by a mass of powder, with the match ever lighted;

The moment when wild beasts seize their food is always the most critical, and that moment had now arrived

for these three hungry tigers. Cerizet would sometimes say to Theodose, with that revolutionary glance which

"I have made you king, and here am I still nothing! for it is nothing not to be all."

A reaction of envy was rushing its avalanche through Cerizet. Dutocq was at the mercy of his copying clerk.

Theodose would gladly have burned his copartners could he have burned their papers in the same

conflagration. All three studied each other too carefully, in order to conceal their own thoughts, not to be in

turn divined. Theodose lived a life of three hells as he thought of what lay below the cards, then of his own

game, and then of his future. His speech to Thuillier was a cry of despair; he threw his lead into the waters of

"And," he said to himself as he went to his own room, "possibly nothing at all a month hence."

He new felt the deepest hatred to the Thuilliers. But Thuillier himself he held by a harpoon stuck into the

depths of the man's vanity; namely, by the projected work, entitled "Taxation and the Sinking Fund," for

which he intended to rearrange the ideas of the SaintSimonian "Globe," giving them a systematic form, and

coloring them with his fervid Southern diction. Thuillier's bureaucratic knowledge of the subject would be of

use to him here. Theodose therefore clung to this rope, resolving to do battle, on so poor a base of operations,

with the vanity of a fool, which, according to individual character, is either granite or sand. On reflection,

On the evening before the right of redemption expired, Claparon and Cerizet proceeded to manipulate the

notary in the following manner. Cerizet, to whom Claparon had revealed the password and the notary's

"One of my friends, Claparon, whom you know, has asked me to come and see you; he will expect you

tomorrow, in the evening, you know where. He has the paper you expect from him, which he will exchange

with you for the ten thousand agreed upon; but I must be present, for five thousand of that sum belong to me;

and I warn you, my dear monsieur, that the name in the counterdeed is in blank."

The poor devil waited the whole night in agonies of mind that can well be imagined, for safety or inevitable

ruin were in the balance. At sunrise he saw approaching him, instead of Claparon, a bailiff of the Court of

commerce, who produced a judgment against him in regular form, and informed him that he must go with

Cerizet had made an arrangement with one of the creditors of the luckless notary, pledging himself to deliver

up the debtor on payment to himself of half the debt. Out of the ten thousand francs promised to Claparon,

the victim of this trap was obliged, in order to obtain his liberty, to pay six thousand down, the amount of his

On receiving his share of this extortion Cerizet said to himself: "There's three thousand to make Cerizet clear

Cerizet then returned to the notary and said: "Claparon is a scoundrel, monsieur; he has received fifteen

thousand francs from the proposed purchaser of your house, who will now, of course, become the owner.

Threaten to reveal his hidingplace to his creditors, and to have him sued for fraudulent bankruptcy, and he'll

In his wrath the notary wrote a fulminating letter to Claparon. Claparon, alarmed, feared an arrest, and

"You have played me many a trick, Claparon," he said, "but listen to me now, and you can judge of my

kindness. I possess, as my whole means, three thousand francs; I'll give them to you; start for America, and

That evening Claparon, carefully disguised by Cerizet, left for Havre by the diligence. Cerizet remained

master of the fifteen thousand francs to be paid to Claparon, and he awaited Theodose with the payment

"The limit for biddingin is passed," thought Theodose, as he went to find Dutocq and ask him to bring

Cerizet to his office. "Suppose I were now to make an effort to get rid of my leech?"

"You can't settle this affair anywhere but at Cerizet's, because Claparon must be present, and he is hiding

Accordingly, Theodose went, between seven and eight o'clock, to the den of the "banker of the poor," whom

Dutocq had notified of his coming. Cerizet received him in the horrible kitchen where miseries and sorrows

were chopped and cooked, as we have seen already. The pair then walked up and down, precisely like two

"I'll tell you," replied Theodose, who, as he walked from the rue SaintDominique to the Estrapade, had

The Provencal, writhing upon the gridiron on which his partners held him, became suddenly possessed with a

good idea, which flashed from the body of the live coal under him. Peril has gleams of light. He resolved to

rely on the power of frankness, which affects all men, even swindlers. Every one is grateful to an adversary

The words seemed to come wholly through the hole in his nose with horrible intonations.

"You have put me in a magnificent position, and I shall never forget the service you have done me, my

Theodose shrugged his shoulders and looked fixedly at Cerizet, who, struck by the two motions, kept silence.

"Would you live in my position, knowing yourself within range of a cannon loaded with grapeshot, without

feeling a strong desire to get out of it? Now listen to me carefully. You are doing a dangerous business, and

you would be glad enough to have some solid protection in the very heart of the magistracy of Paris. If I can

continue my present course, I shall be substitute attorneygeneral, possibly attorneygeneral, in three years. I

offer you today the offices of a devoted friendship, which will serve you hereafter most assuredly, if only to

"In ten minutes I will bring you twentyfive thousand francs if you return to me all the notes which you have

"That's a pretty thing to say!" cried Cerizet. "And so you have invented this little game of hocuspocus

because you hold in your fingers fifteen thousand francs that don't belong to you!"

"But I've added ten thousand francs to them. Besides, you and I know each other."

"If you are able to get ten thousand francs out of your bourgeois you can surely get fifteen," said Cerizet. "For

"You ask the impossible," replied Theodose. "At this very moment, if you had to do with Claparon instead of

with me, your fifteen thousand would be lost, for Thuillier is today the owner of that house."

"I'll speak to Claparon," said Cerizet, pretending to go and consult him, and mounting the stairs to the

The two adversaries had been speaking, we should here remark, in a manner not to be overheard; and every

time that Theodose raised his voice Cerizet would make a gesture, intimating that Claparon, from above,

might be listening. The five minutes during which Theodose heard what seemed to be the murmuring of two

voices were torture to him, for he had staked his very life upon the issue. Cerizet at last came down, with a

smile upon his lips, his eyes sparkling with infernal mischief, his whole frame quivering in his joy, a Lucifer

"I know nothing, so it seems!" he cried, shaking his shoulders, "but Claparon knows a great deal; he has

worked with the bigwig bankers, and when I told what you wanted he began to laugh, and said, 'I thought as

much!' You will have to bring me the twentyfive thousand you offer me tomorrow morning, my lad; and

"Why?" asked Theodose, feeling his spinal column liquidizing as if the discharge of some inward electric

"Claparon has bit it in under the name of one of his creditors, a little toad named Sauvaignou. Desroches, the

lawyer, has taken the case, and you'll get a notice tomorrow. This affair will oblige Claparon, Dutocq, and

me to raise funds. What would become of me without Claparon! So I forgive himyes, I forgave him, and

though you may not believe it, my dear friend, I actually kissed him! Change your terms."

The last three words were horrible to hear, especially when illustrated by the face of the speaker, who amused

himself by playing a scene from the "Legataire," all the while studying attentively the Provencal's character.

"Don't you see, my dear fellow," returned Cerizet, "that between you and me there ought to be THIS," and

he struck his heart,"of which you have none. As soon as you thought you had a lever on us, you have tried

to knock us over. I saved you from the horrors of starvation and vermin! You'll die like the idiot you are. We

put you on the highroad to fortune; we gave you a fine social skin and a position in which you could grasp

the futureand look what you do! NOW I know you! and from this time forth, we shall go armed."

"If you pull me down, farewell to your hopes and plans; if you don't pull me down, you have in me an

"That's just what I said yesterday to Dutocq; but, how can we help it? We are forced to choose between two

alternativeswe must go according to circumstances. I'm a goodnatured fellow myself," he added, after a

pause; "bring me your twentyfive thousand francs tomorrow morning and Thuillier shall keep the house.

We'll continue to help you at both ends, but you'll have to pay up, my boy. After what has just happened

And Cerizet patted Theodose on the shoulder, with a cynicism that seemed to brand him more than the iron of

"Well, give me till tomorrow at midday," replied the Provencal, "for there'll be, as you said, some

"Goodnight, friend," said Cerizet, in his nasal tone, which degraded the finest word in the language.

"There's one who has got a mouthful to suck!" thought Cerizet, as he watched Theodose going down the

When la Peyrade reached the rue des Postes he went with rapid strides to Madame Colleville's house, exciting

himself as he walked along, and talking aloud. The fire of his roused passions and the sort of inward

conflagration of which many Parisians are conscious (for such situations abound in Paris) brought him finally

to a pitch of frenzy and eloquence which found expression, as he turned into the rue des DeuxEglises, in the

"There's a fellow who is not content!" said a passing workman, and the jesting words calmed the

As he left Cerizet's the idea came to him to go to Flavie and tell her all. Southern natures are born

thusstrong until certain passions arise, and then collapsed. He entered Flavie's room; she was alone, and

Theodose, thankful to seize even this branch of willow, drew a chair beside Flavie's sofa, and there gave way

to sobs that might have touched the oldest judge, while torrents of tears began to flow from his eyes.

Flavie rose and left the room to say to her maid: "I am not at home to any one." Then she closed all doors and

returned to Theodose, moved to the utmost pitch of maternal solicitude. She found him stretched out, his head

thrown back, and weeping. He had taken out his handkerchief, and when Flavie tried to move it from his face

Nature, more impressive than art, served Theodose well; no longer was he playing a part; he was himself; this

nervous crisis and these tears were the winding up of his preceding scenes of acted comedy.

"I have but you, you only, in all the world!" he replied, kissing her hands with a sort of passion; "and if you

are true to me, if you are mine, as the body belongs to the soul and the soul to the body, then" he added,

"Yes, I will struggle; I will recover my strength, like Antaeus, from a fall; I will strangle with my own hands

the serpents that entwine me, that kiss with serpent kisses, that slaver my cheeks, that suck my blood, my

honor! Oh, misery! oh, poverty! Oh, how great are they who can stand erect and carry high their heads! I had

better have let myself die of hunger, there, on my wretched pallet, three and a half years ago! A coffin is a

softer bed to lie in than the life I lead! It is eighteen months that I have FED ON BOURGEOIS! and now, at

the moment of attaining an honest, fortunate life, a magnificent future, at the moment when I was about to sit

down to the social banquet, the executioner strikes me on the shoulder! Yes, the monster! he struck me there,

on my shoulder, and said to me: 'Pay thy dues to the devil, or die!' And shall I not crush them? Shall I not

force my arm down their throats to their very entrails? Yes, yes, I will, I will! See, Flavie, my eyes are dry

now. Ha, ha! now I laugh; I feel my strength come back to me; power is mine! Oh! say that you love me; say

it again! At this moment it sounds like the word 'Pardon' to the man condemned to death!"

She understood nothing of all this, but she fell upon the sofa, exhausted by the spectacle. Theodose flung

"They are trying to destroy me. Oh! promise to give me Celeste, and you shall see what a glorious life I will

make you share. If you hesitatevery good; that is saying you will be wholly mine, and I will have you!"

"Oh! my saint!" he cried, "at thy feet I falla miracle! God is for me, surely! A flash of light has come to

mean ideasuddenly! Oh, thanks, my good angel, my grand SaintTheodose! thou hast saved me!"

Flavie could not help admiring that chameleon being; one knee on the floor, his hands crossed on his breast,

and his eyes raised to heaven in religious ecstasy, he recited a prayer; he was a fervent Catholic; he reverently

Theodose rushed away like one possessed, sprang into the street, and darted towards the Thuilliers', but

"Dear, good friend," he said to Thuillier, in a calm and gentle, almost caressing voice, "we have fallen into

"They want twentyfive thousand francs, and, in order to get the better of us, the notary, or his accomplices,

have determined to bid in the property. Thuillier, put five thousand francs in your pocket and come with me; I

will secure that house to you. I am making myself implacable enemies!" he cried; "they are seeking to destroy

me morally. But all I ask is that you will disregard their infamous calumnies and feel no change of heart to

me. After all, what is it? If I succeed, you will only have paid one hundred and twentyfive thousand francs

"Provided the same thing doesn't happen again," said Brigitte, uneasily, her eyes dilating under the effect of a

"Preferred creditors have alone the right to bid in property, and as, in this case, there is but one, and he has

used that right, we are safe. The amount of his claim is really only two thousand francs, but there are lawyers,

attorneys, and so forth, to pay in such matters, and we shall have to drop a note of a thousand francs to make

"Go, Thuillier," said Brigitte, "get your hat and gloves, and take the moneyfrom you know where."

"As I paid those fifteen thousand francs without success, I don't wish to have any more money pass through

my hands. Thuillier must pay it himself," said Theodose, when he found himself alone with Brigitte. "You

have, however, gained twenty thousand on the contract I enabled you to make with Grindot, who thought he

was serving the notary, and you own a piece of property which in five years will be worth nearly a million. It

Brigitte listened uneasily, precisely like a cat which hears a mouse within the wall. She looked Theodose

straight in the eye, and, in spite of the truth of his remarks, doubts possessed her.

"You would be willing to give twenty thousand francs, wouldn't you," said Theodose, "to make sure that

Thuillier was what we call, in law, 'owner not dispossessable' of that property? Well, then, remember that I

"Well, that's one reason for going to him," replied Theodose. "I have taken his measure; he's a man of honor,

Godeschal, now Derville's successor, had formerly been, for more than two years, headclerk with

Desroches. Theodose, to whom that circumstance was known, seemed to hear the name flung into his ear in

the midst of his despair by an inward voice, and he foresaw a possibility of wrenching from the hands of

Claparon the weapon with which Cerizet had threatened him. He must, however, in the first instance, gain an

entrance to Desroches, and get some light on the actual situation of his enemies. Godeschal, by reason of the

intimacy still existing between the former clerk and his old master, could be his gobetween. When the

attorneys of Paris have ties like those which bound Godeschal and Desroches together, they live in true

fraternity, and the result is a facility in arranging any matters which are, as one may say, arrangeable. They

obtain from one another, on the ground of reciprocity, all possible concessions by the application of the

proverb, "Pass me the rhubarb, and I'll pass you the senna," which is put in practice in all professions,

between ministers, soldiers, judges, business men; wherever, in short, enmity has not raised barriers too

"I gain a pretty good fee out of this compromise," is a reason that needs no expression in words: it is visible

in the gesture, the tone, the glance; and as attorneys and solicitors meet constantly on this ground, the matter,

whatever it is, is arranged. The counterpoise of this fraternal system is found in what we may call

professional conscience. The public must believe the physician who says, giving medical testimony, "This

body contains arsenic"; nothing is supposed to exceed the integrity of the legislator, the independence of the

cabinet minister. In like manner, the attorney of Paris says to his brother lawyer, goodhumoredly, "You can't

obtain that; my client is furious," and the other answers, "Very good; I must do without it."

Now, la Peyrade, a shrewd man, had worn his legal gown about the Palais long enough to know how these

"Sit in the carriage," he said to Thuillier, when they reached the rue Vivienne, where Godeschal was now

master of the practice he had formerly served as clerk. "You needn't show yourself until he undertakes the

It was eleven o'clock at night; la Peyrade was not mistaken in supposing that he should find a newly fledged

"To what do I owe this visit, monsieur?" said Godeschal, coming forward to meet the barrister.

Foreigners, provincials, and persons in high society may not be aware that barristers are to attorneys what

generals are to marshals. There exists a line of demarcation, strictly maintained, between the order of

barristers and the guild of attorneys and solicitors in Paris. However venerable an attorney may be, however

capable and strong in his profession, he must go to the barrister. The attorney is the administrator, who maps

out the plan of the campaign, collects the munitions of war, and puts the force in motion; the barrister gives

battle. It is not known why the law gives a man two men to defend him any more than it is known why an

author is forced to have both printer and publisher. The rules of the bar forbid its members to do any act

belonging to the guild of attorneys. It is very rare that a barrister puts his foot in an attorney's office; the two

classes meet in the lawcourts. In society, there is no barrier between them, and some barristers, those in la

Peyrade's situation particularly, demean themselves by calling occasionally on attorneys, though even these

"I have come on important business," replied la Peyrade; "it concerns, especially, a question of delicacy

which you and I ought to solve together. Thuillier is below, in a carriage, and I have come up to see you, not

as a barrister, but as his friend. You are in a position to do him an immense service; and I have told him that

you have too noble a soul (as a worthy successor of our great Derville must have) not to put your utmost

After explaining, wholly to his own advantage, the swindling trick which must, he said, be met with caution

"You ought, my dear maitre, to go this very evening to Desroches, explain the whole plot and persuade him

to send tomorrow for his client, this Sauvaignou. We'll confess the fellow between us, and if he wants a note

for a thousand francs over and above the amount of his claim, we'll let him have it; not counting the five

hundred for you and as much more for Desroches, provided Thuillier receives the relinquishment of his claim

by ten o'clock tomorrow morning. What does this Sauvaignou want? Nothing but money. Well, a haggler

like that won't resist the attraction of an extra thousand francs, especially if he is only the instrument of a

cupidity behind him. It is no matter to us how he fights it out with those who prompt him. Now, then, do you

"Not before Thuillier gives you a power of attorney and five hundred francs. The money should be on the

After the interview with Thuillier was over, la Peyrade took Godeschal in the carriage to the rue du Bethizy,

where Desroches lived, explaining that it was on their way back to the rue SaintDominique d'Enfer. When

they stopped at Desroches's door la Peyrade made an appointment with Godeschal to meet him there the next

La Peyrade's whole future and fortune lay in the outcome of this conference. It is therefore not astonishing

that he disregarded the customs of the bar and went to Desroches's office, to study Sauvaignou and take part

in the struggle, in spite of the danger he ran in thus placing himself visibly before the eyes of one of the most

As he entered the office and made his salutations, he took note of Sauvaignou. The man was, as the name had

already told him, from Marseilles,the foreman of a mastercarpenter, entrusted with the giving out of

subcontracts. The profits of this work consisted of what he could make between the price he paid for the

work and that paid to him by the mastercarpenter; this agreement being exclusive of material, his contract

being only for labor. The mastercarpenter had failed. Sauvaignou had thereupon appealed to the court of

commerce for recognition as creditor with a lien on the property. He was a stocky little man, dressed in a gray

linen blouse, with a cap on his head, and was seated in an armchair. Three banknotes, of a thousand francs

each, lying visibly before him on Desroches's desk, informed la Peyrade that the negotiation had already

taken place, and that the lawyers were worsted. Godeschal's eyes told the rest, and the glance which

Desroches cast at the "poor man's advocate" was like the blow of a pickaxe into the earth of a grave.

Stimulated by his danger, the Provencal became magnificent. He coolly took up the banknotes and folded

"Yes; your client must now hand over to us the fifty thousand francs we have spent on finishing the house,

according to the contract between Thuillier and Grindot. I did not tell you that yesterday," he added, turning

"Do you hear that?" said Desroches to Sauvaignou. "That's a case I shall not touch without proper

"But, messieurs," said Sauvaignou, "I can't negotiate this matter until I have seen the worthy man who paid

"Oh! if he tackles him with patois the fellow is beaten," said Godeschal to Desroches in a low tone.

"Well, you poor devil," continued Theodose, "don't you see that they want to ruin you? Shall I tell you what

you ought to do? Pocket these three thousand francs, and when your worthy man comes after you, take your

rule and hit him a rap over the knuckles; tell him he's a rascal who wants you to do his dirty work, and instead

of that you revoke your proxy and will pay him his five hundred francs in the week with three Thursdays.

Then be off with you to Marseilles with these three thousand francs and your savings in your pocket. If

anything happens to you there, let me know through these gentlemen, and I'll get you out of the scrape; for,

don't you see? I'm not only a Provencal, but I'm also one of the leading lawyers in Paris, and the friend of the

When the workman found a compatriot sanctioning in a tone of authority the reasons by which he could

betray Cerizet, he capitulated, asking, however, for three thousand five hundred francs. That demand having

"It is none too much for a rap over the knuckles; he might put me in prison for assault."

"Well, you needn't strike unless he insults you," replied la Peyrade, "and that's selfdefence."

When Desroches had assured him that la Peyrade was really a barrister in good standing, Sauvaignou signed

the relinquishment, which contained a receipt for the amount, principal and interest, of his claim, made in

duplicate between himself and Thuillier, and witnessed by the two attorneys; so that the paper was a final

"We'll leave the remaining fifteen hundred between you," whispered la Peyrade to Desroches and Godeschal,

"on condition that you give me the relinquishment, which I will have Thuillier accept and sign before his

"Very well," replied Desroches. "You may congratulate yourself," he added, making Sauvaignou sign the

"Yes, and legally, too," replied Desroches, "only you must let your man know this morning that you have

revoked your proxy under date of yesterday. Go out through my clerk's office, here, this way."

Desroches told his headclerk what the man was to do, and he sent a pupilclerk with him to see that a

"I thank you, Desroches," said la Peyrade, pressing the attorney's hand; "you think of everything; I shall never

"Don't deposit the deed with Cardot till after twelve o'clock," returned Desroches.

"Hay! comrade," cried the barrister, in Provencal, following Sauvaignou into the next room, "take your

"There is something behind all this," said Desroches in an undertone to Godeschal, as la Peyrade followed

"The Thuilliers get a splendid piece of property for next to nothing," replied Godeschal; "that's all."

"La Peyrade and Cerizet look to me like two divers who are fighting under water," replied Desroches. "What

am I to say to Cerizet, who put the matter into my hands?" he added, as the barrister returned to them.

"Tomorrow, I shall know the truth," said Desroches, in a low tone, to Godeschal; "no one chatters like a

La Peyrade departed, carrying with him the deed of relinquishment. At eleven o'clock he was in the

courtroom of the justiceofpeace, perfectly calm, and firm. When he saw Cerizet come in, pale with rage,

"My dear friend, I'm a pretty good fellow myself, and I hold that twentyfive thousand francs in good

bankbills at your disposal, whenever you will return to me those notes of mine which you hold."

Cerizet looked at the advocate of the poor, without being able to say one word in reply; he was green; the bile

"I am a nondispossessable propertyowner!" cried Thuillier, coming home after visiting his notary. "No

The bourgeoisie think much more of what their notary tells them than of what their attorney says. The notary

is nearer to them than any other ministerial officer. The Parisian bourgeois never pays a visit to his attorney

without a sense of fear; whereas he mounts the stairs with everrenewed pleasure to see his notary; he

"Cardot, who is looking for an apartment for one of his clients, wants to know about our second floor,"

continued Thuillier. "If I choose he'll introduce to me on Sunday a tenant who is ready to sign a lease for

eighteen years at forty thousand francs and taxes! What do you say to that, Brigitte?"

"Hey! my dearest girl, I must tell you that when Cardot asked who put me in the way of this affair he said I

owed him a present of at least ten thousand francs. The fact is, I owe it all to him."

"Well, dear, good friend," said la Peyrade, coming in about three o'clock, "here you are, richissime!"

"And you, little aunt, have you come to life again? Ah! you were not half as frightened as I was. I put your

interests before my own; I haven't breathed freely till this morning at eleven o'clock; and yet I am sure now of

having two mortal enemies at my heels in the two men I have tricked for your sake. As I walked home, just

now, I asked myself what could be your influence over me to make me commit such a crime, and whether the

happiness of belonging to your family and becoming your son could ever efface the stain I have put upon my

"And now," said Theodose to Brigitte, "you can pay, in all security, the cost of the house,eighty thousand

francs, and thirty thousand to Grindot; in all, with what you have paid in costs, one hundred and twenty

thousand; and this last twenty thousand added make one hundred and forty thousand. If you let the house

outright to a single tenant ask him for the last year's rent in advance, and reserve for my wife and me the

whole of the first floor above the entresol. Make those conditions and you'll still get your forty thousand

francs a year. If you should want to leave this quarter so as to be nearer the Chamber, you can always take up

your abode with us on that vast first floor, which has stables and coachhouse belonging to it; in fact,

everything that is needful for a splendid life. And now, Thuillier, I am going to get the cross of the Legion of

"Faith! my dear boy, you've done our business so well that I'll leave you to manage that of letting the house."

"Don't abdicate, dear aunt," replied Theodose. "God keep me from ever taking a step without you! You are

the good genius of this family; I think only of the day when Thuillier will take his seat in the Chamber. If you

let the house you will come into possession of your forty thousand francs for the last year of the lease in two

months from now; and that will not prevent Thuillier from drawing his quarterly ten thousand of the rental."

After casting this hope into the mind of the old maid, who was jubilant, Theodose drew Thuillier into the

"Dear, good friend, find means to get ten thousand francs from your sister, and be sure not to let her suspect

that you pay them to me; tell her that sum is required in the government office to facilitate your appointment

as chevalier of the Legion of honor; tell her, too, that you know the persons among whom that sum should be

"That's a good idea," said Thuillier; "besides, I'll pay it back to her when I get my rents."

"Have the money ready this evening, dear friend. Now I am going out on business about your cross;

"The ministry of the 1st of March is going to fall, and we must get it out of them beforehand," said Theodose,

"I've conquered! We shall have a piece of landed property for Celeste worth a million, a lifeinterest in which

will be given to her by her marriagecontract; but keep the secret, or your daughter will be hunted down by

peers of France. Besides, this settlement will only be made in my favor. Now dress yourself, and let us go and

call on Madame du Bruel; she can get the cross for Thuillier. While you are getting under arms I'll do a little

La Peyrade had seen, as he passed the door of the salon, Celeste and Felix Phellion in close conversation.

Flavie had such confidence in her daughter that she did not fear to leave them together. Now that the great

success of the morning was secured, Theodose felt the necessity of beginning his courtship of Celeste. It was

high time, he thought, to bring about a quarrel between the lovers. He did not, therefore, hesitate to apply his

ear to the door of the salon before entering it, in order to discover what letters of the alphabet of love they

were spelling; he was even invited to commit this domestic treachery by sounds from within, which seemed

to say that they were disputing. Love, according to one of our poets, is a privilege which two persons

mutually take advantage of to cause each other, reciprocally, a great deal of sorrow about nothing at all.

When Celeste knew that Felix was elected by her heart to be the companion of her life, she felt a desire, not

so much to study him as to unite herself closely with him by that communion of souls which is the basis of all

affections, and leads, in youthful minds, to involuntary examination. The dispute to which Theodose was now

to listen took its rise in a disagreement which had sprung up within the last few days between the

mathematician and Celeste. The young girl's piety was real; she belonged to the flock of the truly faithful, and

to her, Catholicism, tempered by that mysticism which attracts young souls, was an inward poem, a life

within her life. From this point young girls are apt to develop into either extremely highminded women or

saints. But, during this beautiful period of their youth they have in their heart, in their ideas, a sort of

absolutism: before their eyes is the image of perfection, and all must be celestial, angelic, or divine to satisfy

them. Outside of their ideal, nothing of good can exist; all is stained and soiled. This idea causes the rejection

Now, Celeste had seen in Felix, not irreligion, but indifference to matters of religion. Like most

geometricians, chemists, mathematicians, and great naturalists, he had subjected religion to reason; he

recognized a problem in it as insoluble as the squaring of the circle. Deist "in petto," he lived in the religion

of most Frenchmen, not attaching more importance to it than he did to the new laws promulgated in July. It

was necessary to have a God in heaven, just as they set up a bust of the king at the mayor's office. Felix

Phellion, a worthy son of his father, had never drawn the slightest veil over his opinions or his conscience; he

allowed Celeste to read into them with the candor and the inattention of a student of problems. The young

girl, on her side, professed a horror for atheism, and her conscience assured her that a deist was

"Have you thought, Felix, of doing what you promised me?" asked Celeste, as soon as Madame Colleville

"But to have kept it would have been a profanation," said Felix. "I love you so deeply, with a tenderness so

little proof against your wishes, that I promised a thing contrary to my conscience. Conscience, Celeste, is our

treasure, our strength, our mainstay. How can you ask me to go into a church and kneel at the feet of a priest,

"And so, my dear Felix, you refuse to go to church," said Celeste, casting a tearful glance at the man she

loved. "If I were your wife you would let me go alone? You do not love me as I love you! for, alas! I have a

"An atheist!" cried Felix. "Oh, no! Listen to me, Celeste. There is certainly a God; I believe in that; but I have

higher ideas of Him than those of your priests; I do not wish to bring Him down to my level; I want to rise to

Him. I listen to the voice He has put within me,a voice which honest men call conscience, and I strive not

to darken that divine ray as it comes to me. For instance, I will never harm others; I will do nothing against

the commandments of universal morality, which was that of Confucius, Moses, Pythagoras, Socrates, as well

as of Jesus Christ. I will stand in the presence of God; my actions shall be my prayers; I will never be false in

word or deed; never will I do a base or shameful thing. Those are the precepts I have learned from my

virtuous father, and which I desire to bequeath to my children. All the good that I can do I shall try to

accomplish, even if I have to suffer for it. What can you ask more of a man than that?"

"Read attentively," she replied, "'The Imitation of Jesus Christ.' Strive to convert yourself to the holy

Catholic, apostolic, and Roman Church, and you will see how empty your words are. Hear me, Felix;

marriage is not, the Church says, the affair of a day, the mere satisfaction of our own desires; it is made for

eternity. What! shall we be united day and night, shall we form one flesh, one word, and yet have two

languages, two faiths in our heart, and a cause of perpetual dissension? Would you condemn me to weep tears

over the state of your soul,tears that I must ever conceal from you? Could I address myself in peace to God

when I see his arm stretched out in wrath against you? Must my children inherit the blood of a deist and his

convictions? Oh! God, what misery for a wife! No, no, these ideas are intolerable. Felix! be of my faith, for I

cannot share yours. Do not put a gulf between us. If you loved me, you would already have read 'The

The Phellion class, sons of the "Constitutionnel," dislike the priestly mind. Felix had the imprudence to reply

"You are repeating, Celeste, the lessons your confessor teaches you; nothing, believe me, is more fatal to

"Oh!" cried Celeste, wounded to the quick, for love alone inspired her, "you do not love! The voice of my

heart is not in unison with yours! You have not understood me, because you have not listened to me; but I

She wrapped herself in solemn silence, and Felix went to the window and drummed upon the panes,music

familiar to those who have indulged in poignant reflections. Felix was, in fact, presenting the following

"Celeste is a rich heiress, and, in yielding against the voice of natural religion, to her ideas, I should have in

view the making of what is certainly an advantageous marriage,an infamous act. I ought not, as father of a

family, to allow the priesthood to have an influence in my home. If I yield today, I do a weak act, which will

be followed by many others equally pernicious to the authority of a husband and father. All this is unworthy

"Celeste, I entreat you on my knees," he said, "not to mingle that which the law, in its wisdom, has separated.

We live in two worlds, society and heaven. Each has its own way of salvation; but as to society, is it not

obeying God to obey the laws? Christ said: 'Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.' Caesar is the body

"Little quarrel!" cried the young enthusiast; "I want you to have my whole heart as I want to have the whole

of yours; and you make it into two parts! Is not that an evil? You forget that marriage is a sacrament."

"Your priesthood have turned your head," exclaimed the mathematician, impatiently.

It was at this point of the quarrel that Theodose considered it judicious to enter the room. He found Celeste

pale, and the young professor as anxious as a lover should be who has just irritated his mistress.

"I heard the word 'enough'; then something is too much?" he said, inquiringly, looking in turn from Celeste to

"We were talking religion," replied Felix, "and I was saying to mademoiselle how dangerous ecclesiastical

"That was not the point, monsieur," said Celeste, sharply; "it was to know if husband and wife could be of

"Can there be such a thing as atheists?" cried Theodose, with all the signs of extreme wonderment. "Could a

true Catholic marry a Protestant? There is no safety possible for a married pair unless they have perfect

conformity in the matter of religious opinions. I, who come from the Comtat, of a family which counts a pope

among its ancestorsfor our arms are: gules, a key argent, with supporters, a monk holding a church, and a

pilgrim with a staff, or, and the motto, 'I open, I shut'I am, of course, intensely dogmatic on such points.

But in these days, thanks to our modern system of education, it does not seem to me strange that religion

should be called into question. I myself would never marry a Protestant, had she millions, even if I loved her

distractedly. Faith is a thing that cannot be tampered with. 'Una fides, unus Dominus,' that is my device in

"I am not openly devout," continued la Peyrade. "I go to mass at six every morning, that I may not be

observed; I fast on Fridays; I am, in short, a son of the Church, and I would not undertake any serious

enterprise without prayer, after the ancient fashion of our ancestors; but no one is able to notice my religion.

A singular thing happened to our family during the Revolution of 1789, which attached us more closely than

ever to our holy mother the Church. A poor young lady of the elder branch of the Peyrades, who owned the

little estate of la Peyrade,for we ourselves are Peyrades of Canquoelle, but the two branches inherit from

one another,well, this young lady married, six years before the Revolution, a barrister who, after the

fashion of the times, was Voltairean, that is to say, an unbeliever, or, if you choose, a deist. He took up all the

revolutionary ideas, and practised the charming rites that you know of in the worship of the goddess Reason.

He came into our part of the country imbued with the ideas of the Convention, and fanatical about them. His

wife was very handsome; he compelled her to play the part of Liberty; and the poor unfortunate creature went

mad. She died insane! Well, as things are going now it looks as if we might have another 1793."

This history, invented on the spot, made such an impression on Celeste's fresh and youthful imagination that

"Ah! monsieur, why did you tell her that?" cried Felix, struck to the heart by the cold look the young girl,

affecting profound indifference, cast upon him. She fancied herself transformed into a goddess of Reason.

"I am ready," said Madame Colleville, appearing in a toilet of much taste. "But what is the matter with my

"Crying? madame," exclaimed Felix; "please tell her that I will study 'The Imitation of Christ' at once."

Felix left the house with Theodose and Flavie, whose arm the barrister pressed to let her know he would

An hour later, Madame Colleville and Celeste, Colleville and Theodose were entering the Thuilliers'

apartment to dine there. Theodose and Flavie took Thuillier into the garden, where the former said to him:

"Dear, good friend! you will have the cross within a week. Our charming friend here will tell you about our

And Theodose left Thuillier, having caught sight of Desroches in the act of being brought by Mademoiselle

Thuillier into the garden; he went, driven by a terrible and glacial presentiment, to meet him.

"My good friend," said Desroches in his ear, "I have come to see if you can procure at once twentyfive

"Cerizet has put all the papers into the hands of Louchard, and you know what you have to expect if arrested.

Is Cerizet wrong in thinking you have twentyfive thousand francs in your desk? He says you offered them to

"Thank you for taking the step, my good friend," replied Theodose. "I have been expecting this attack."

"Between ourselves," replied Desroches, "you have made an utter fool of him, and he is furious. The scamp

will stop at nothing to get his revenge upon youfor he'll lose everything if he forces you to fling your

"I?" said Theodose. "I'm going to pay him. But even so, there will still be five notes of mine in his hands, for

"Oh! after the affair of this morning, I can't tell you; my client is a crafty, mangy cur, and he is sure to have

"Look here, Desroches," said Theodose, taking the hard, unyielding attorney round the waist, "those papers

"Very good, then. Be at my office at nine o'clock; I'll receive the money and give you your notes; BUT, at

"Nine o'clock," repeated Desroches, whose glance had taken in the whole family, then assembled in the

Celeste, with red eyes, was talking to her godmother; Colleville and Brigitte, Flavie and Thuillier were on the

steps of the broad portico leading to the entrancehall. Desroches remarked to Theodose, who followed him

At a single glance the shrewd attorney had comprehended the whole scheme of the barrister.

The next morning, at daybreak, Theodose went to the office of the banker of the poor, to see the effect

produced upon his enemy by the punctual payment of the night before, and to make another effort to get rid

He found Cerizet standing up, in conference with a woman, and he received an imperative sign to keep at a

distance and not to interrupt the interview. The barrister was therefore reduced to conjectures as to the

importance of this woman, an importance revealed by the eager look on the face of the lender "by the little

week." Theodose had a presentiment, though a very vague one, that the upshot of this conference would have

some influence on Cerizet's own arrangements, for he suddenly beheld on that crafty countenance the change

These beginnings, or these ends of sentences were the only gleams of light that the animated conversation,

carried on in the lowest tones with lip to ear and ear to lip, conveyed to the motionless witness, whose

Madame Cardinal was one of Cerizet's earliest clients; she peddled fish. If Parisians know these creations

peculiar to their soil, foreigners have no suspicion of their existence; and Mere Cardinal technologically

speaking, of course, deserved all the interest she excited in Theodose. So many women of her species may be

met with in the streets that the passersby give them no more attention than they give to the three thousand

pictures of the Salon. But as she stood in Cerizet's office the Cardinal had all the value of an isolated

The woman was mounted on muddy sabots; but her feet, carefully wrapped in gaiters, were still further

protected by stout and thickribbed stockings. Her cotton gown, adorned with a glounce of mud, bore the

imprint of the strap which supported the fishbasket. Her principal garment was a shawl of what was called

"rabbit'shair cashmere," the two ends of which were knotted behind, above her bustlefor we must needs

employ a fashionable word to express the effect produced by the transversal pressure of the basket upon her

petticoats, which projected below it, in shape like a cabbage. A printed cotton neckerchief, of the coarsest

description, gave to view a red neck, ribbed and lined like the surface of a pond where people have skated.

Her head was covered in a yellow silk foulard, twined in a manner that was rather picturesque. Short and

stout, and ruddy of skin, Mere Cardinal probably drank her little drop of brandy in the morning. She had once

been handsome. The Halle had formerly reproached her, in the boldness of its figurative speech, for doing "a

double day'swork in the twentyfour." Her voice, in order to reduce itself to the diapason of ordinary

conversation, was obliged to stifle its sound as other voices do in a sickroom; but at such times it came thick

and muffled, from a throat accustomed to send to the farthest recesses of the highest garret the names of the

fish in their season. Her nose, a la Roxelane, her wellcut lips, her blue eyes, and all that formerly made up

her beauty, was now buried in folds of vigorous flesh which told of the habits and occupations of an outdoor

life. The stomach and bosom were distinguished for an amplitude worthy of Rubens.

"Do you want to make me lie in the straw?" she said to Cerizet. "What do I care for the Toupilliers? Ain't I a

This savage outburst was hastily repressed by Cerizet, who uttered a prolonged "Hushsh!" such as all

"Well, go and find out all you can about it, and come back to me," said Cerizet, pushing the woman toward

"Yes," returned Cerizet "we have measured our claws, they are the same length, the same strength, and the

"Am I to tell Dutocq that you received, last night, twentyfive thousand francs?"

"Listen," said Theodose. "I must know, once for all, what you want. I am positively determined not to remain

twentyfour hours longer on the gridiron where you have got me. Cheat Dutocq if you will; I am utterly

indifferent to that; but I intend that you and I shall come to an understanding. It is a fortune that I have paid

you, twentyfive thousand francs, and you must have earned ten thousand more in your business; it is enough

to make you an honest man. Cerizet, if you will leave me in peace, if you won't prevent my marriage with

Mademoiselle Colleville, I shall certainly be king's attorneygeneral, or something of that kind in Paris. You

"Here are my conditions; and they won't allow of discussion; you can take them or leave them. You will

obtain for me the lease of Thuillier's new house for eighteen years, and I'll hand you back one of your five

notes cancelled, and you shall not find me any longer in your way. But you will have to settle with Dutocq

for the remaining four notes. You got the better of ME, and I know Dutocq hasn't the force to stand against

"I'll agree to that, provided you'll pay a rent of fortyeight thousand francs for the house, the last year in

"Yes; but I shall not give for the last year's rent more than forty three thousand francs; your note will pay the

"No," said Cerizet, "you'll cook him brown yourself; he doesn't need any basting from me; he'll give out his

gravy fast enough. But you ought to be reasonable. The poor fellow can't pay off the last fifteen thousand

francs due on his practice, and you should reflect that fifteen thousand francs would certainly buy back your

"No, not a day later than Monday next! Tuesday your notes will be in Louchard's hands; unless you pay them

"Yes, at the Rocher de Cancale, if I have the lease. Dutocq shall be therewe'll all be thereah! it is long

Cerizet had not calmed down so suddenly without reasons. In the first place, as Desroches once said, "Bile

does not facilitate business," and the usurer had too well seen the justice of that remark not to coolly resolve

to get something out of his position, and to squeeze the jugular vein of the crafty Provencal until he strangled

"It is a fair revenge," Desroches said to him; "mind you extract its quintessence. You hold that fellow."

For ten years past Cerizet had seen men growing rich by practising the trade of principal tenant. The principal

tenant is, in Paris, to the owners of houses what farmers are to country landlords. All Paris has seen one of its

great tailors, building at his own cost, on the famous site of Frascati, one of the most sumptuous of houses,

and paying, as principal tenant, fifty thousand francs a year for the ground rent of the house, which, at the end

of nineteen years' lease, was to become the property of the owner of the land. In spite of the costs of

construction, which were something like seven hundred thousand francs, the profits of those nineteen years

Cerizet, always on the watch for business, had examined the chances for gain offered by the situation of the

house which Thuillier had STOLEN,as he said to Desroches,and he had seen the possibility of letting it

for sixty thousand at the end of six years. There were four shops, two on each side, for it stood on a boulevard

corner. Cerizet expected, therefore, to get clear ten thousand a year for a dozen years, allowing for

eventualities and sundries attendant on renewal of leases. He therefore proposed to himself to sell his

moneylending business to the widow Poiret and Cadenet for ten thousand francs; he already possessed thirty

thousand; and the two together would enable him to pay the last year's rent in advance, which houseowners

in Paris usually demand as a guarantee from a principal tenant on a long lease. Cerizet had spent a happy

night; he fell asleep in a glorious dream; he saw himself in a fair way to do an honest business, and to become

But he had a waking of which he did not dream. He found Fortune standing before him, and emptying her

gilded horns of plenty at his feet in the person of Madame Cardinal. He had always had a liking for the

woman, and had promised her for a year past the necessary sum to buy a donkey and a little cart, so that she

could carry on her business on a large scale, and go from Paris to the suburbs. Madame Cardinal, widow of a

porter in the cornmarket, had an only daughter, whose beauty Cerizet had heard of from some of the

mother's cronies. Olympe Cardinal was about thirteen years of age at the time, 1837, when Cerizet began his

system of loans in the quarter; and with a view to an infamous libertinism, he had paid great attention to the

mother, whom he rescued from utter misery, hoping to make Olympe his mistress. But suddenly, in 1838, the

girl left her mother, and "made her life," to use an expression by which the lower classes in Paris describe the

To look for a girl in Paris is to look for a smelt in the Seine; nothing but chance can throw her into the net.

The chance came. Mere Cardinal, who to entertain a neighbor had taken her to the Bobino theatre, recognized

in the leading lady her own daughter, whom the first comedian had held under his control for three years. The

mother, gratified at first at beholding her daughter in a fine gown of gold brocade, her hair dressed like that of

a duchess, and wearing open worked stockings, satin shoes, and receiving the plaudits of the audience,

"You shall soon hear of me, murderer of your own mother! I'll know whether miserable strollingplayers

She waited at the stagedoor to capture her daughter, but the first comedian and the leading lady had no

doubt jumped across the footlights and left the theatre with the audience, instead of issuing by the

stagedoor, where Madame Cardinal and her crony, Mere Mahoudeau, made an infernal rumpus, which two

municipal guards were called upon to pacify. Those august personages, before whom the two women lowered

the diapason of their voices, called the mother's attention to the fact that the girl was of legitimate theatrical

age, and that instead of screaming at the door after the director, she could summon him before the

The next day Madame Cardinal intended to consult Cerizet, in view of the fact that he was a clerk in the

office of the justiceofpeace; but, before reaching his lair in the rue des Poules, she was met by the porter of

a house in which an uncle of hers, a certain Toupillier, was living, who told her that the old man hadn't

"We count on you, my dear Madame Cardinal; we know you won't forget the good advice we'll give you.

Here's the thing. Lately, your poor uncle, not being able to stir round, has trusted me to go and collect the

rents of his house, rue NotreDame de Nazareth, and the arrears of his dividends at the Treasury, which come

By this time the widow Cardinal's eyes were becoming fixed instead of wandering.

"Yes, my dear," continued Perrache, a humpbacked little concierge; "and, seeing that you are the only

person who ever thinks about him, and that you come and see him sometimes, and bring him fish, perhaps he

may make a bequest in your favor. My wife, who has been nursing him for the last few days since he has

been so ill, spoke to him of you, but he wouldn't have you told about his illness. But now, don't you see, it is

high time you should show yourself there. It is pretty nigh two months since he has been able to attend to

"You may well think, you old thief," replied Madame Cardinal, hurrying at top speed toward the rue

HonoreChevalier, where her uncle lived in a wretched garret, "that the hair would grow on my hand before I

could ever imagine that. What! my uncle Toupillier rich! the old pauper of the church of SaintSulpice!"

"Ah!" returned the porter, "but he fed well. He went to bed every night with his best friend, a big bottle of

Roussillon. My wife has tasted it, though he told us it was common stuff. The winemerchant in the rue des

"Don't say a word about all this," said the widow, when she parted from the man who had given her the

Toupillier, former drummajor in the French Guards, had been for the two years preceding 1789 in the

service of the Church as beadle of SaintSulpice. The Revolution deprived him of that post, and he then

dropped down into a state of abject misery. He was even obliged to take to the profession of model, for he

ENJOYED, as they say, a fine physique. When public worship was restored, he took up his beadle's staff

once more; but in 1816 he was dismissed, as much on account of his immorality as for his political opinions.

Nevertheless, he was allowed to stay about the door of the church and distribute the holy water. Later, an

unfortunate affair, which we shall presently mention, made him lose even that position; but, still finding

means to keep to the sanctuary, he obtained permission to be allowed as a pauper in the porch. At this period

of life, being then seventytwo years of age, he made himself ninetysix, and began the profession of

In all Paris it was impossible to find another such beard and head of hair as Toupillier's. As he walked he

appeared bent double; he held a stick in his shaking hand,a hand that was covered with lichen, like a

granite rock, and with the other he held out the classic hat with a broad brim, filthy and battered, into which,

however, there fell abundant alms. His legs were swathed in rags and bandages, and his feet shuffled along in

miserable overshoes of woven matweed, inside of which he had fastened excellent cork soles. He washed

his face with certain compounds, which gave it an appearance of forms of illness, and he played the senility

of a centenarian to the life. He reckoned himself a hundred years old in 1830, at which time his actual age

was eighty; he was the head of the paupers of SaintSulpice, the master of the place, and all those who came

to beg under the arcades of the church, safe from the persecutions of the police and beneath the protection of

When a new heir, a bridegroom, or some godfather left the church, saying, "Here, this is for all of you; don't

torment any of my party," Toupillier, appointed by the beadle to receive these alms, pocketed threefourths,

and distributed only the remaining quarter among his henchmen, whose tribute amounted to a sou a day.

Money and wine were his last two passions; but he regulated the latter and gave himself up to the former,

with neglecting his personal comfort. He drank at night only, after his dinner, and for twenty years he slept in

In the early morning he was at his post with all his faculties. From then until his dinner, which he took at Pere

Lathuile's (made famous by Charlet), he gnawed crusts of bread by way of nourishment; and he gnawed them

artistically, with an air of resignation which earned him abundant alms. The beadle and the giver of holy

"He is one of the worthy poor of the church; he used to know the rector Languet, who built SaintSulpice; he

was for twenty years beadle of the church before the Revolution, and he is now over a hundred years old."

This little biography, well known to all the pious attendants of the church, was, of course, the best of his

advertisements, and no hat was so well lined as his. He bought his house in 1826, and began to invest his

money in the Funds in 1830. From the value of the two investments he must have made something like six

thousand francs a year, and probably turned them over by usury, after Cerizet's own fashion; for the sum he

paid for the house was forty thousand francs, while his investment in 1830 was fortyeight thousand more.

His niece, deceived by the old man as much as he deceived the functionaries and the pious souls of the

church, believed him the most miserable of paupers, and when she had any fish that were spoiling she

Consequently, she now felt it her right to get what she could in return for her pity and her liberality to an

uncle who was likely to have a crowd of collateral heirs; she herself being the third and last Toupillier

daughter. She had four brothers, and her father, a porter with a handcart, had told her, in her childhood, of

After inspecting the sick man, she went, at full speed, to consult Cerizet, telling him, in the first place, how

she had found her daughter, and then the reasons and indications which made her think that her uncle

Toupillier was hoarding a pile of gold in his mattress. Mere Cardinal did not feel herself strong enough to

seize upon the property, legally or illegally, and she therefore came to confide in Cerizet and get his advice.

So, then, the banker of the poor, like other scavengers, had, at last, found diamonds in the slime in which he

had paddled for the last four years, being always on the watch for some such chance,a chance, they say,

occasionally met with in the purlieus, which give birth to heiresses in sabots. This was the secret of his

unexpected gentleness to la Peyrade, the man whose ruin he had vowed. It is easy to imagine the anxiety with

which he awaited the return of Madame Cardinal, to whom this wily schemer of nefarious plots had given

means to verify her suspicions as to the existence of the hoarded treasure, promising her complete success if

she would trust him to obtain for her so rich a harvest. He was not the man to shrink from a crime, above all,

"Well, monsieur," cried the fishwife, entering Cerizet's den with a face as much inflamed by cupidity as by

the haste of her movements, "my uncle sleeps on more than a hundred thousand francs in gold, and I am

"Shared among forty heirs that won't be much to each," said Cerizet. "Listen to me, Mere Cardinal: I'll marry

your daughter; give her your uncle's gold, and I'll guarantee to you a lifeinterest in the house and the

"Agreed, then," said the widow Cardinal, holding out her hand to her future soninlaw. "Six thousand francs

"Now," resumed Cerizet, after a pause, "I must study the ground. Don't leave your uncle alone a minute; tell

the Perraches that you expect a doctor. I'll be the doctor, and when I get there you must seem not to know

"Aren't you sly, you old rogue," said Madame Cardinal, with a punch on Cerizet's stomach by way of

An hour later, Cerizet, dressed in black, disguised by a rusty wig and an artificially painted physiognomy,

arrived at the house in the rue HonoreChevalier in the regulation cabriolet. He asked the porter to tell him

Cerizet had no doubt reflected on the gravity of the affair he was undertaking, for he avoided giving an

"No, monsieur," replied Perrache, who then took him to the back stairs of the house, which led up to the

Nothing remained for the inquisitive porter to do but to question the driver of the cabriolet; to which

The house in which Toupillier lived is one of those which have lost half their depth, owing to the

straightening of the line of the street, the rue HonoreChevalier being one of the narrowest in the

SaintSulpice quarter. The owner, forbidden by the law to repair it, or to add new storeys, was compelled to

let the wretched building in the condition in which he bought it. It consisted of a first storey above the

groundfloor, surmounted by garrets, with two small wings running back on either side. The courtyard thus

formed ended in a garden planted with trees, which was always rented to the occupant of the first floor. This

garden, separated by an iron railing from the courtyard, would have allowed a rich owner to sell the front

buildings to the city, and to build a new house upon the courtyard; but the whole of the first floor was let on

an eighteen years' lease to a mysterious personage, about whom neither the official policing of the concierge

This tenant, now seventy years of age, had built, in 1829, an outer stairway, leading from the right wing of

the first floor to the garden, so that he could get there without going through the courtyard. Half the

groundfloor was occupied by a bookstitcher, who for the last ten years had used the stable and

coachhouse for workshops. A bookbinder occupied the other half. The binder and the stitcher lived, each

of them, in half the garret rooms over the front building on the street. The garrets above the rear wings were

occupied, the one on the right by the mysterious tenant, the one on the left by Toupillier, who paid a hundred

francs a year for it, and reached it by a dark staircase, lighted by small round windows. The portecochere

was made in the circular form indispensable in a street so narrow that two carriages cannot pass in it.

Cerizet laid hold of the rope which served as a baluster, to climb the species of ladder leading to the room

where the socalled beggar was dying,a room in which the odious spectacle of pretended pauperism was

being played. In Paris, everything that is done for a purpose is thoroughly done. Wouldbe paupers are as

clever at mounting their disguise as shopkeepers in preparing their showwindows, or sham rich men in

The floor had never been swept; the bricks had disappeared beneath layers of dirt, dust, dried mud, and any

and every thing thrown down by Toupillier. A miserable stove of castiron, the pipe of which entered a

crumbling chimney, was the most apparent piece of furniture in this hovel. In an alcove stood a bed, with

tester and valence of green serge, which the moths had transformed into lace. The window, almost useless,

had a heavy coating of grease upon its panes, which dispensed with the necessity of curtains. The

whitewashed walls presented to the eye fuliginous tones, due to the wood and peat burned by the pauper in

his stove. On the fireplace were a broken water pitcher, two bottles, and a cracked plate. A wormeaten

chest of drawers contained his linen and decent clothes. The rest of the furniture consisted of a nighttable of

the commonest description, another table, worth about forty sous, and two kitchen chairs with the straw seats

almost gone. The extremely picturesque costume of the centenarian pauper was hanging from a nail, and

below it, on the floor, were the shapeless matweed coverings that served him for shoes, the whole forming,

As he entered, Cerizet gave a rapid glance at the old man, whose head lay on a pillow brown with grease and

without a pillowcase; his angular profile, like those which engravers of the last century were fond of making

out of rocks in the landscapes they engraved, was strongly defined in black against the green serge hangings

of the tester. Toupillier, a man nearly six feet tall, was looking fixedly at some object at the foot of his bed; he

did not move on hearing the groaning of the heavy door, which, being armed with iron bolts and a strong

"Is he conscious?" said Cerizet, before whom Madame Cardinal started back, not having recognized him till

"Come out on the staircase, so that he doesn't hear us," whispered Cerizet. "This is how we'll manage it," he

continued, in the ear of his future motherinlaw. "He is weak, but he isn't so very low; we have fully a week

before us. I'll send you a doctor who'll suit us, you understand? and later in the evening I'll bring you six

poppy heads. In the state he's in, you see, a decoction of poppyheads will send him into a sound sleep. I'll

send you a cotbed on pretence of your sleeping in the room with him. We'll move him from one bed to the

other, and when we've found the money there won't be any difficulty in carrying it off. But we ought to know

who the people are who live in this old barrack. If Perrache suspects, as you think, about the money, he might

"Oh! as for that," said Madame Cardinal, "I've found out already that Monsieur du Portail, the old man who

occupies the first floor, has charge of an insane woman; I heard their Dutch servantwoman, Katte, calling

her Lydie this morning. The only other servant is an old valet named Bruneau; he does everything, except

"But the binder and the stitcher down below," returned Cerizet, "they begin work very early in the

morningWell, anyhow, we must study the matter," he added, in the tone of a man whose plans are not yet

decided. "I'll go to the mayor's office of your arrondissement, and get Olympe's register of birth, and put up

"How he goes it, the rascal!" cried the admiring Madame Cardinal, pushing her formidable soninlaw by

As he went downstairs Cerizet was surprised to see, through one of the small round windows, an old man,

evidently du Portail, walking in the garden with a very important member of the government, Comte Martial

de la RocheHugon. He stopped in the courtyard when he reached it, as if to examine the old house, built in

the reign of Louis XIV., the yellow walls of which, though of freestone, were bent like the elderly beggar

they contained. Then he looked at the workshops, and counted the workmen. The house was otherwise as

silent as a cloister. Being observed himself, Cerizet departed, thinking over in his mind the various

difficulties that might arise in extracting the sum hidden beneath the dying man.

"Carry off all that gold at night?" he said to himself; "why, those porters will be on the watch, and twenty

persons might see us! It is hard work to carry even twentyfive thousand francs of gold on one's person."

Societies have two goals of perfection; the first is a state of civilization in which morality equally infused and

pervasive does not admit even the idea of crime; the Jesuits reached that point, formerly presented by the

primitive Church. The second is the state of another civilization in which the supervision of citizens over one

another makes crime impossible. The end which modern society has placed before itself is the latter; namely,

that in which a crime presents such difficulties that a man must abandon all reasoning in order to commit it.

In fact, iniquities which the law cannot reach are not left actually unpunished, for social judgment is even

more severe than that of courts. If a man like Minoret, the postmaster at Nemours [see "Ursule Mirouet"]

suppresses a will and no one witnesses the act, the crime is traced home to him by the watchfulness of virtue

as surely as a robbery is followed up by the detective police. No wrongdoing passes actually unperceived;

and wherever a lesion in rectitude takes place the scar remains. Things can be no more made to disappear

than men; so carefully, in Paris especially, are articles and objects ticketed and numbered, houses watched,

streets observed, places spied upon. To live at ease, crime must have a sanction like that of the Bourse; like

that conceded by Cerizet's clients; who never complained of his usury, and, indeed, would have been troubled

"Well, my dear monsieur," said Madame Perrache, the porter's wife, as he passed her lodge, "how do you find

"I am not the doctor," replied Cerizet, who now decidedly declined that role. "I am Madame Cardinal's

business man. I have just advised her to have a cotbed put up, so as to nurse her uncle night and day;

"Well, we'll see about it," said Cerizet; "I'll arrange all that. Who is the tenant on your first floor?"

"Monsieur du Portail. He has lodged here these thirty years. He is a man with a good income, monsieur;

highly respectable, and elderly. You know people who invest in the Funds live on their incomes. He used to

be in business. But it is more than eleven years now since he has been trying to restore the reason of a

daughter of one of his friends, Mademoiselle Lydie de la Peyrade. She has the best advice, I can tell you; the

very first doctors in Paris; only this morning they had a consultation. But so far nothing has cured her; and

they have to watch her pretty close; for sometimes she gets up and walks at night"

"Mademoiselle Lydie de la Peyrade!" exclaimed Cerizet; "are you sure of the name?"

"I've heard Madame Katte, her nurse, who also does the cooking, call her so a thousand times, monsieur;

though, generally, neither Monsieur Bruneau, the valet, nor Madame Katte say much. It's like talking to the

wall to try and get any information out of them. We have been porters here these twenty years and we've

never found out anything about Monsieur du Portail yet. More than that, monsieur, he owns the little house

alongside; you see the double door from here. Well, he can go out that way and receive his company too, and

we know nothing about it. Our owner doesn't know anything more than we do; when people ring at that door,

"Then you didn't see the gentleman who is talking with him in the garden go by this way?"

"Ah!" thought Cerizet as he got into the cabriolet, "she must be the daughter of that uncle of Theodose. I

wonder if du Portail can be the secret benefactor who sent money from time to time to that rascal? Suppose I

send an anonymous letter to the old fellow, warning him of the danger the barrister runs from those notes for

An hour later the cotbed had arrived for Madame Cardinal, to whom the inquisitive portress offered her

She had noticed that the arrival of the bed seemed to draw him from his somnolence.

"How do you feel now, Pere Toupillier?" asked Madame Perrache, in a coaxing voice.

"I tell you I want wine," repeated the old man, with an energetic insistence scarcely to be expected of his

"We must first find out if it is good for you, uncle," said Madame Cardinal, soothingly. "Wait till the doctor

"Doctor! I won't have a doctor!" cried Toupillier; "and you, what are you doing here? I don't want anybody."

"My good uncle, I came to know if you'd like something tasty. I've got some nice fresh soleshey! a bit of

"Your fish, indeed!" cried Toupillier; "all rotten! That last you brought me, more than six weeks ago, it is

"Heavens! how ungrateful sick men are!" whispered the widow Cardinal to Perrache.

Nevertheless, to exhibit solicitude, she arranged the pillow under the patient's head, saying:

"Let me alone!" shouted Toupillier, angrily; "I want no one here; I want wine; leave me in peace."

"Yes, I know," replied Madame Cardinal; "but let me count out my coppers. I want to get something better

for you than that kind of wine; for, don't you see, an uncle, he's a kind of father, and one shouldn't mind what

So saying, she sat down, with her legs apart, on one of the dilapidated chairs, and poured into her apron the

contents of her pockets, namely: a knife, her snuffbox, two pawntickets, some crusts of bread, and a

This exhibition, intended to prove her generous and eager devotion, had no result. Toupillier seemed not to

notice it. Exhausted by the feverish energy with which he had demanded his favorite remedy, he made an

effort to change his position, and, with his back turned to his two nurses, he again muttered: "Wine! wine!"

after which nothing more was heard of him but a stentorous breathing, that plainly showed the state of his

"I suppose I must go and fetch his wine!" said the Cardinal, restoring to her pockets, with some illhumor,

"If you don't want to go" began Madame Perrache, always ready to offer her services.

The fishwife hesitated for a moment; then, reflecting that something might be got out of a conversation with

the winemerchant, and sure, moreover, that as long as Toupillier lay on his gold she could safely leave him

"Thank you, Madame Perrache, but I'd better make acquaintance with his tradesfolk."

Then, having spied behind the nighttable a dirty bottle which might hold about two quarts,

"Corner of the rue Guisarde," replied Madame Perrache. "Monsieur Legrelu, a tall, fine man with big

whiskers and no hair." Then, lowering her voice, she added: "His numbersix wine, you know, is Roussillon,

and the best, too. However, the winemerchant knows; it is enough if you tell him you have come from his

"No need to tell me anything twice," said the Cardinal, opening the door and making, as they say, a false exit.

"Ah ca!" she said, coming back; "what does he burn in his stove, supposing I want to heat some remedy for

"Goodness!" said the portress, "he doesn't make much provision for winter, and here we are in the middle of

"And not a saucepan! not a pot, even! Gracious! what a way to live. I'll have to fetch him some provisions; I

"No, I'll buy a basket," replied the fishwife, more anxious about what she expected to carry away than what

she was about to bring home to the pauper. "There must be some Auvergnat in the neighborhood who sells

"Corner of the rue Ferou; you'll find one there. A fine establishment, with logs of wood painted in a kind of

an arcade all round the shop so like, you'd think they were going to speak to you."

Before going finally off, Madame Cardinal went through a piece of very deep hypocrisy. We have seen how

"Madame Perrache," she said to her, "you won't leave him, the poor darling, will you, till I get back?"

It may have been noticed that Cerizet had not decided on any definite course of action in the new affair he

was now undertaking. The part of doctor, which for a moment he thought of assuming, frightened him, and

he gave himself out, as we have seen, to Madame Perrache as the business agent of his accomplice. Once

alone, he began to see that his original idea complicated with a doctor, a nurse, and a notary, presented the

most serious difficulties. A regular will drawn in favor of Madame Cardinal was not a thing to be improvised

in a moment. It would take some time to acclimatize the idea in the surly and suspicious mind of the old

pauper, and death, which was close at hand, might play them a trick at any moment, and balk the most careful

It was true that unless a will were made the income of eight thousand francs on the Grand Livre and the house

in the rue NotreDame de Nazareth would go to the heirsatlaw, and Madame Cardinal would get only her

share of the property; but the abandonment of this visible portion of the inheritance was the surest means of

laying hands on the invisible part of it. Besides, if the latter were secured, what hindered their returning to the

Resolving, therefore, to confine the OPERATION to the simplest terms at first, Cerizet summed them up in

the manoeuvre of the poppyheads, already mentioned, and he was making his way back to Toupillier's

abode, armed with that single weapon of war, intending to give Madame Cardinal further instructions, when

he met her, bearing on her arm the basket she had just bought; and in that basket was the sick man's panacea.

"I had to go out and buy him wine," replied the Cardinal; "he is howling like a soul in hell that he wants to be

at peace, and to be let alone, and get his wine! It is his one idea that Roussillon is good for his disease. Well,

"You are right," said Cerizet, sententiously; "never contradict a sick man. But this wine, you know, ought to

be improved; by infusing these" (and lifting one of the covers of the basket he slipped in the poppies) "you'll

procure the poor man a good, long sleep,five or six hours at least. This evening I'll come and see you, and

nothing, I think, need prevent us from examining a little closer those matters of inheritance."

He had a strong sense of the difficulty and danger of the affair, and was very reluctant to be seen in the street

Returning to her uncle's garret, Madame Cardinal found him still in a state of semitorpor; she relieved

Madame Perrache, and bade her good bye, going to the door to receive a supply of wood, all sawed, which

Into an earthen pot, which she had bought of the right size to fit upon the hole in the stoves of the poor where

they put their soup kettles, she now threw the poppies, pouring over them twothirds of the wine she had

brought back with her. Then she lighted a fire beneath the pot, intending to obtain the decoction agreed upon

as quickly as possible. The crackling of the wood and the heat, which soon spread about the room, brought

"Why, uncle," said the Cardinal, "it is wood I bought with my own money, to warm your wine. The doctor

"Where is it, that wine?" demanded Toupillier, calming down a little at the thought that the fire was not

"It must come to a boil," said his nurse; "the doctor insisted upon that. Still, if you'll be good I'll give you half

a glass of it cold, just to wet your whistle. I'll take that upon myself, but don't you tell the doctor."

"Doctor! I won't have a doctor; they are all scoundrels, invented to kill people," cried Toupillier, whom the

idea of drink had revived. "Come, give me the wine!" he said, in the tone of a man whose patience had come

Convinced that though this compliance would do no harm it could do no good, Madame Cardinal poured out

half a glass, and while she gave it with one hand to the sick man, with the other she raised him to a sitting

With his fleshless, eager fingers Toupillier clutched the glass, emptied it at a gulp, and exclaimed:

"You mustn't say that, uncle; I went and bought it myself of Pere Legrelu, and I've given it you quite pure.

But you let me simmer the rest; the doctor said I might then give you all you wanted."

Toupillier resigned himself with a shrug of the shoulders. At the end of fifteen minutes, the infusion being in

condition to serve, Madame Cardinal brought him, without further appeal, a full cup of it.

The avidity with which the old pauper drank it down prevented him from noticing at first that the wine was

drugged; but as he swallowed the last drops he tasted the sickly and nauseating flavor, and flinging the cup on

"Poison! nonsense!" said the fishwife, pouring into her own mouth a few drops of that which remained in the

bottle, declaring to the old man that if the wine did not seem to him the same as usual, it was because his

Before the end of the dispute, which lasted some time, the narcotic began to take effect, and at the end of an

While idly waiting for Cerizet, an idea took possession of the Cardinal's mind. She thought that in view of

their comings and goings with the treasure, it would be well if the vigilance of the Perrache husband and wife

could be dulled in some manner. Consequently, after carefully flinging the refuse poppyheads into the privy,

"Madame Perrache, come up and taste his wine. Wouldn't you have thought to hear him talk he was ready to

"Your health!" said the portress, touching glasses with the Cardinal, who was careful to have hers filled with

the unboiled wine. Less accomplished as a gourmet than the old beggar, Madame Perrache perceived nothing

in the insidious liquid (cold by the time she drank it) to make her suspect its narcotic character; on the

contrary, she declared it was "velvet," and wished that her husband were there to have a share in the treat.

After a rather long gossip, the two women separated. Then, with the cooked meat she had provided for

herself, and the remains of the Roussillon, Madame Cardinal made a repast which she finished off with a

siesta. Without mentioning the emotions of the day, the influence of one of the most heady wines of the

country would have sufficed to explain the soundness of her sleep; when she woke darkness was coming on.

Her first care was to give a glance at her patient; his sleep was restless, and he was dreaming aloud.

"Gracious!" thought Madame Cardinal, "that was the one thing lacking, diamonds! that he should have

Then, as Toupillier seemed to be in the grasp of a violent nightmare, she leaned over him so as not to lose a

word of his speech, hoping to gather from it some important revelation. At this moment a slight rap given to

the door, from which the careful nurse had removed the key, announced the arrival of Cerizet.

"He has taken the drug. He's been sound asleep these two hours; just now, in dreaming, he was talking of

"Well," said Cerizet, "it wouldn't be surprising if we found some. These paupers when they set out to be rich,

"Ah ca!" cried the Cardinal, suddenly, "what made you go and tell Mere Perrache that you were my man of

business, and that you weren't a doctor? I thought we agreed this morning that you were coming as a doctor?"

Cerizet did not choose to admit that the usurpation of that title had seemed to him dangerous; he feared to

"I saw that the woman was going to propose a consultation," he replied, "and I got out of it that way."

"Goodness!" exclaimed Madame Cardinal, "they say fine minds come together; that was my dodge, too.

Calling you my man of business seemed to give that old pilferer a few ideas. Did they see you come in, those

"I thought, as I went by," replied Cerizet, "that the woman was asleep in her chair."

"Parbleu!" replied the fishwife; "what's enough for one is enough for two; the rest of the stuff went that way."

"As for the husband, he was there," said Cerizet; "for he gave me a gracious sign of recognition, which I

"Wait till it is quite dark, and we'll play him a comedy that shall fool him finely."

Accordingly, ten minutes later, the fishwife, with a vim that delighted the usurer, organized for the innocent

porter the comedy of a MONSIEUR who would not, out of politeness, let her accompany him to the door; she

herself with equal politeness insisting. Appearing to conduct the sham physician into the street gate she

pretended that the wind had blown out of her lamp, and under pretext of relighting it she put out that of

Perrache. All this racket, accompanied by exclamations and a bewildering loquacity, was so briskly carried

out that the porter, if summoned before the policecourt, would not have hesitated to swear that the doctor,

When the two accomplices were thus in tranquil possession of the field of operations Madame Cardinal hung

up her rabbit'shair shawl before the window to exclude all possible indiscretion on the part of a neighbor. In

the Luxembourg quarter life quiets down early. By ten o'clock all the sounds in the house as well as those out

of doors were stilled, and Cerizet declared that the moment had come to go to work; by beginning at once

they were certain that the sleeper would remain under the influence of the drug; besides, if the booty were

found at once, Madame Cardinal could, under pretence of a sudden attack on her patient, which required her

to fetch a remedy from the apothecary, get the porter to open the street gate for her without suspicion. As all

porters pull the gatecord from their beds, Cerizet would be able to get away at the same time without notice.

Powerful in advice, Cerizet was a very incapable hand in action; and, without the robust assistance of Mere

Cardinal he could never have lifted what might almost be called the corpse of the former drum major.

Completely insensible, Toupillier was now an inert mass, a deadweight, which could, fortunately, be

handled without much precaution, and the athletic Madame Cardinal, gathering strength from her cupidity,

contrived, notwithstanding Cerizet's insufficient assistance, to effect the transfer of her uncle from one bed to

On rummaging the bed from which the body was moved, nothing was found, and Madame Cardinal, pressed

by Cerizet to explain why she had confidently asserted that her uncle "was lying on one hundred thousand

francs in gold," was forced to admit that a talk with Madame Perrache, and her own fervid imagination were

the sole grounds of her certainty. Cerizet was furious; having for one whole day dallied with the idea and

hope of fortune, having, moreover, entered upon a dangerous and compromising course of action, only to find

himself, at the supreme moment, face to face withnothing! The disappointment was so bitter that if he had

not been afraid of the muscular strength of his future motherinlaw, he would have rushed upon her with

His anger, however, spent itself in words. Harshly abused, Madame Cardinal contented herself by remarking

that all hope was not lost, and then, with a faith that ought to have moved mountains, she set to work to

empty the straw from the mattress she had already vainly explored in all directions. But Cerizet would not

allow that extreme measure; he remarked that after the autopsy of a straw mattress such detritus would

remain upon the floor as must infallibly give rise to suspicion. But the Cardinal, who thought this caution

ridiculous, was determined to, at least, take apart the flock bedstead. The passion of the search gave

extraordinary vigilance to her senses, and as she raised the wooden sideframe she heard the fall of some tiny

object on the floor. Seizing the light she began to search in the mound of filth of all kinds that was under the

bed, and finally laid her hand on a bit of polished steel about half an inch long, the use of which was to her

"That's a key!" cried Cerizet, who was standing beside her with some indifference, but whose imagination

"Ha! ha! you see I was right," cried the Cardinal. "But what can it open?" she added, on reflection; "nothing

"No," said Cerizet, "it is a modern invention, and very strong locks can be opened with that little instrument."

With a rapid glance he took in all the pieces of furniture in the room; went to the bureau and pulled out the

drawers; looked in the stove, in the table; but nowhere did he find a lock to which the little key could be

"See here!" she said. "I remarked that the old thief, as he lay on his bed, never took his eyes off the wall just

"A cupboard hidden in the wall!" cried Cerizet, seizing the light eagerly; "it is not impossible!"

Examining attentively the door of the alcove, which was opposite the bed's head, he could see nothing there

but a vast accumulation of dust and spiders' webs. He next employed the sense of touch, and began to rap and

sound the wall in all directions. At the spot to which Toupillier's constant gaze was directed he thought he

perceived in a very narrow space a slight sonority, and he presently perceived that he was rapping on wood.

He then rubbed the spot vigorously with his handkerchief, and beneath the thick layer of dust and dirt which

he thus removed he found a piece of oak plank carefully inserted in the wall. On one side of this plank was a

While Cerizet was turning the key, which worked with great difficulty, Madame Cardinal, holding the light,

was pale and breathless; but, oh! cruel deception! the cupboard, at last unlocked and open, showed only an

Allowing this bacchante to give vent to her despair by saluting her muchbeloved uncle with the harshest

epithets, Cerizet quietly inserted his arm into the cupboard, and after feeling it over at the back, he cried out,

Then, as the light did not penetrate to the depths of the cupboard, he snatched the candle from the bottle,

where, in default of a candlestick, the Cardinal had stuck it, and, taking it in his hand, moved it carefully over

"Isn't he sly, that old villain!" exclaimed Madame Cardinal, while Cerizet's bony fingers felt the side of the

Under the pressure which Cerizet now applied, the iron side rose quickly into the thickness of the wall above,

and in the midst of a mass of gold thrown pellmell into a large excavation that was now exposed to view,

lay a case of red morocco, which, from its size and appearance, gave promise of magnificent booty.

"I take the diamonds for myself," said Cerizet, when he had opened the case and seen the splendid jewels it

contained; "you won't know how to get rid of them. I'll leave you the gold for your share. As for the house

and the money in the Funds, they are not worth the trouble it would be to get the old fellow to make a will."

"Not so fast, my little man!" replied the Cardinal, who thought this decision rather summary; "we will first

Then he hastily replaced the morocco case, and made desperate but unavailing efforts to lower the panel.

"Yes!" cried Madame Cardinal, terrified; "some one is really coming." Then, fastening to a hope of safety,

At any rate, the insane girl (if it were she) had a key to the room, for a moment later, this key was inserted in

the lock. With a rapid glance Madame Cardinal measured the distance to the door; should she have time to

push the bolt? No; certain that it was then too late, so she blew out the candle to give herself at least some

When Madame Cerizet saw that she had to do with a small, old man of puny appearance, she flung herself

before him with flaming eyes, like a lioness from whom the hunter is seeking to take her cubs.

"Be calm, my good woman," said the little man, in a jeering tone; "the police are sent for; they will be here in

"No matter for that; if I were in your place I shouldn't wait for them," said the little old man; "they make

"Yes, if you empty your pockets of anything which has, BY ACCIDENT, got into them."

"Oh! my good monsieur, I haven't a thing in my hands or my pockets; I wasn't here to harm any one,only

Madame Cardinal did not oblige him to repeat the order, and she rapidly disappeared down the staircase.

"You, monsieur, are quite another thing," said the little old man. "You and I must talk together; but if you are

Whether it was that the narcotic had ceased to operate, or that the noise going on about Toupillier put an end

to his sleep, he now opened his eyes and cast around him the glance of a man who endeavors to remember

where he is; then, seeing his precious cupboard open, he found in the emotion that sight produced the strength

to cry out two or three times, "Help! help! robbers!" in a voice that was loud enough to rouse the house.

"No, Toupillier," said the little old man; "you have not been robbed; I came here in time to prevent it; nothing

"Why don't you arrest that villain?" shouted the old pauper, pointing to Cerizet.

"Monsieur is not a thief," replied the old man. "On the contrary, he came up with me to lend assistance."

Then, turning to Cerizet, he added, in a low voice: "I think, my good friend, that we had better postpone the

interview I desire to have with you until tomorrow. Come at ten o'clock to the adjoining house, and ask for

Monsieur du Portail. After what has passed this evening, there will, I ought to warn you, be some danger to

you in not accepting this conference. I shall find you elsewhere, infallibly; for I have the honor to know who

you are; you are the man whom the Opposition journals were accustomed to call 'the courageous Cerizet.'"

In spite of the profound sarcasm of this remark, Cerizet, perceiving that he was not to be treated more

rigorously than Madame Cardinal, felt so pleased with this conclusion that he promised, very readily, to keep

The next day Cerizet did not fail to appear at the rendezvous given to him. Examined, at first, through the

wicket of the door, he was admitted, after giving his name, into the house, and was ushered immediately to

Without rising, and merely making a sign to his guest to take a chair, the little old man continued the letter he

was then writing. After sealing it with wax, with a care and precision that denoted a nature extremely

fastidious and particular, or else a man accustomed to discharge diplomatic functions, du Portail rang for

Then he carefully wiped the steel pen he had just used, restored to their places, symmetrically, all the

displaced articles on his desk, and it was only when these little arrangements were completed that he turned

"No, really?" said Cerizet, putting on the most sympathetic air he could manage. "This is my first knowledge

"But you probably expected it. When one gives a dying man an immense bowl of hot wine, which has also

been narcotized,for the Perrache woman slept all night in a sort of lethargy after drinking a small glass of

"I am ignorant, monsieur," said Cerizet, with dignity, "of what Madame Cardinal may have given to her

uncle. I have no doubt committed a great piece of thoughtlessness in assisting this woman to obtain an

inheritance to which she assured me she had legal rights; but as to attempting the life of that old pauper, I am

"You wrote me this letter, I think," said du Portail, abruptly, taking from beneath a bohemian glass bowl a

"A letter?" replied Cerizet, with the hesitation of a man who doesn't know whether to lie or speak the truth.

"I am quite sure of what I say," continued du Portail. "I have a mania for autographs, and I possess one of

yours, obtained at the period when the Opposition exalted you to the glorious rank of martyr. I have

compared the two writings, and I find that you certainly wrote me, yesterday, the letter which you hold in

your hand, informing me of the money embarrassments of young la Peyrade at the present moment."

"Well," said Cerizet, "knowing that you had given a home to Mademoiselle de la Peyrade, who is probably

cousin of Theodose, I thought I recognized in you the mysterious protector from whom, on more than one

occasion, my friend has received the most generous assistance. Now, as I have a sincere affection for that

"You did quite right," interrupted du Portail. "I am delighted to have fallen in with a friend of la Peyrade. I

ought not to conceal from you that it was this particular fact which protected you last night. But tell me, what

is this about notes for twentyfive thousand francs? Is our friend so badly off in his affairs? Is he leading a

"On the contrary," replied Cerizet, "he's a puritan. Given to the deepest piety, he did not choose to take, as a

barrister, any other cases but those of the poor. He is now on the point of making a rich marriage."

"To a Demoiselle Colleville, daughter of the secretary of the mayor of the 12th arrondissement. In herself, the

girl has no fortune, but a certain Monsieur Thuillier, her godfather, member of the Council general of the

"La Peyrade has been devoted to the Thuillier family, into which he was introduced by Monsieur Dutocq,

"But you wrote me that these notes were signed in favor of Monsieur Dutocq. The affair is a bit of

"Well, something of that kind," replied Cerizet. "You know, monsieur, that in Paris such transactions are very

"Well, my good sir, I rely on you to put an end to it. I have other views for Theodose,another marriage to

"Excuse me!" said Cerizet, "to break up this marriage would make it impossible for him to pay his notes; and

I have the honor to call your attention to the fact that these particular bills of exchange are serious matters.

Monsieur Dutocq is in the office of the justiceof peace; in other words, he couldn't be easily defeated in

"The debt to Monsieur Dutocq you shall buy off yourself," replied du Portail. "Make arrangements with him

to that effect. Should Theodose prove reluctant to carry out my plans, those notes may become a useful

weapon in our hands. You will take upon yourself to sue him for them, and you shall have no money

responsibility in the matter. I will pay you the amount of the notes for Dutocq, and your costs in suing

"You are square in business, monsieur," said Cerizet. "There's some pleasure in being your agent. Now, if

you think the right moment has come, I should be glad if you would give me some better light on the mission

"You spoke just now," replied du Portail, "of the cousin of Theodose, Mademoiselle Lydie de la Peyrade.

This young woman, who is not in her first youth, for she is nearly thirty, is the natural daughter of the

celebrated Mademoiselle Beaumesnil of the Theatre Francais and Peyrade, the commissarygeneral of police

under the Empire, and the uncle of our friend. Until his death, which occurred suddenly, leaving his daughter,

whom he loved tenderly, without means of support, I was bound to that excellent man with the warmest

Glad to show that he had some knowledge of du Portail's interior life, Cerizet hastened to remark:

"And you have secretly fulfilled the duties of that friendship, monsieur; for, in taking into your home that

interesting orphan you assumed a difficult guardianship. Mademoiselle de la Peyrade's state of health

"Yes," replied du Portail, "the poor girl, after the death of her father, was so cruelly tried that her mind has

been somewhat affected; but a fortunate change has lately occurred in her condition, and only yesterday I

called in consultation Doctor Bianchon and the two physiciansincharge of Bicetre and the Salpetriere.

These gentlemen unanimously declare that marriage and the birth of a first child would undoubtedly restore

her to perfect health. You can readily understand that the remedy is too easy and agreeable not to be

"Then," said Cerizet, "it is to Mademoiselle Lydie de la Peyrade, his cousin, that you wish to marry

"You have said it," returned du Portail, "and you must not think that our young friend, if he accepts the

marriage, will be called upon to show a gratuitous devotion. Lydie is very agreeable in person; she has

talents, a charming disposition, and she can bring to bear, in her husband's interest, a strong influence in

public life. She has, moreover, a pretty fortune, consisting of what her mother left her, and of my entire

property, which, having no heirs myself, I intend to secure to her in the marriage contract. Besides all this,

"By a will in his own handwriting, which I have here, that old pauper constitutes her his sole legatee. You

see, therefore, that I showed some kindness in not proceeding against you and Madame Cardinal for your

little attempt last night; it was simply our property that you were trying to pillage."

"Heavens!" cried Cerizet, "I won't pretend to excuse Madame Cardinal's misconduct; and yet, as one of the

legal heirs, dispossessed by a stranger, she had, it seems to me, some right to the indulgence which you

"In that you are mistaken," said du Portail; "the apparent liberality of the old beggar to Mademoiselle de la

"A restitution," repeated du Portail, "and nothing is easier than to prove it. Do you remember the robbery of

"Yes," replied Cerizet. "I was manager of one of my newspapers at the time, and I used to write the 'Paris

items.' But stay, I remember, the actress who lost them was Mademoiselle Beaumesnil."

"Consequently, this miserable old Toupillierno, I remember that the thief was convicted; his name was

Charles Crochard. It was said, under the rose, that he was the natural son of a great personage, the Comte de

"Well," said du Portail, "this is how it happened. The robbery was committed in a house in the rue de

Tournon, occupied by Mademoiselle Beaumesnil. Charles Crochard, who was a handsome fellow, was said to

"Yes, yes," cried Cerizet, "I remember Mademoiselle Beaumesnil's embarrassment when she gave her

testimonyand also the total extinction of voice that attacked her when the judge asked her age."

"The robbery," continued du Portail, "was audaciously committed in the daytime; and no sooner did Charles

Crochard get possession of the casket than he went to the church of SaintSulpice, where he had an

appointment with an accomplice, who, being supplied with a passport, was to start immediately with the

diamonds for foreign parts. It so chanced that on entering the church, instead of meeting the man he expected,

who was a trifle late, Charles Crochard came face to face with a celebrated agent of the detective force, who

was well known to him, inasmuch as the young rascal was not at his first scrimmage with the police. The

absence of his accomplice, this encounter with the detective, and, lastly, a rapid movement made by the latter,

by the merest chance, toward the door, induced the robber to fancy he was being watched. Losing his head

under this idea, he wanted, at any cost, to put the casket out of his possession, knowing that if arrested, as he

expected, at the door of the church, it would be a damning proof against him. Catching sight at that moment

of Toupillier, who was then the giver of holy water, 'My man,' said he, making sure that no one overheard

their colloquy, 'will you take care of this little package for me? It is a box of lace. I am going near by to a

countess who is slow to pay her bill; and if I have the lace with me she'll want to see it, for it is a new style,

and she'll ask me to leave it with her on credit, instead of paying the bill; therefore I don't want to take it.

But,' he added, 'be sure not to touch the paper that wraps the box, for there's nothing harder than to do up a

"The booby!" cried Cerizet, naively; "why, that very caution would make the man want to open it."

"You are an able casuist," said du Portail. "Well, an hour later, Charles Crochard, finding that nothing

happened to him, returned to the church to obtain his deposit, but Toupillier was no longer there. You can

imagine the anxiety with which Charles Crochard attended early mass the next day, and approached the giver

of holy water, who was there, sure enough, attending to his functions. But night, they say, brings counsel; the

worthy beggar audaciously declared that he had received no package, and did not know what his interlocutor

"And there was no possibility of arguing with him, for that would be exposure," remarked Cerizet, who was

"No doubt," resumed du Portail; "the robbery was already noised about, and Toupillier, who was a very able

fellow, had calculated that Charles Crochard would not dare to publicly accuse him, for that would reveal the

theft. In fact, on his trial Charles Crochard never said a word of his mishap, and during the six years he spent

at the galleys (he was condemned to ten, but four were remitted) he did not open his lips to a single soul

"That was pretty plucky," said Cerizet; the tale excited him, and he showed openly that he saw the matter as

"In that interval," continued du Portail, "Madame Beaumesnil died, leaving her daughter a few fragments of a

once great fortune, and the diamonds which the will expressly stated Lydie was to receive 'in case they were

"Ha! ha!" exclaimed Cerizet, "bad for Toupillier, because, having to do with a man of your calibre"

"Charles Crochard's first object on being liberated was vengeance on Toupillier, and his first step was to

denounce him to the police as receiver of the stolen property. Taken in hand by the law, Toupillier defended

himself with such singular goodhumor, being able to show that no proof whatever existed against him, that

the examining judge let him off. He lost his place, however, as giver of holy water, obtaining, with great

difficulty, permission to beg at the door of the church. For my part, I was certain of his guilt; and I managed

to have the closest watch kept upon him; though I relied far more upon myself. Being a man of means and

leisure, I stuck, as you may say, to the skin of my thief, and did, in order to unmask him, one of the cleverest

things of my career. He was living at that time in the rue du Coeur Volant. I succeeded in becoming the

tenant of the room adjoining his; and one night, through a gimlet hole I had drilled in the partition, I saw my

man take the case of diamonds from a very cleverly contrived hidingplace. He sat for an hour gazing at

them and fondling them; he made them sparkle in the light, he pressed them passionately to his lips. The man

actually loved those diamonds for themselves, and had never thought of turning them to money."

"I understand," said Cerizet,"a mania like that of Cardillac, the jeweller, which has now been dramatized."

"That is just it," returned du Portail; "the poor wretch was in love with that casket; so that when, shortly after,

I entered his room and told him I knew all, he proposed to me to leave him the life use of what he called the

consolation of his old age, pledging himself to make Mademoiselle de la Peyrade his sole heir, revealing to

me at the same time the existence of a hoard of gold (to which he was adding every day), and also the

"If he made that proposal in good faith," said Cerizet, "it was a desirable one. The interest of the capital sunk

"You now see, my dear sir," said du Portail, "that I was not mistaken in trusting him. All my precautions were

well taken; I exacted that he should occupy a room in the house I lived in, where I could keep a close eye

upon him. I assisted him in making that hidingplace, the secret of which you discovered so cleverly; but

what you did not find out was that in touching the spring that opened the iron safe you rang a bell in my

apartment, which warned me of any attempt that was made to remove our treasure."

"Poor Madame Cardinal!" cried Cerizet, goodhumoredly, "how far she was from suspecting it!"

"Now here's the situation," resumed du Portail. "On account of the interest I feel in the nephew of my old

friend, and also, on account of the relationship, this marriage seems to me extremely desirable; in short, I

unite Theodose to his cousin and her 'dot.' As it is possible that, considering the mental state of his future

wife, Theodose may object to sharing my views, I have not thought it wise to make this proposal directly to

himself. You have suddenly turned up upon my path; I know already that you are clever and wily, and that

knowledge induces me to put this little matrimonial negotiation into your hands. Now, I think, you

understand the matter thoroughly; speak to him of a fine girl, with one little drawback, but, on the other hand,

a comfortable fortune. Do not name her to him; and come here and let me know how the proposal has been

"Your confidence delights me as much as it honors me," replied Cerizet, "and I will justify it the best I can."

"We must not expect too much," said du Portail. "Refusal will be the first impulse of a man who has an affair

on hand elsewhere; but we need not consider ourselves beaten. I shall not easily give up a plan which I know

to be just, even if I push my zeal so far as to put la Peyrade under lock and key in Clichy. I am resolved not to

take no for his answer to a proposal of which, in the end, he cannot fail to see the propriety. Therefore, in any

"Yes, at par, if you cannot do better; we are not going to haggle over a few thousand francs; only, when this

transaction is arranged, Monsieur Dutocq must pledge us either his assistance, or, at the very least, his

neutrality. After what you have said of the other marriage, it is unnecessary for me to warn you that there is

"Two days hence I have an appointment with la Peyrade," said Cerizet. "We have a little matter of business of

our own to settle. Don't you think it would be best to wait till then, when I can introduce the proposal

incidentally? In case of resistance, I think that arrangement would best conduce to OUR dignity."

"So be it," said du Portail; "it isn't much of a delay. Remember, monsieur, that if you succeed you have, in

place of a man able to bring you to a stern account for your IMPRUDENT ASSISTANCE to Madame

Cardinal, a greatly obliged person, who will be ready at all times to serve you, and whose influence is greater

After these friendly words, the pair separated with a thoroughly good understanding, and well satisfied with

The evening before the day already agreed upon, Theodose received from Cerizet the following note:

As for Dutocq, Cerizet saw him every day, for he was still his copying clerk; he therefore gave him his

invitation by word of mouth; but the attentive reader must remark a difference in the hour named: "Quarter

pastsix, Rocher de Cancale," said Cerizet. It was evident, therefore, that he wanted that fifteen minutes with

These minutes the usurer proposed to employ in jockeying Dutocq in the purchase of the notes; he fancied

that if the proposition to buy them were suddenly put before him without the slightest preparation it might be

more readily received. By not leaving the seller time to bethink himself, perhaps he might lead him to loosen

his grasp, and the notes once bought below par, he could consider at his leisure whether to pocket the

difference or curry favor with du Portail for the discount he had obtained. Let us say, moreover, that apart

from selfinterest, Cerizet would still have endeavored to scrape a little profit out of his friend; 'twas an

instinct and a need of his nature. He had as great a horror for straight courses as the lovers of English gardens

Dutocq, having still a portion of the cost of his practice to pay off, was forced to live very sparingly, so that a

dinner at the Rocher de Cancale was something of an event in the economy of his straitened existence. He

arrived, therefore, with that punctuality which testifies to an interest in the occasion, and precisely at a quarter

past six he entered the private room of the restaurant where Cerizet awaited him.

"It is queer," he said; "here we are returned to precisely the situation in which we began our business

relationship with la Peyrade, except, to be sure, that this present place of meeting of the three emperors is

more comfortable; I prefer the Tilsit of the rue Montgorgeuil to the Tilsit of the Cheval Rouge."

"Faith!" said Cerizet, "I don't know that the results justify the change, for, to be frank, where are the profits to

"But," said Dutocq, "it was a bargain with a long time limit. It can't be said that la Peyrade has lost much time

in getting installed forgive the punat the Thuilleries. The scamp has made his way pretty fast, you must

"Not so fast but what his marriage," said Cerizet, "is at the present moment a very doubtful thing."

"Well, I am commissioned to propose to him another wife, and I'm not sure that any choice is left to him."

"What the devil are you about, my dear fellow, lending your hand in this way to another marriage when you

"One isn't always master of circumstances, my friend; I saw at once when the new affair was laid before me

that the one we had settled on must infallibly go by the board. Consequently, I've tried to work it round in our

"Ah ca! do you mean they are pulling caps for this Theodose? Who is the new match? Has she money?"

"Then I wouldn't give a fig for it. La Peyrade has signed those notes and he will pay them."

"Will he pay them? that's the question. You are not a business man, neither is Theodose; it may come into his

head to dispute the validity of those notes. What security have we that if the facts about their origin should

come out, and the Thuillier marriage shouldn't come off, the court of commerce mightn't annul them as

'obligations without cause.' For my part, I should laugh at such a decision; I can stand it; and, moreover, my

precautions are taken; but you, as clerk to a justiceofpeace, don't you see that such an affair would give the

"But, my good fellow," said Dutocq, with the illhumor of a man who sees himself face to face with an

argument he can't refute, "you seem to have a mania for stirring up matters and meddling with"

"I tell you again," said Cerizet, "this came to me; I didn't seek it; but I saw at once that there was no use

struggling against the influence that is opposing us; so I chose the course of saving ourselves by a sacrifice."

"Parbleu! I've sold my share of those notes, leaving those who bought them to fight it out with Master

"Who do you suppose would step into my shoes unless it were the persons who have an interest in this other

marriage, and who want to hold a power over Theodose, and control him by force if necessary."

"Hang it! my dear fellow, the same that I accepted. Knowing better than you the danger of their competition I

"Come, come!" said Dutocq, shrugging his shoulders, "what you are after is to recover a loss (if you made it)

by a commission on my shareand perhaps, after all, the whole thing is only a plot between you and la

"At any rate, my good friend, you don't mince your words; an infamous thought comes into your head and

you state it with charming frankness. Luckily you shall presently hear me make the proposal to Theodose,

and you are clever enough to know by his manner if there has been any connivance between us."

"So be it!" said Dutocq. "I withdraw the insinuation; but I must say your employers are pirates; I call their

"Well, you poor fellow, this is how I reasoned: I said to myself, That good Dutocq is terribly pressed for the

last payment on his practice; this will give him enough to pay it off at one stroke; events have proved that

there are great uncertainties about our Theodoseand Thuillier scheme; here's money down, live money, and

"Come," said Cerizet, "you were talking just now of commissions. I see a means of getting one for you if

you'll engage to batter down this Colleville marriage. If you will cry it down as you have lately cried it up I

"Then you think that this new proposal will not be agreeable to la Peyrade,that he'll reject it? Is it some

"All that I can tell you is that these people expect some difficulty in bringing the matter to a conclusion."

"Well, I don't desire better than to follow your lead and do what is disagreeable to la Peyrade; but five

It was plain that Theodose was beginning to take wing toward higher social spheres; elegance was becoming

a constant thought in his mind. He appeared in a dress suit and varnished shoes, whereas his two associates

"Gentlemen," he said, "I think I am a little late, but that devil of a Thuillier is the most intolerable of human

beings about a pamphlet I am concocting for him. I was unlucky enough to agree to correct the proofs with

him, and over every paragraph there's a fight. 'What I can't understand,' he says, 'the public can't, either. I'm

not a man of letters, but I'm a practical man'; and that's the way we battle it, page after page. I thought the

"How unreasonable you are, my dear fellow," said Dutocq; "when a man wants to succeed he must have the

"Ah, yes!" said la Peyrade with a sigh, "I'll lift it; for since the day you made me eat this bread of anguish I've

Nothing more was said at the moment, for justice had to be done to the excellent fare ordered by Cerizet in

honor of his coming lease. As usually happens at dinners where affairs are likely to be discussed, each man,

with his mind full of them, took pains not to approach those topics, fearing to compromise his advantages by

seeming eager; the conversation, therefore, continued for a long time on general subjects, and it was not until

the dessert was served that Cerizet brought himself to ask la Peyrade what had been settled about the terms of

"Well, as to that, something is decided. There will not be any principal tenant at all; Mademoiselle Brigitte is

"That's a singular thing," said Cerizet, stiffly. "After your agreement with me, I certainly did not expect such

"How can I help it, my dear fellow? I agreed with you, barring amendments on the other side; I wasn't able to

give another turn to the affair. In her natural character as a managing woman and a sample of perpetual

motion, Brigitte has reflected that she might as well manage that house herself and put into her own pocket

the profits you proposed to make. I said all I could about the cares and annoyances which she would certainly

saddle upon herself. 'Oh! nonsense!' she said; 'they'll stir my blood and do my health good!'"

"It is pitiable!" said Cerizet. "That poor old maid will never know which end to take hold of; she doesn't

imagine what it is to have an empty house, and which must be filled with tenants from garret to cellar."

"I plied her with all those arguments," replied la Peyrade; "but I couldn't move her resolution. Don't you see,

my dear democrats, you stirred up the revolution of '89; you thought to make a fine speculation in dethroning

the noble by the bourgeois, and the end of it is you are shoved out yourselves. This looks like paradox; but

you've found out now that the peasant and clodhopper isn't malleable; he can't be forced down and kept under

like the noble. The aristocracy, on behalf of its dignity, would not condescend to common cares, and was

therefore dependent on a crowd of plebeian servitors to whom it had to trust for threefourths of the actions

of its own life. That was the reign of stewards and bailiffs, wily fellows, into whose hands the interests of the

great families passed, and who fed and grew fat on the parings of the great fortunes they managed. But

nowadays, utilitarian theories, as they call them, have come to the fore,'We are never so well served as

by ourselves,' 'There's no shame in attending to one's own business,' and many other bourgeois maxims which

have suppressed the role of intermediaries. Why shouldn't Mademoiselle Brigitte Thuillier manage her own

house when dukes and peers go in person to the Bourse, where such men sign their own leases and read the

deeds before they sign them, and go themselves to the notary, whom, in former days, they considered a

During this time Cerizet had time to recover from the blow he had just received squarely in the face, and to

think of the transition he had to make from one set of interests to the other, of which he was now the agent.

"What you are declaiming there is all very clever," he said, carelessly, "but the thing that proves to me our

defeat is the fact that you are not on the terms with Mademoiselle Thuillier you would have us believe you

are. She is slipping through your fingers; and I don't think that marriage is anything like as certain as Dutocq

"Well, no doubt," said la Peyrade, "there are still some touches to be given to our sketch, but I believe it is

"And I think, on the contrary, that you have lost ground; and the reason is simple: you have done those people

"No, you are mistaken. You thought you did a brilliant thing in putting them on a pinnacle, but the fact is you

emancipated them; they'll keep you now at heel. The human heart, particularly the bourgeois heart, is made

that way. If I were in your place I shouldn't feel so sure of being on solid ground, and if something else turned

"What! just because I couldn't get you the lease of that house do you want to knock everything to pieces?"

"No," said Cerizet, "I am not looking at the matter in the light of my own interests; I don't doubt that as a

trustworthy friend you have done every imaginable thing to promote them; but I think the manner in which

you have been shoved aside a very disturbing symptom. It even decides me to tell you something I did not

intend to speak of; because, in my opinion, when persons start a course they ought to keep on steadily,

looking neither forward nor back, and not allowing themselves to be diverted to other aspirations."

"Ah ca!" cried la Peyrade, "what does all this verbiage mean? Have you anything to propose to me? What's

"My dear Theodose," said Cerizet, paying no attention to the impertinence, "you yourself can judge of the

value of discovering a young girl, well broughtup, adorned with beauty and talents and a 'dot' equal to that

of Celeste, which she has in her own right, PLUS fifty thousand francs' worth of diamonds (as Mademoiselle

Georges says on her posters in the provinces), and, moreover,a fact which ought to strike the mind of an

"And this treasure you hold in your hand?" said la Peyrade, in a tone of incredulity.

"Better still, I am authorized to offer it to you; in fact, I might say that I am charged to do so."

"My friend, you are poking fun at me; unless, indeed, this phoenix has some hideous or prohibitory defect."

"Well, I'll admit," said Cerizet, "that there is a slight objection, not on the score of family, for, to tell the truth,

"Next, she is not so very young,something like twentynine or so; but there's nothing easier than to turn an

Addressed to Cerizet the word had an aggressive air, which, in fact, was noticeable since the beginning of the

dinner in the whole manner and conversation of the barrister. But it did not suit the purpose of the negotiator

"No," he replied, "our nose is as well made as our foot and our waist; but we may, perhaps, have a slight

"Oh! very good," said la Peyrade; "and as from hysteria to insanity there is but a step"

"Well, yes," interrupted Cerizet, hastily, "sorrows have affected our brain slightly; but the doctors are

unanimous in their diagnosis; they all say that after the birth of the first child not a trace will remain of this

"I am willing to admit that doctors are infallible," replied la Peyrade; "but, in spite of your discouragement,

you must allow me, my friend, to persist in my suit to Mademoiselle Colleville. Perhaps it is ridiculous to

confess it, but the truth is I am gradually falling in love with that little girl. It isn't that her beauty is

resplendent, or that the glitter of her 'dot' has dazzled me, but I find in that child a great fund of sound sense

joined to simplicity; and, what to mind is of greater consequence, her sincere and solid piety attracts me; I

"Yes," said Cerizet, who, having been on the stage, may very well have known his Moliere, "this marriage

will crown your wishes with all good; it will be filled with sweetness and with pleasures."

The allusion to Tartuffe was keenly felt by la Peyrade, who took it up and said, hotly:

"The contact with innocence will disinfect me of the vile atmosphere in which I have lived too long."

"And you will pay your notes of hand," added Cerizet, "which I advise you to do with the least possible

delay; for Dutocq here was saying to me just now that he would like to see the color of your money."

"I? not at all," interposed Dutocq. "I think, on the contrary, that our friend has a right to the delay."

"Well," said la Peyrade, "I agree with Cerizet. I hold that the less a debt is due, and therefore the more

insecure and open to contention it is, the sooner one ought to free one's self by paying it."

"Faith! no, my dear fellow," replied Dutocq, "I don't carry them about with me; besides, they are in Cerizet's

"Well," said the barrister, rising, "whenever you come to my house I'll pay you on the nail, as Cerizet can tell

"What! are you going to leave us without your coffee?" said Cerizet, amazed to the last degree.

"Yes; I have an arbitration case at eight o'clock. Besides, we have said all we had to say. You haven't your

lease, but you've got your twenty five thousand francs in full, and those of Dutocq are ready for him

whenever he chooses to come to my office. I see nothing now to prevent me from going where my private

"Ah ca! Dutocq," cried Cerizet, as la Peyrade disappeared, "this means a rupture."

"Prepared with the utmost care," added Dutocq. "Did you notice the air with which he pulled out that

"Probably," replied Dutocq, sarcastically, "where he got that with which he paid you in full for those notes

"My dear Dutocq," said Cerizet, "I'll explain to you the circumstances under which that insolent fellow freed

"Possibly, but you, my worthy clerk, were trying to get ten thousand away from me."

"No, no; I was positively ordered to buy up your claim; and you ought to remember that my offer had risen to

"Well," said Dutocq, "when we leave here we'll go to your house, where you will give me those notes; for,

you'll understand that tomorrow morning, at the earliest decent hour, I shall go to la Peyrade's office; I don't

"And right you are; for I can tell you now that before long there'll be a fine upset in his life."

"Then the thing is really seriousthis tale of a crazy woman you want him to marry? I must say that in his

place, with these moneymatters evidently on the rise, I should have backed out of your proposals just as he

"In a home, when they bring a 'dot,' we can be their guardian," replied Cerizet, sententiously. "In point of

"If you are willing," said Cerizet, "let us go and take our coffee somewhere else. This dinner has turned out so

foolishly that I want to get out of this room, where there's no air." He rang for the waiter. "Garcon!" he said,

"But this is outrageous," cried Cerizet. "I ordered the dinner, and you allow some one else to pay for it!"

"It wasn't I, monsieur," said the waiter; "the gentleman went and paid the 'dame du comptoir'; she must have

thought it was arranged between you. Besides, it is not so uncommon for gentlemen to have friendly disputes

"Won't these gentlemen take their coffee?it is paid for," said the man before he left the room.

"A good reason for not taking it," replied Cerizet, angrily. "It is really inconceivable that in a house of this

kind such an egregious blunder should be committed. What do you think of such insolence?" he added, when

"Bah!" exclaimed Dutocq, taking his hat, "it is a schoolboy proceeding; he wanted to show he had money; it

"No, no! that's not it," said Cerizet; "he meant to mark the rupture. 'I will not owe you even a dinner,' is what

"But, after all," said Dutocq, "this banquet was given to celebrate your enthronement as principal tenant of

the grand house. Well, he has failed to get you the lease, and I can understand that his conscience was uneasy

at letting you pay for a dinner which, like those notes of mine, were an 'obligation without cause.'"

Cerizet made no reply to this malicious observation. They had reached the counter where reigned the dame

who had permitted the improper payment, and, for the sake of his dignity, the usurer thought it proper to

make a fuss. After which the two men departed, and the copyingclerk took his employer to a low

coffeehouse in the Passage du Saumon. There Cerizet recovered his goodhumor; he was like a fish out of

water suddenly returned to his native element; for he had reached that state of degradation when he felt ill at

ease in places frequented by good society; and it was with a sort of sensuous pleasure that he felt himself

back in the vulgar place where they were noisily playing pool for the benefit of a "former conqueror of the

In this establishment Cerizet enjoyed the fame of being a skilful billiardplayer, and he was now entreated to

take part in a game already begun. In technical language, he "bought his ball"; that is, one of the players sold

him his turn and his chances. Dutocq profited by this arrangement to slip away, on pretence of inquiring for a

Presently, in his shirtsleeves, with a pipe between his lips, Cerizet made one of those masterly strokes which

bring down the house with frantic applause. As he waited a moment, looking about him triumphantly, his eye

lighted on a terrible killjoy. Standing among the spectators with his chin on his cane, du Portail was steadily

A tinge of red showed itself in Cerizet's cheeks. He hesitated to bow or to recognize the old gentleman, a

most unlikely person to meet in such a place. Not knowing how to take the unpleasant encounter, he went on

playing; but his hand betrayed his uneasiness, and presently an unlucky stroke threw him out of the game.

While he was putting on his coat in a tolerably illhumor, du Portail passed, almost brushing him, on his way

"Rue Montmartre, at the farther end of the Passage," said the old man, in a low tone.

When they met, Cerizet had the bad taste to try to explain the disreputable position in which he had just been

"True," returned Cerizet. "I was rather surprised to see a quiet inhabitant of the SaintSulpice quarter in such

"It merely proves to you," said the little old man, in a tone which cut short all explanation, and all curiosity,

"that I am in the habit of going pretty nearly everywhere, and that my star leads me into the path of those

persons whom I wish to meet. I was thinking of you at the very moment you came in. Well, what have you

"Nothing good," replied Cerizet. "After playing me a devilish trick which deprived me of a magnificent bit of

business, our man rejected your overture with scorn. There is no hope whatever in that claim of Dutocq's; for

la Peyrade is chockfull of money; he wanted to pay the notes just now, and tomorrow morning he will

"He not only considers it settled, but he is trying now to make people believe it is a lovematch. He rattled

"Very well," said du Portail, wishing, perhaps, to show that he could, on occasion, use the slang of a low

billiardroom, "'stop the charge'" (meaning: Do nothing more); "I will undertake to bring monsieur to reason.

But come and see me tomorrow, and tell me all about the family he intends to enter. You have failed in this

So saying, he signed to the driver of an empty citadine, which was passing, got into it, and, with a nod to

As Cerizet walked down the rue Montmartre to regain the Estrapade quarter, he puzzled his brains to divine

who that little old man with the curt speech, the imperious manner, and a tone that seemed to cast upon all

those with whom he spoke a boardinggrapnel, could be; a man, too, who came from such a distance to

spend his evening in a place where, judging by his clothes alone, he had no business to be.

Cerizet had reached the Market without finding any solution to that problem, when he was roughly shaken

out of it by a heavy blow in the back. Turning hastily, he found himself in presence of Madame Cardinal, an

encounter with whom, at a spot where she came every morning to get fish to peddle, was certainly not

Since that evening in Toupillier's garret, the worthy woman, in spite of the clemency so promptly shown to

her, had judged it imprudent to make other than very short apparitions in her own domicile, and for the last

two days she had been drowning among the liquordealers (called "retailers of comfort") the pangs of her

defeat. With flaming face and thickened voice she now addressed her late accomplice:

"Well, papa," she said, "what happened after I left you with that little old fellow?"

"I made him understand in a very few words," replied the banker of the poor, "that it was all a mistake as to

me. In this affair, my dear Madame Cardinal, you behaved with a really unpardonable heedlessness. How

came you to ask my assistance in obtaining your inheritance from your uncle, when with proper inquiry you

might have known there was a natural daughter, in whose favor he had long declared he should make a will?

That little old man, who interrupted you in your foolish attempt to anticipate your legacy, was no other than

"Ha! guardian, indeed! a fine thing, guardian!" cried the Cardinal. "To talk of a woman of my age, just

because I wanted to see if my uncle owned anything at all, to talk to ME of the police! It's hateful! it's

"Well, and you, who broke the locks and said you were going to take the diamonds, under color of marrying

my daughter! Just as if she would have you,a legitimate daughter like her! 'Never, mother,' said she; 'never

"Not until last night. She has left her blackguard of a player, and she is now, I flatter myself, in a fine

position, eating money; has her citadine by the month, and is much respected by a barrister who would marry

her at once, but he has got to wait till his parents die, for the father happens to be mayor, and the government

"Ah! very good! very good! I know all about him. You say Olympe is living with his son?"

"Well, not to say living together, for that would make talk, though he only sees her with good motives. He

lives at home with his father, but he has bought their furniture, and has put it, and my daughter, too, into a

"It seems to me pretty well arranged," said Cerizet; "and as Heaven, it appears, didn't destine us for each

"No, yes, well, that's how it was; and I think that girl is going to give me great satisfaction; and there's

"Well, my daughter being in luck, I don't think I ought to continue to cry fish in the streets; and now that my

uncle has disinherited me, I have, it seems to me, a right to an 'elementary allowance.'"

"You are dreaming, my poor woman; your daughter is a minor; it is you who ought to be feeding her; the law

"Then do you mean," said Madame Cardinal, "that those who have nothing are to give to those who have

much? A fine thing such a law as that! It's as bad as guardians who, for nothing at all, talk about calling the

police. Yes! I'd like to see 'em calling the police to me! Let 'em guillotine me! It won't prevent my saying that

the rich are swindlers; yes, swindlers! and the people ought to make another revolution to get their rights; and

THEN, my lad, you, and my daughter, and barrister Minard, and that little old guardian, you'll all come down

Perceiving that his exmotherinlaw was reaching stage of exaltation that was not unalarming, Cerizet

hastened to get away, her epithets pursuing him for more than a hundred feet; but he comforted himself by

thinking that he would make her pay for them the next time she came to his back to ask for a "convenience."

As he approached his own abode, Cerizet, who was nothing so little as courageous, felt an emotion of fear.

He perceived a form ambushed near the door, which, as he came nearer, detached itself as if to meet him.

Happily, it was only Dutocq. He came for his notes. Cerizet returned them in some illhumor, complaining of

the distrust implied in a visit at such an hour. Dutocq paid no attention to this sensitiveness, and the next

La Peyrade paid, as he had promised, on the nail, and to a few sentinel remarks uttered by Dutocq as soon as

the money was in his pocket, he answered with marked coldness. His whole external appearance and

behavior was that of a slave who has burst his chain and has promised himself not to make a gospel use of his

As he conducted his visitor to the door, the latter came face to face with a woman in servant's dress, who was

just about to ring the bell. This woman was, apparently, known to Dutocq, for he said to her:

"Ha ha! little woman; so we feel the necessity of consulting a barrister? You are right; at the family council

"Thank God, I fear no one. I can walk with my head up," said the person thus addressed.

"So much the better for you," replied the clerk of the justiceof peace; "but you will probably be summoned

before the judge who examines the affair. At any rate, you are in good hands here; and my friend la Peyrade

"Monsieur is mistaken," said the woman; "it is not for what he thinks that I have come to consult a lawyer."

"Well, be careful what you say and do, my dear woman, for I warn you you are going to be finely picked to

pieces. The relations are furious against you, and you can't get the idea out of their heads that you have got a

While speaking thus, Dutocq kept his eye on Theodose, who bore the look uneasily, and requested his client

Here follows a scene which had taken place the previous afternoon between this woman and la Peyrade.

La Peyrade, we may remember, was in the habit of going to early mass at his parish church. For some little

time he had felt himself the object of a singular attention which he could not explain on the part of the woman

whom we have just seen entering his office, who daily attended the church at, as Dorine says, his "special

hour." Could it be for love? That explanation was scarcely compatible with the maturity and the saintly,

beatific air of this person, who, beneath a plain cap, called "a la Janseniste," by which fervent female souls of

that sect were recognized, affected, like a nun, to hide her hair. On the other hand, the rest of her clothing was

of a neatness that was almost dainty, and the gold cross at her throat, suspended by a black velvet ribbon,

The morning of the day on which the dinner at the Rocher de Cancale was to take place, la Peyrade, weary of

a performance which had ended by preoccupying his mind, went up to the woman and asked her pointblank if

"Monsieur," she answered, in a tone of solemnity, "is, I think, the celebrated Monsieur de la Peyrade, the

"I am la Peyrade; and I have had, it is true, an opportunity to render services to the indigent persons of this

"Would it, then, be asking too much of monsieur's goodness that he should suffer me to consult him?"

"This place," replied la Peyrade, "is not well chosen for such consultation. What you have to say to me seems

important, to judge by the length of time you have been hesitating to speak to me. I live near here, rue

"Then I will hear another mass, at which I can take the communion. I did not dare to do so at this mass, for

the thought of speaking to monsieur so distracted my mind. I will be at monsieur's house by eight o'clock,

"No; but there is no necessity for all this ceremony," replied la Peyrade, with some impatience.

Perhaps a little professional jealousy inspired his illhumor, for it was evident that he had to do with an

At the hour appointed, not a minute before nor a minute after, the pious woman rang the bell, and the barrister

having, not without some difficulty, induced her to sit down, he requested her to state her case. She was then

seized with that delaying little cough with which we obtain a respite when brought face to face with a

difficult subject. At last, however, she compelled herself to approach the object of her visit.

"It is to ask monsieur," she said, "if he would be so very good as to inform me whether it is true that a

charitable gentleman, now deceased, has bequeathed a fund to reward domestic servants who are faithful to

"Yes," replied la Peyrade; "that is to say, Monsieur de Montyon founded 'prizes for virtue,' which are

frequently given to zealous and exemplary domestic servants. But ordinary good conduct is not sufficient;

there must be some act or acts of great devotion, and truly Christian selfabnegation."

"Religion enjoins humility upon us," replied the pious woman, "and therefore I dare not praise myself; but

inasmuch as for the last twenty years I have lived in the service of an old man of the dullest description, a

savant, who has wasted his substance on inventions, so that I myself have had to feed and clothe him, persons

"It is certainly under such conditions that the Academy selects its candidates," said la Peyrade. "What is your

"Pere Picot; he is never called otherwise in our quarter; sometimes he goes out into the streets as if dressed

for the carnival, and all the little children crowd about him, calling out: 'How d'ye do, Pere Picot!

Goodmorning, Pere Picot!' But that's how it is; he takes no care of his dignity; he goes about full of his own

ideas; and though I kill myself trying to give him appetizing food, if you ask him what he has had for his

dinner he can't tell you. Yet he's a man full of ability, and he has taught good pupils. Perhaps monsieur knows

young Phellion, a professor in the College of SaintLouis; he was one of his scholars, and he comes to see

"Yes, monsieur; mathematics have been his bane; they have flung him into a set of ideas which don't seem to

have any commonsense in them ever since he has been employed at the Observatory, near here."

"Well," said la Peyrade, "you must bring testimony proving your long devotion to this old man, and I will

then draw up a memorial to the Academy and take the necessary steps to present it."

"How good monsieur is!" said the pious woman, clasping her hands; "and if he would also let me tell him of a

"They tell me, monsieur, that to get this prize persons must be really very poor."

"Not exactly; still, the Academy does endeavor to choose whose who are in straitened circumstances, and

"Sacrifices! I think I may indeed say I have made sacrifices, for the little property I inherited from my parents

has all been spent in keeping the old man, and for fifteen years I have had no wages, which, at three hundred

francs a year and compound interest, amount now to a pretty little sum; as monsieur, I am sure, will agree."

At the words "compound interest," which evidenced a certain amount of financial culture, la Peyrade looked

"Monsieur will not think it strange," replied the saintly person, "that a very rich uncle dying in England, who

had never done anything for his family in his lifetime, should have left me twentyfive thousand francs."

"Certainly," said the barrister, "there's nothing in that but what is perfectly natural and proper."

"But, monsieur, I have been told that the possession of this money will prevent the judges from considering

"Possibly; because seeing you in possession of a little competence, the sacrifices which you apparently intend

"I shall never abandon him, poor, dear man, in spite of his faults, though I know that this poor little legacy

"Eh! monsieur, let him only get wind of that money, and he'd snap it up at a mouthful; it would all go into his

inventions of perpetual motion and other machines of various kinds which have already ruined him, and me,

"Then," said la Peyrade, "your desire is that this legacy should remain completely unknown, not only to your

"How clever monsieur is, and how well he understands things!" she replied, smiling.

"And also," continued the barrister, "you don't want to keep that money openly in your possession?"

"For fear my master should find it out and get it away from me? Exactly. Besides, as monsieur will

understand, I shouldn't be sorry, in order to supply the poor dear man with extra comforts, that the sum

"Very good; then it is not only about the memorial to the Academy for the prize of virtue, but also about an

investment of your legacy that you have so long been desirous of consulting me?"

"The memorial, after I have made a few inquiries, will be easy enough; but an investment, offering good

security, the secret of which you desire to keep, is much less readily obtained."

"And yet I prayed earnestly just now that monsieur might be willing to keep this money for me. I should feel

such confidence if it were in his hands; I know he would return it to me, and never speak of it."

La Peyrade gathered, at this instant, the fruit of his comedy of legal devotion to the necessitous classes. The

choir of porters chanting his praises to the skies could alone have inspired this servantwoman with the

boundless confidence of which he found himself the object. His thoughts reverted instantly to Dutocq and his

notes, and he was not far from thinking that this woman had been sent to him by Providence. But the more he

was inclined to profit by this chance to win his independence, the more he felt the necessity of seeming to

Moreover, he had no great belief in the character of his client, and did not care, as the common saying is, to

uncover Saint Peter to cover Saint Paul; in other words, to substitute for a creditor who, after all, was his

accomplice, a woman who might at any time become exacting and insist in repayment in some public manner

that would injure his reputation. He decided, therefore, to play the game with a high hand.

"My good woman," he said, "I am not in want of money, and I am not rich enough to pay interest on

twentyfive thousand francs for which I have no use. All that I can do for you is to place that sum, in my

name, with the notary Dupuis. He is a religious man; you can see him every Sunday in the warden's pew in

our church. Notaries, you know, never give receipts, therefore I could not give you one myself; I can only

promise to leave among my papers, in case of death, a memorandum which will secure the restitution of the

money into your hands. The affair, you see, is one of blind confidence, and I am very unwilling to make it. If

I do so, it is only to oblige a person whose piety and the charitable use she intends to make of the proceeds of

"This appears to me the only possible way," said la Peyrade. "I shall hope to get you six per cent interest, and

you may rely that it will be paid with the utmost regularity. But remember, six months, or even a year, may

elapse before the notary will be in a position to repay this money, because notaries invest such trust funds

chiefly in mortgages which require a certain time to mature. Now, when you have obtained the prize for

virtue, which, according to all appearance, I can readily do for you, there will be no reason to hide your little

property any longer,a reason which I fully understand; but you will not be able to withdraw it from the

notary's hands immediately; and in case of any difficulty arising, I should be forced to explain the situation,

the manner in which you have concealed your prosperity from your master, to whom you have been supposed

to be wholly devoted. This, as you will see, would put you in the position of falsely professing virtue, and

"Oh! monsieur," said the saintly woman, "can it be that any one would think me a person who did not speak

"Bless you! my good creature, in business it is necessary to foresee everything. Money embroils the best

friends, and leads to actions they never foresaw. Therefore reflect; you can come and see me again in a few

days. It is possible that between now and then you will find some better investment; and I myself, who am

doing at this moment a thing I don't altogether like, may have found other difficulties which I do not now

This threat, adroitly thrown out as an afterthought, was intended to immediately clinch the matter.

"I have reflected carefully," said the pious woman, "and I feel sure that in the hands of so religious a man as

Taking from her bosom a little pocketbook, she pulled out twentyfive bank notes. The rapid manner in

which she counted them was a revelation to la Peyrade. The woman was evidently accustomed to handle

"Can it be that she is making me a receiver of stolen property? No," he said aloud, "in order to draw up the

memorial for the Academy, I must, as I told you, make a few inquiries; and that will give me occasion to call

"Very good; at four o'clock; and if, as I doubt not, the result of my inquiry is favorable, I will take your

money then. Otherwise, if there are not good grounds for your application for the prize of virtue there will be

no reason why you should make a mystery of your legacy. You could then invest it in some more normal

"Oh! how cautious monsieur is!" she said, with evident disappointment, having thought the affair settled.

"This money, God be thanked! I have not stolen, and monsieur can make what inquiries he likes about me in

"It is quite indispensable that I should do so," said la Peyrade, dryly, for he did not at all like, under this mask

of simplicity, the quick intelligence that penetrated his thoughts. "Without being a thief, a woman may very

well not be a Sister of Charity; there's a wide margin between the two extremes."

"As monsieur chooses," she replied; "he is doing me so great a service that I ought to let him take all

"The devil!" thought la Peyrade; "that woman is stronger than I; she swallows insults with gratitude and

without the sign of a grimace! I have never yet been able to master myself like that."

He began now to fear that he had been too timid, and to think that his wouldbe creditor might change her

mind before he could pay her the visit he had promised. But the harm was done, and, although consumed

with anxiety lest he had lost a rare chance, he would have cut off a leg sooner than yield to his impulse to go

to her one minute before the hour he had fixed. The information he obtained about her in the quarter was

rather contradictory. Some said his client was a saint; otherwise declared her to be a sly creature; but, on the

whole, nothing was said against her morality that deterred la Peyrade from taking the piece of luck she had

With the money in his pocket he went to dine with Cerizet and Dutocq at the Rocher de Cancale; and it is to

the various emotions he had passed through during the day that we must attribute the sharp and

illconsidered manner in which he conducted his rupture with his two associates. This behavior was neither

that of his natural disposition nor of his acquired temperament; but the money that was burning in his pockets

had slightly intoxicated him; its very touch had conveyed to him an excitement and an impatience for

emancipation of which he was not wholly master. He flung Cerizet over in the matter of the lease without so

much as consulting Brigitte; and yet, he had not had the full courage of his duplicity; for he had laid to the

charge of the old woman a refusal which was merely the act of his own will, prompted by bitter recollections

In short, during the whole day, la Peyrade had not shown himself the able and infallible man that we have

hitherto seen him. Once before, when he carried the fifteen thousand francs entrusted to him by Thuillier, he

had been led by Cerizet into an insurrectionary proceeding which necessitated the affair of Sauvaignou.

Perhaps, on the whole, it is more difficult to be strong under good than under evil fortune. The Farnese

Hercules, calm and in still repose, expresses more energetically the plenitude of muscular power than a

violent and agitated Hercules represented in the overexcited energy of his labors.

Between the first and second parts of this history an immense event had taken place in the life of Phellion.

There is no one who has not heard of the misfortunes of the Odeon, that fatal theatre which, for years, ruined

all its directors. Right or wrong, the quarter in which this dramatic impossibility stands is convinced that its

prosperity depends upon it; so that more than once the mayor and other authorities of the arrondissement

have, with a courage that honors them, taken part in the most desperate efforts to galvanize the corpse.

Now to meddle with theatrical matters is one of the eternally perennial ambitions of the lesser bourgeoisie.

Always, therefore, the successive saviours of the Odeon feel themselves magnificently rewarded if they are

given ever so small a share in the administration of that enterprise. It was at some crisis in its affairs that

Minard, in his capacity as mayor of the 11th arrondissement, had been called to the chairmanship of the

committee for reading plays, with the power to join unto himself as assistants a certain number of the

We shall soon know exactly how near was the realization of la Peyrade's projects for the possession of

Celeste's "dot"; let us merely say now that these projects in approaching maturity had inevitably become

noised abroad; and as this condition of things pointed, of course, to the exclusion of Minard junior and also of

Felix the professor, the prejudice hitherto manifested by Minard pere against old Phellion was transformed

into an unequivocal disposition towards friendly cordiality; there is nothing that binds and soothes like the

feeling of a checkmate shared in common. Judged without the evil eye of paternal rivalry, Phellion became to

Minard a Roman of incorruptible integrity and a man whose little treatises had been adopted by the

So that when it became the duty of the mayor to select the members of the dramatic customhouse, of which

he was now the head, he immediately thought of Phellion. As for the great citizen, he felt, on the day when a

post was offered to him in that august tribunal, that a crown of gold had been placed upon his brow.

It will be well understood that it was not lightly, nor without having deeply meditated, that a man of

Phellion's solemnity had accepted the high and sacred mission which was offered to him. He said within

himself that he was called upon to exercise the functions of a magistracy, a priestly office.

"To judge of men," he replied to Minard, who was much surprised at his hesitation, "is an alarming task, but

Once more the familythat rock on which the firmest resolutions split had threatened to infringe on the

domain of his conscience. The thought of boxes and tickets of which the future member of the committee

could dispose in favor of his own kin had excited in the household so eager a ferment that his freedom of

decision seemed for a moment in danger. But, happily, Brutus was able to decide himself in the same

direction along which a positive uprising of the whole Phellionian tribe intended to push him. From the

observations of Barniol, his soninlaw, and also by his own personal inspiration, he became persuaded that

by his vote, always given to works of irreproachable morality, and by his firm determination to bar the way to

all plays that mothers of families could not take their daughters to witness, he was called upon to render the

most signal services to morals and public order. Phellion, to use his own expression, had therefore become a

member of the areopagus presided over by Minard, andstill speaking as he spokehe was issuing from

the exercise of his functions, which were both delicate and interesting, when the conversation we are about to

report took place. A knowledge of this conversation is necessary to an understanding of the ulterior events of

this history, and it will also serve to put into relief the envious insight which is one of the most marked traits

The session of the committee had been extremely stormy. On the subject of a tragedy entitled, "The Death of

Hercules," the classic party and the romantic party, whom the mayor had carefully balanced in the

composition of his committee, had nearly approached the point of tearing each other's hair out. Twice

Phellion had risen to speak, and his hearers were astonished at the quantity of metaphors the speech of a

major of the National Guard could contain when his literary convictions were imperilled. As the result of a

vote, victory remained with the opinions of which Phellion was the eloquent organ. It was while descending

"We have done a good work this day. 'The Death of Hercules' reminded me of 'The Death of Hector,' by the

late Luce de Lancival; the work we have just accepted sparkles with sublime verses."

"Yes," said Minard, "the versification has taste; there are some really fine lines in it, and I admit to you that I

"Oh!" replied Minard, "Colleville's anagrams are mere witticisms, which have nothing in common with the

"And yet," said Minard, "I can assure you he attaches the greatest importance to that rubbish, and apropos to

his anagrams, as, indeed, about many other things, he is not a little puffed up. Since their emigration to the

Madeleine quarter it seems to me that not only the Sieur Colleville, but his wife and daughter, and the

Thuilliers and the whole coterie have assumed an air of importance which is rather difficult to justify."

"No wonder!" said Phellion; "one must have a pretty strong head to stand the fumes of opulence. Our friends

have become so very rich by the purchase of that property where they have gone to live that we ought to

forgive them for a little intoxication; and I must say the dinner they gave us yesterday for a housewarming

"I myself," said Minard, "have given a few remarkable dinners to which men in high government positions

have not disdained to come, yet I am not puffed up with pride on that account; such as my friends have

"You, Monsieur le maire, have long been habituated to the splendid existence you have made for yourself by

your high commercial talents; our friends, on the contrary, so lately embarked on the smiling ship of Fortune,

And then to cut short a conversation in which Phellion began to think the mayor rather "caustic," he made as

if he intended to take leave of him. In order to reach their respective homes they did not always take the same

"Are you going through the Luxembourg?" asked Minard, not allowing Phellion to give him the slip.

"I shall cross it, but I have an appointment to meet Madame Phellion and the little Barniols at the end of the

"Then," said Minard, "I'll go with you and have the pleasure of making my bow to Madame Phellion; and I

shall get the fresh air at the same time, for, in spite of hearing fine things, one's head gets tired at the business

Minard had felt that Phellion gave rather reluctant assent to his sharp remarks about the new establishment of

the Thuilliers, and he did not attempt to renew the subject; but when he had Madame Phellion for a listener,

"It was very fine," replied Madame Phellion; "as I tasted that soup 'a la bisque' I knew that some caterer, like

Chevet, had supplanted the cook. But the whole affair was dull; it hadn't the gaiety of our old meetings in the

Latin quarter. And then, didn't it strike you, as it did me, that Madame and Mademoiselle Thuillier no longer

seemed mistresses of their own house? I really felt as if I were the guest of Madamewhat IS her name? I

"Torna, Comtesse de Godollo," said Phellion, intervening. "The name is euphonious enough to remember."

"It is a Magyar, or to speak more commonly, a Hungarian name. Our own name, if we wanted to discuss it,

"Very likely; at any rate we have the advantage of being known, not only in our own quarter, but throughout

the tuition world, where we have earned an honorable position; while this Hungarian countess, who makes, as

they say, the good and the bad weather in the Thuilliers' home, where does she come from, I'd like to know?

How did such a fine lady,for she has good manners and a very distinguished air, no one denies her

that,how came she to fall in love with Brigitte; who, between ourselves, keeps a sickening odor of the

porter's lodge about her. For my part, I think this devoted friend is an intriguing creature, who scents money,

"Ah ca!" said Minard, "then you don't know the original cause of the intimacy between Madame la Comtesse

"She is a tenant in their house; she occupies the entresol beneath their apartment."

"True, but there's something more than that in it. Zelie, my wife, heard it from Josephine, who wanted, lately,

to enter our service; the matter came to nothing, for Francoise, our woman, who thought of marrying,

changed her mind. You must know, fair lady, that it was solely Madame de Godollo who brought about the

"What! their upholsterer?" cried Phellion,"that distinguished woman, of whom one may truly say, 'Incessu

patuit dea'; which in French we very inadequately render by the expression, 'bearing of a queen'?"

"Excuse me," said Minard. "I did not mean that Madame de Godollo is actually in the furniture business; but,

at the time when Mademoiselle Thuillier decided, by la Peyrade's advice, to manage the new house herself,

that little fellow, who hasn't all the ascendancy over her mind he thinks he has, couldn't persuade her to move

the family into the splendid apartment where they received us yesterday. Mademoiselle Brigitte objected that

she should have to change her habits, and that her friends and relations wouldn't follow her to such a distant

"It is quite certain," interrupted Madame Phellion, "that to make up one's mind to hire a carriage every

Sunday, one wants a prospect of greater pleasure than can be found in that salon. When one thinks that,

except on the day of the famous dance of the candidacy, they never once opened the piano in the rue

"It would have been, I am sure, most agreeable to the company to have a talent like yours put in requisition,"

remarked Minard; "but those are not ideas that could ever come into the mind of that good Brigitte. She'd

have seen two more candles to light. Fivefranc pieces are her music. So, when la Peyrade and Thuillier

insisted that she should move into the apartment in the Place de la Madeleine, she thought of nothing but the

extra costs entailed by the removal. She judged, rightly enough, that beneath those gilded ceilings her old

"See how all things link together," remarked Phellion, "and how, from the summits of society, luxury

infiltrates itself, sooner or later, through the lower classes, leading to the ruin of empires."

"You are broaching there, my dear commander," said Minard, "one of the most knotty questions of political

economy. Many good minds think, on the contrary, that luxury is absolutely demanded in the interests of

commerce, which is certainly the life of States. In any case, this view, which isn't yours, appears to have been

that of Madame de Godollo, for, they tell me, her apartment is very coquettishly furnished; and to coax

Mademoiselle Brigitte into the same path of elegance she made a proposal to her as follows: 'A friend of

mine,' she said, 'a Russian princess for whom one of the first upholsterers has just made splendid furniture, is

suddenly recalled to Russia by the czar, a gentleman with whom no one dares to trifle. The poor woman is

therefore obliged to turn everything she owns here into money as fast as possible; and I feel sure she would

sell this furniture for ready money at a quarter of the price it cost her. All of it is nearly new, and some things

"So," cried Madame Phellion, "all that magnificence displayed before our eyes last night was a magnificent

"Just so," replied Minard; "and the thing that decided Mademoiselle Brigitte to take that splendid chance was

not so much the desire to renew her shabby furniture as the idea of doing an excellent stroke of business. In

that old maid there's always something of Madame la Ressource in Moliere's 'Miser.'"

"I think, Monsieur le maire, that you are mistaken," said Phellion. "Madame la Ressource is a character in

"Do you think so?" said Minard. "Well, very likely. But what is certain is that, though the barrister ingratiated

himself with Brigitte in helping her to buy the house, it was by this clever jockeying about the furniture that

the foreign countess got upon the footing with Brigitte that you now see. You may have remarked, perhaps,

that a struggle is going on between those two influences; which we may designate as the house, and its

"Yes, certainly," said Madame Phellion, with a beaming expression that bore witness to the interest she took

in the conversation, "it did seem to me that the great lady allowed herself to contradict the barrister, and did

"Very marked sharpness," resumed Minard, "and that intriguing fellow perceives it. It strikes me that the

lady's hostility makes him uneasy. The Thuilliers he got cheaply; for, between ourselves you know, there's

not much in Thuillier himself; but he feels now that he has met a tough adversary, and he is looking

"Well, that's justice," said Madame Phellion. "For some time past that man, who used to make himself so

small and humble, has been taking airs of authority in the house which are quite intolerable; he behaves

openly as the soninlaw; and you know very well, in that affair of Thuillier's election he jockeyed us all,

"Yes; but I can assure you," said Minard, "that at the present time his influence is waning. In the first place,

he won't find every day for his dear, good friend, as he calls him, a fine property worth a million to be bought

"Then they did get that house very cheap?" said Madame Phellion, interrogatively.

"They got it for nothing, as the result of a dirty intrigue which the lawyer Desroches related to me the other

day. If it ever became known to the council of the bar, that little barrister would be badly compromised. The

next thing is the coming election to the Chamber. Eating gives appetite, as they say, and our good Thuillier is

hungry; but he begins to perceive that Monsieur de la Peyrade, when it becomes a question of getting him

that mouthful, hasn't his former opportunity to make dupes of us. That is why the family is turning more and

more to Madame de Godollo, who seems to have some very high acquaintances in the political world.

Besides all this, in fact, without dwelling on the election business, which is still a distant matter, this

Hungarian countess is becoming, every day, more and more a necessity to Brigitte; for it must be owned that

without the help of the great lady, the poor soul would look in the midst of her gilded salon like a ragged

"Oh, Monsieur le maire, you are cruel," said Madame Phellion, affecting compunction.

"No, but say," returned Minard, "with your hand on your conscience, whether Brigitte, whether Madame

Thuillier could preside in such a salon? No, it is the Hungarian countess who does it all. She furnished the

rooms; she selected the male domestic, whose excellent training and intelligence you must have observed; it

was she who arranged the menu of that dinner; in short, she is the providence of the parvenu colony, which,

without her intervention, would have made the whole quarter laugh at it. Andnow this is a very noticeable

thinginstead of being a parasite like la Peyrade, this Hungarian lady, who seems to have a fortune of her

own, proves to be not only disinterested, but generous. The two gowns that you saw Brigitte and Madame

Thuillier wear last night were a present from her, and it was because she came herself to superintend the toilet

of our two 'amphitryonesses' that you were so surprised last night not to find them rigged in their usual

"But what can be the motive," asked Madame Phellion, "of this maternal and devoted guardianship?"

"My dear wife," said Phellion, solemnly, "the motives of human actions are not always, thank God!

selfishness and the consideration of vile interests. There are hearts in this world that find pleasure in doing

good for its own sake. This lady may have seen in our good friends a set of people about to enter blindly into

a sphere they knew nothing about, and having encouraged their first steps by the purchase of this furniture,

she may, like a nurse attached to her nursling, find pleasure in giving them the milk of her social knowledge

"He seems to keep aloof from our strictures, the dear husband!" cried Minard; "but just see how he goes

"All the same it would be difficult to say more neatly that the Thuilliers are geese, and that Madame de

"I do not accept for these friends of ours," said Phellion, "a characterization so derogatory to their repute. I

meant to say that they were lacking, perhaps, in that form of experience, and that this noble lady has placed at

their service her knowledge of the world and its usages. I protest against any interpretation of my language

"Well, anyhow, you will agree, my dear commander, that in the idea of giving Celeste to this la Peyrade,

there is something more than want of experience; there is, it must be said, blundering folly and immorality;

"Monsieur le maire," interrupted Phellion, with redoubled solemnity, "Solon, the lawgiver, decreed no

punishment for parricide, declaring it to be an impossible crime. I think the same thing may be said of the

offence to which you seem to make allusion. Madame Colleville granting favors to Monsieur de la Peyrade,

and all the while intending to give him her daughter? No, monsieur, no! that passes imagination. Questioned

on this subject, like Marie Antoinette, by a human tribunal, Madame Colleville would answer with the queen,

"Nevertheless, my friend," said Madame Phellion, "allow me to remind you that Madame Colleville is

excessively lightminded, and has given, as we al know, pretty good proofs of it."

"Enough, my dear," said Phellion. "The dinner hour summons us; I think that, little by little, we have allowed

"You are full of illusions, my dear commander," said Minard, taking Phellion by the hand and shaking it; "but

they are honorable illusions, and I envy them. Madame, I have the honor" added the mayor, with a

The information acquired by the mayor of the 11th arrondissement was by no means incorrect. In the

Thuillier salon, since the emigration to the Madeleine quarter, might be seen daily, between the tart Brigitte

and the plaintive Madame Thuillier, the graceful and attractive figure of a woman who conveyed to this salon

an appearance of the most unexpected elegance. It was quite true that through the good offices of this lady,

who had become her tenant in the new house, Brigitte had made a speculation in furniture not less

advantageous in its way, but more avowable, than the very shady purchase of the house itself. For six

thousand francs in ready money she had obtained furniture lately from workshops representing a value of at

It was still further true that in consequence of a service which went deep into her heart, Brigitte was showing

to the beautiful foreign countess the respectful deference which the bourgeoisie, in spite of its sulky jealousy,

is much less indisposed to give to titles of nobility and high positions in the social hierarchy than people

think. As this Hungarian countess was a woman of great tact and accomplished training, in taking the

direction which she had thought it wise to assume over the affairs of her proteges, she had been careful to

guard her influence from all appearance of meddlesome and imperious dictation. On the contrary, she

flattered Brigitte's claim to be a model housekeeper; in her own household expenses she affected to ask the

spinster's advice; so that by reserving to herself the department of luxurious expenses, she had more the air of

La Peyrade could not disguise from himself that a change was taking place. His influence was evidently

waning before that of this stranger; but the antagonism of the countess was not confined to a simple struggle

for influence. She made no secret of being opposed to his suit for Celeste; she gave her unequivocal approval

to the love of Felix Phellion, the professor. Minard, by whom this fact was not unobserved, took very good

care, in the midst of his other information, not to mention it to those whom it most concerned.

La Peyrade was all the more anxious at being thus undermined by a hostility the cause of which was

inexplicable to him, because he knew he had himself to blame for bringing this disquieting adversary into the

very heart of his citadel. His first mistake was in yielding to the barren pleasure of disappointing Cerizet in

the lease of the house. If Brigitte by his advice and urging had not taken the administration of the property

into her own hands there was every probability that she would never have made the acquaintance of Madame

de Godollo. Another imprudence had been to urge the Thuilliers to leave their old home in the Latin quarter.

At this period, when his power and credit had reached their apogee, Theodose considered his marriage a

settled thing; and he now felt an almost childish haste to spring into the sphere of elegance which seemed

henceforth to be his future. He had therefore furthered the inducements of the countess, feeling that he thus

sent the Thuilliers before him to make his bed in the splendid apartment he intended to share with them. By

thus removing them from their old home he saw another advantage,that of withdrawing Celeste from daily

intercourse with a rival who seemed to him dangerous. Deprived of the advantage of propinquity, Felix

would be forced to make his visits farther apart; and therefore there would be greater facilities to ruin him in

the girl's heart, where he was installed on condition of giving religious satisfaction,a requirement to which

But in all these plans and schemes various drawbacks confronted him. To enlarge the horizon of the

Thuilliers was for la Peyrade to run the chance of creating competition for the confidence and admiration of

which he had been till then the exclusive object. In the sort of provincial life they had hitherto lived, Brigitte

and his dear, good friend placed him, for want of comparison, at a height from which the juxtaposition of

other superiorities and elegances must bring him down. So, then, apart from the blows covertly dealt him by

Madame de Godollo, the idea of the transpontine emigration had proved to be, on the whole, a bad one.

The Collevilles had followed their friends the Thuilliers, to the new house near the Madeleine, where an

entresol at the back had been conceded to them at a price conformable to their budget. But Colleville declared

it lacked light and air, and being obliged to go daily from the boulevard of the Madeleine to the faubourg

Saint Jacques, where his office was, he fumed against the arrangement of which he was the victim, and felt

at times that la Peyrade was a tyrant. Madame Colleville, on the other hand, had flung herself into an

alarming orgy of bonnets, mantles, and new gowns, requiring the presentation of a mass of bills, which led

not infrequently to scenes in the household which were more or less stormy. As for Celeste, she had

undoubtedly fewer opportunities to see young Phellion, but she had also fewer chances to rush into religious

controversy; and absence, which is dangerous to none but inferior attachments, made her think more tenderly

But all these false calculations of Theodose were as nothing in the balance with another cause for his

He had assured Thuillier that, after a short delay and the payment of ten thousand francs, to which his dear,

good friend submitted with tolerable grace, the cross of the Legion of honor would arrive to realize the secret

desire of all his life. Two months had now passed without a sign of that glorious rattle; and the former

subdirector, who would have felt such joy in parading his red ribbon on the boulevard of the Madeleine, of

which he was now one of the most assiduous promenaders, had nothing to adorn his buttonhole but the

flowers of the earth, the privilege of everybody,of which he was far less proud than Beranger.

La Peyrade had, to be sure, mentioned an unforeseen and inexplicable difficulty by which all the efforts of

the Comtesse du Bruel had been paralyzed; but Thuillier did not take comfort in the explanation; and on

certain days, when the disappointment became acute, he was very near saying with Chicaneau in Les

However, no outbreak happened, for la Peyrade held him in leash by the famous pamphlet on "Taxation and

the SlidingScale"; the conclusion of which had been suspended during the excitement of the moving; for

during that agitating period Thuillier had been unable to give proper care to the correction of proofs, about

which, we may remember, he had reserved the right of punctilious examination. La Peyrade had now reached

a point when he was forced to see that, in order to restore his influence, which was daily evaporating, he must

strike some grand blow; and it was precisely this nagging and vexatious fancy about the proofs that the

barrister decided to take as the startingpoint of a scheme, both deep and adventurous, which came into his

One day, when the pair were engaged on the sheets of the pamphlet, a discussion arose upon the word

"nepotism," which Thuillier wished to eliminate from one of la Peyrade's sentences, declaring that never had

he met with it anywhere; it was pure neologismwhich, to the literary notions of the bourgeoisie, is

Generally la Peyrade took the ridiculous remarks of his dear, good friend pretty patiently; but on this

occasion he made himself exceedingly excited, and signified to Thuillier that he might terminate himself a

work to which he applied such luminous and intelligent criticism; after which remark he departed and was not

At first Thuillier supposed this outbreak to be a mere passing effect of illhumor; but when la Peyrade's

absence grew prolonged he felt the necessity of taking some conciliatory step, and accordingly he went to see

the barrister, intending to make honorable amends and so put an end to his sulkiness. Wishing, however, to

give this advance an air which allowed an honest issue to his own selflove, he entered la Peyrade's room

"Well, my dear fellow, it turns out that we were both right: 'nepotism' means the authority that the nephews of

popes take in public affairs. I have searched the dictionary and it gives no other explanation; but, from what

Phellion tells me, I find that in the political vocabulary the meaning of the word has been extended to cover

the influence which corrupt ministers permit certain persons to exercise illegally. I think, therefore, that we

may retain the expression, though it is certainly not taken in that sense by Napoleon Landais."

La Peyrade, who, in receiving his visitor, had affected to be extremely busy in sorting his papers, contented

"Well," said Thuillier, "have you got the last proofs? We ought to be getting on."

"If you have sent nothing to the printingoffice," replied la Peyrade, "of course there are no proofs. I myself

"But, my dear Theodose," said Thuillier, "it isn't possible that for such a trifle you are affronted. I don't

pretend to be a writer, only as my name is on the book I have, I think, the right to my opinion about a word."

"But 'Mossie' Phellion," replied Theodose, "is a writer; and inasmuch as you have consulted him, I don't see

why you can't engage him to finish the work in which, for my part, I have resolved not to cooperate any

"Heavens! what temper!" cried Thuillier; "here you are furious just because I seemed to question a word and

then consulted some one. You know very well that I have read passages to Phellion, Colleville, Minard, and

Barniol as if the work were mine, in order to see the effect it would produce upon the public; but that's no

reason why I should be willing to give my name to the things they are capable of writing. Do you wish me to

give you a proof of the confidence I have in you? Madame la Comtesse de Godollo, to whom I read a few

pages last night, told me that the pamphlet was likely to get me into trouble with the authorities; but I

"Well," said la Peyrade, "I think that the oracle of the family sees the matter clearly; and I've no desire to

"All that is nonsense," said Thuillier. "Have you, or have you not, an intention to leave me in the lurch?"

"Literary questions make more quarrels among friends than political questions," replied Theodose. "I wish to

"But, my dear Theodose, never have I assumed to be a literary man. I think I have sound commonsense, and

I say out my ideas; you can't be angry at that; and if you play me this trick, and refuse to collaborate any

longer, it is because you have some other grudge against me that I know nothing about."

"I don't see why you call it a trick. There's nothing easier for you than not to write a pamphlet; you'll simply

"And yet it was you yourself who declared that this publication would help my election; besides, I repeat, I

have read passages to all our friends, I have announced the matter in the municipal council, and if the work

were not to appear I should be dishonored; people would be sure to say the government had bought me up."

"You have only to say that you are the friend of Phellion, the incorruptible; that will clear you. You might

even give Celeste to his booby of a son; that alliance would certainly protect you from all suspicion."

"Theodose," said Thuillier, "there is something in your mind that you don't tell me. It is not natural that for a

"Well, yes, there is," replied la Peyrade, with the air of a man who makes up his mind to speak out. "I don't

"Nor I either; I don't like it," said Thuillier, hotly; "and if you accuse me of so base an action, I summon you

to explain yourself. We must get out of these hints and innuendoes. What do you complain of? What have

"Nothing and everything," replied la Peyrade. "You and your sister are much too clever to break openly with

a man who, at the risk of his reputation, has put a million in your hands. But I am not so simple that I don't

know how to detect changes. There are people about you who have set themselves, in an underhand way, to

destroy me; and Brigitte has only one thought, and that is, how to find a decent way of not keeping her

promises. Men like me don't wait till their claims are openly protested, and I certainly do not intend to impose

myself on any family; still, I was far, I acknowledge, from expecting such treatment."

"Come, come," said Thuillier, kindly, seeing in the barrister's eye the glint of a tear of which he was

completely the dupe, "I don't know what Brigitte may have been doing to you, but one thing is very certain: I

"No," said la Peyrade, "since that mishap about the cross I am only good, as the saying is, to throw to the

dogs. How could I have struggled against secret influences? Possibly it is that pamphlet, about which you

have talked a great deal too much, that has hindered your appointment. The ministers are so stupid! They

would rather wait and have their hand forced by the fame of the publication than do the thing with a good

grace as the reward of your services. But these are political mysteries which would never enter your sister's

"The devil!" cried Thuillier. "I think I've got a pretty observing eye, and yet I can't see the slightest change in

"Oh, yes!" said la Peyrade, "your eyesight is so good that you have never seen perpetually beside her that

"Ha, ha!" said Thuillier, slyly, "so it is a little jealousy, is it, in our mind?"

"Jealousy!" retorted la Peyrade. "I don't know if that's the right word, but certainly your sisterwhose mind

is nothing above the ordinary, and to whom I am surprised that a man of your intellectual superiority allows a

"How can I help it, my dear fellow," interrupted Thuillier, sucking in the compliment; "she is so absolutely

"I admit the weakness, but, I repeat, your sister doesn't fit into your groove. Well, I say that when a man of

the value which you are good enough to recognize in me, does her the honor to consult her and devote

himself to her as I have done, it can hardly be agreeable to him to find himself supplanted by a woman who

comes from nobody knows whereand all because of a few trumpery chairs and tables she has helped her to

"With women, as you know very well," replied Thuillier, "household affairs have the first place."

"And Brigitte, who wants a finger in everything, also assumes to carry matters with a high hand in affairs of

the heart. As you are so extraordinarily clearsighted you ought to have seen that in Brigitte's mind nothing is

less certain than my marriage with Mademoiselle Colleville; and yet my love has been solemnly authorized

"Good gracious!" cried Thuillier, "I'd like to see any one attempt to meddle with my arrangements!"

"Well, without speaking of Brigitte, I can tell you of another person," said Theodose, "who is doing that very

thing; and that person is Mademoiselle Celeste herself. In spite of their quarrels about religion, her mind is

"No one knows Flavie, my dear Thuillier, better than you. She is a woman rather than a mother. I have found

it necessary to do a little bit of courting to her myself, and, you understand, while she is willing for this

"Well," said Thuillier, "I'll undertake to speak to Celeste myself. It shall never be said that a slip of a girl lays

"That's exactly what I don't want you to do," cried la Peyrade. "Don't meddle in all this. Outside of your

relations to your sister you have an iron will, and I will never have it said that you exerted your authority to

put Celeste in my arms; on the contrary, I desire that the child may have complete control over her own heart.

The only thing I request is that she shall decide positively between Felix Phellion and myself; because I do

not choose to remain any longer in this doubtful position. It is true we agreed that the marriage should only

take place after you became a deputy; but I feel now that it is impossible to allow the greatest event of my life

to remain at the mercy of doubtful circumstances. And, besides, such an arrangement, though at first agreed

upon, seems to me now to have a flavor of a bargain which is unbecoming to both of us. I think I had better

make you a confidence, to which I am led by the unpleasant state of things now between us. Dutocq may

have told you, before you left the apartment in the rue SaintDominique, that an heiress had been offered to

me whose immediate fortune is larger than that which Mademoiselle Colleville will eventually inherit. I

refused, because I have had the folly to let my heart be won, and because an alliance with a family as

honorable as yours seemed to me more desirable; but, after all, it is as well to let Brigitte know that if Celeste

"I can easily believe that," said Thuillier; "but as for putting the whole decision into the hands of that little

"I can't help it," said the barrister. "I must, at any price, get out of this position; it is no longer tenable. You

talk about your pamphlet; I am not in a fit condition to finish it. You, who have been a man of gallantry, you

must know the dominion that women, fatal creatures! exercise over our whole being."

"Bah!" said Thuillier, conceitedly, "they cared for me, but I did not often care for them; I took them, and left

"Yes, but I, with my Southern nature, love passionately; and Celeste has other attractions besides fortune.

Brought up in your household, under your own eye, you have made her adorable. Only, I must say, you have

shown great weakness in letting that young fellow, who does not suit her in any respect, get such hold upon

"You are quite right; but the thing began in a childish friendship; she and Felix played together. You came

much later; and it is a proof of the great esteem in which we hold you, that when you made your offer we

"YOU did, yes," said la Peyrade, "and with some literary manias which, after all, are frequently full of

sense and wityou have a heart of gold; with you friendship is a sure thing, and you know what you mean.

But Brigitte is another matter; you'll see, when you propose to her to hasten the marriage, what a resistance

"I don't agree with you. I think that Brigitte has always wanted you and still wants you for soninlawif I

may so express myself. But whether she does or not, I beg you to believe that in all important matters I know

how to have my will obeyed. Only, let us come now to a distinct understanding of what you wish; then we

"I wish," replied la Peyrade, "to put the last touches to your pamphlet; for, above all things, I think of you."

"Well, in consequence of the feeling that I am oppressed, stultified by the prospect of a marriage still so

doubtful, I am certain that not a page of manuscript could be got out of me in any form, until the question is

"Naturally, if Celeste's decision be against me, I should wish an immediate solution. If I am condemned to

make a marriage of convenience I ought to lose no time in taking the opportunity I mentioned to you."

"Undoubtedly," replied Thuillier; "but it is very repugnant to me to let Celeste decide without appeal."

"For my part, I will take that risk; in any case, I shall be rid of uncertainty; and that is really my first object.

Between ourselves, I am not risking as much as you think. It will take more than fifteen days for a son of

Phellion, in other words, obstinacy incarnate in silliness, to have done with philosophical hesitations; and it is

very certain that Celeste will not accept him for a husband unless he gives her some proofs of conversion."

"That's probable. But suppose Celeste tries to dawdle; suppose she refuses to accept the alternative?"

"That's your affair," said the Provencal. "I don't know how you regard the family in Paris; I only know that in

my part of the country it is an unheardof thing that a girl should have such liberty. If you, your sister

(supposing she plays fair in the matter), and the father and mother can't succeed in making a girl whom you

dower agree to so simple a thing as to make a perfectly free choice between two suitors, then goodbye to

you! You'll have to write upon your gatepost that Celeste is queen and sovereign of the house."

"As for you, my old fellow," resumed la Peyrade, "I must postpone our business until after Celeste's decision.

Be that in my favor or not, I will then go to work, and in three days the pamphlet can be finished."

"Now," said Thuillier, "I know what you have had on your mind. I'll talk about it with Brigitte."

"I would rather, as you can easily imagine, hear you say of yourself that the thing shall be done; but old

"No! but I'd like to be hidden in a corner and hear how you will open the subject with your sister." "Parbleu! I

shall open it frankly. I WILL, very firmly said, shall meet every one of her objections."

"Ah, my poor fellow!" said la Peyrade, clapping him on the shoulder, "from Chrysale down how often have

we seen brave warriors lowering their penants before the wills of women accustomed to master them!"

The eager desire to publish his pamphlet, and the clever doubt thrown upon the strength of his will had made

him furious,an actual tiger; and he went away resolved, in case of opposition, to reduce his household, as

When he reached home Thuillier instantly laid the question before Brigitte. She, with her crude good sense

and egotism, pointed out to him that by thus hastening the period formerly agreed upon for the marriage, they

committed the blunder of disarming themselves; they could not be sure that when the election took place la

Peyrade would put the same zeal into preparing for it. It might be," said the old maid, "just as it has been

"There's this difference," said Thuillier; "the cross doesn't depend directly upon la Peyrade, whereas the

"And suppose he willed, after we have feathered his nest," said Brigitte, "to work his influence for his own

This danger did not fail to strike the mind of the future legislator, who thought, however, that he might feel

"A man's honor can't be very delicate," returned Brigitte, "when he tries to get out of a bargain; and this

fashion of dangling a bit of sugar before us about getting your pamphlet finished, doesn't please me at all.

Can't you get Phellion to help you, and do without Theodose? Or, I dare say, Madame de Godollo, who

knows everybody in politics, could find you a journalistthey say there are plenty of them out at elbows; a

"But the secret would get into the papers," said Thuillier. "No, I must absolutely have Theodose; he knows

that, and he makes these conditions. After all, we did promise him Celeste, and it is only fulfilling the

promise a year earlierwhat am I saying?a few months, a few weeks, possibly; for the king may dissolve

"Celeste! Celeste, indeed!" ejaculated Thuillier; "she MUST have whomsoever we choose. We ought to have

thought of that when we made the engagement with la Peyrade; our word is passed now, you know. Besides,

"So you really think," said the sceptical old maid, "that if Celeste decides for Phellion you can still count on

"What else can I do? Those are his conditions. Besides, the fellow has calculated the whole thing; he knows

very well that Felix will never bring himself in two weeks to please Celeste by going to confession, and

unless he does, that little monkey will never accept him for a husband. La Peyrade's game is very clever."

"Too clever," said Brigitte. "Well, settle the matter as you choose; I shall not meddle; all this manoeuvring is

Thuillier went to see Madame Colleville, and intimated to her that she must inform Celeste of the designs

Celeste had never been officially authorized to indulge her sentiment for Felix Phellion. Flavie, on the

contrary, had once expressly forbidden her to encourage the hopes of the young professor; but as, on the part

of Madame Thuillier, her godmother and her confidant, she knew she was sustained in her inclination, she

had let herself gently follow it without thinking very seriously of the obstacles her choice might encounter.

When, therefore, she was ordered to choose at once between Felix and la Peyrade, the simplehearted girl

was at first only struck by the advantages of one half of the alternative, and she fancied she did herself a great

service by agreeing to an arrangement which made her the mistress of her own choice and allowed her to

But la Peyrade was not mistaken in his calculation when he reckoned that the religious intolerance of the

young girl on one side, and the philosophical inflexibility of Phellion's son on the other, would create an

The evening of the day on which Flavie had communicated to Celeste the sovereign orders of Thuillier, the

Phellions called to spend the evening with Brigitte, and a very sharp engagement took place between the two

young people. Mademoiselle Colleville did not need to be told by her mother that it would be extremely

unbecoming if she allowed Felix to know of the conditional approval that was granted to their sentiments.

Celeste had too much delicacy, and too much real religious feeling to wish to obtain the conversion of the

man she loved on any other ground than that of his conviction. Their evening was therefore passed in

theological debate; but love is so strange a Proteus, and takes so many and such various forms, that though it

appeared on this occasion in a black gown and a mob cap, it was not at all as ungraceful and displeasing as

might have been imagined. But Phellion junior was in this encounter, the solemnity of which he little knew,

unlucky and blundering to the last degree. Not only did he concede nothing, but he took a tone of airy and

ironical discussion, and ended by putting poor Celeste so beside herself that she finally declared an open

It was just the case for a lover more experienced than the young savant to reappear the very next day, for

young hearts are never so near to understanding each other as when they have just declared the necessity of

eternal separation. But this law is not one of logarithms, and Felix Phellion, being incapable of guessing it,

thought himself positively and finally banished; so much so, that during the fifteen days granted to the poor

girl to deliberate (as says the Code in the matter of beneficiary bequests), although he was expected day by

day, and from minute to minute by Celeste, who gave no more thought to la Peyrade than if he had nothing to

do with the question, the deplorably stupid youth did not have the most distant idea of breaking his ban.

Luckily for this hopeless lover, a beneficent fairy was watching over him, and the evening before the day on

It was Sunday, the day on which the Thuilliers still kept up their weekly receptions.

Madame Phellion, convinced that the housekeeping leakage, vulgarly called "the basket dance," was the ruin

of the bestregulated households, was in the habit of going in person to her tradespeople. From time

immemorial in the Phellion establishment, Sunday was the day of the "potaufeu," and the wife of the great

citizen, in that intentionally dowdy costume in which good housekeepers bundle themselves when they go to

market, was prosaically returning from a visit to the butcher, followed by her cook and the basket, in which

lay a magnificent cut of the loin of beef. Twice had she rung her own doorbell, and terrible was the storm

gathering on the head of the footboy, who by his slowness in opening the door was putting his mistress in a

situation less tolerable than that of Louis XIV., who had only ALMOST waited. In her feverish impatience

Madame Phellion had just given the bell a third and ferocious reverberation, when, judge of her confusion, a

little coupe drew up with much clatter at the door of her house, and a lady descended, whom she recognized,

Turning a purplish scarlet, the unfortunate bourgeoise lost her head, and, floundering in excuses, she was

about to complicate the position by some signal piece of awkwardness, when, happily for her, Phellion,

attracted by the noise of the bell, and attired in a dressinggown and Greek cap, came out of his study to

inquire what was the matter. After a speech, the pompous charm of which did much to compensate for his

dishabille, the great citizen, with the serenity that never abandoned him, offered his hand very gallantly to the

"May I, without indiscretion, ask Madame la comtesse what has procured for us the unhopedfor advantage

"I have come," said the lady, "to talk with Madame Phellion on a matter which must deeply interest her. I

have no other way of meeting her without witnesses; and therefore, though I am hardly known to Madame

"Madame, your visit is a great honor to this poor dwelling. But where is Madame Phellion?" added the

"No, I beg of you, don't disturb her," said the countess; "I have heedlessly come at a moment when she is

busy with household cares. Brigitte has been my educator in such matters, and I know the respect we ought to

pay to good housekeepers. Besides, I have the pleasure of your presence, which I scarcely expected."

Before Phellion could reply to these obliging words, Madame Phellion appeared. A cap with ribbons had

taken the place of the market bonnet, and a large shawl covered the other insufficiencies of the morning

toilet. When his wife arrived, the great citizen made as though he would discreetly retire.

"Monsieur Phellion," said the countess, "you are not one too many in the conference I desire with madame;

on the contrary, your excellent judgment will be most useful in throwing light upon a matter as interesting to

"The marriage of my son!" cried Madame Phellion, with a look of astonishment; "but I am not aware that

"The marriage of Monsieur Felix with Mademoiselle Celeste is, I think, one of your strongest desires"

"I know that only too well," replied the countess; "on the contrary, every one in your family seems to study

how to defeat my efforts in that direction. However, one thing is clear in spite of the reserve, and, you must

allow me to say so, the clumsiness in which the affair has been managed, and that is that the young people

love each other, and they will both be unhappy if they do not marry. Now, to prevent this catastrophe is the

"We cannot, madame, be otherwise than deeply sensible of the interest you are so good as to show in the

"Is something so inexplicable," interrupted the countess, "that you feel a distrust of it?"

"But," continued the lady, "the explanation of my proceeding is very simple. I have studied Celeste, and in

that dear and artless child I find a moral weight and value which would make me grieve to see her sacrificed."

"You are right, madame," said Madame Phellion. "Celeste is, indeed, an angel of sweetness."

"As for monsieur Felix, I venture to interest myself because, in the first place, he is the son of so virtuous a

"and he also attracts me by the awkwardness of true love, which appears in all his actions and all his

words. We mature women find an inexpressible charm in seeing the tender passion under a form which

"My son is certainly not brilliant," said Madame Phellion, with a faint tone of sharpness; "he is not a

"But he has the qualities that are most essential," replied the countess, "and a merit which ignores itself,a

"That are not beyond the truth," interrupted the countess. "Another reason which leads me to take a deep

interest in the happiness of these young people is that I am not so desirous for that of Monsieur Theodose de

la Peyrade, who is false and grasping. On the ruin of their hopes that man is counting to carry out his

"It is quite certain," said Phellion, "that there are dark depths in Monsieur de la Peyrade where light does not

"And as I myself had the misfortune to marry a man of his description, the thought of the wretchedness to

which Celeste would be condemned by so fatal a connection, impels me, in the hope of saving her, to the

"Madame," said Phellion, "we do not need the conclusive explanations by which you illumine your conduct;

but as to the faults on our part, which have thwarted your generous efforts, I must declare that in order to

avoid committing them in future, it seems to me not a little desirable that you should plainly indicate them."

"How long is it," asked the countess, "since any of your family have paid a visit to the Thuilliers'?"

"If my memory serves me," said Phellion, "I think we were all there the Sunday after the dinner for the

"Fifteen whole days of absence!" exclaimed the countess; "and you think that nothing of importance could

"No, indeed! did not three glorious days in July, 1830, cast down a perjured dynasty and found the noble

"You see it yourself!" said the countess. "Now, tell me, during that evening, fifteen days ago, did nothing

"Something did occur," replied Phellion,"a very disagreeable conversation on the subject of my son's

religious opinions; it must be owned that our good Celeste, who in all other respects has a charming nature, is

"I agree to that," said the countess; "but she was brought up by the mother whom you know; she was never

shown the face of true piety; she saw only the mimicry of it. Repentant Magdalens of the Madame Colleville

species always assume an air of wishing to retire to a desert with their death'shead and crossed bones. They

think they can't get salvation at a cheaper rate. But after all, what did Celeste ask of Monsieur Felix? Merely

"He has read it, madame," said Phellion, "and he thinks it a book extremely well written; but his

"And do you think he shows much cleverness in not assuring his mistress of some little change in his

"My son, madame, has never received from me the slightest lesson in cleverness; loyalty, uprightness, those

"It seems to me, monsieur, that there is no want of loyalty when, in dealing with a troubled mind, we

endeavor to avoid wounding it. But let us agree that Monsieur Felix owed it to himself to be that iron door

against which poor Celeste's applications beat in vain; was that a reason for keeping away from her and

sulking in his tent for fifteen whole days? Above all, ought he to have capped these sulks by a proceeding

which I can't forgive, and whichonly just made known to ushas struck the girl's heart with despair, and

"My son capable of any such act! it is quite impossible, madame!" cried Phellion. "I know nothing of this

"And yet, nothing is more certain. Young Colleville, who came home today for his halfholiday, has just

told us that Monsieur Felix, who had previously gone with the utmost punctuality to hear him recite has

ceased entirely to have anything to do with him. Unless your son is ill, I do not hesitate to say that this

neglect is the greatest of blunders, in the situation in which he now stands with the sister he ought not to have

"My son," said Madame Phellion, "is not exactly ill; but since you mention a fact which is, I acknowledge,

very strange and quite out of keeping with his nature and habits, I think it right to tell you that from the day

when Celeste seemed to signify that all was at an end between them, a very extraordinary change has come

"Yes, madame," said Phellion, "the young man is certainly not in his normal condition."

"The night of that scene with Celeste," replied Phellion, "after his return home, he wept a flood of hot tears

on his mother's bosom, and gave us to understand that the happiness of his whole life was at an end."

"And yet," said Madame de Godollo, "nothing very serious happened; but lovers always make the worst of

"No doubt," said Madame Phellion; "but since that night Felix has not made the slightest allusion to his

misfortune, and the next day he went back to his work with a sort of frenzy. Does that seem natural to you?"

"That is most true," said Phellion; "but in Felix's whole personality there is something excited, and yet

repressed, which is difficult to describe. You speak to him, and he hardly seems to hear you; he sits down to

table and forgets to eat, or takes his food with an absent mindedness which the medical faculty consider

most injurious to the process of digestion; his duties, his regular occupations, we have to remind him

ofhim, so extremely regular, so punctual! The other day, when he was at the Observatory, where he now

spends all his evenings, only coming home in the small hours, I took it upon myself to enter his room and

examine his papers. I was terrified, madame, at finding a paper covered with algebraic calculations which, by

their vast extent appeared to me to go beyond the limits of the human intellect."

"That is not probable," said Madame de Godollo; "with an organization so calm and a mind so well balanced,

he runs but little danger of that misfortune. I know myself of another danger that threatens him tomorrow,

and unless we can take some steps this evening to avert it, Celeste is positively lost to him."

"Perhaps you are not aware," replied the countess, "that Thuillier and his sister have made certain promises to

"The fulfilment of these pledges was postponed to a rather distant period, and subordinated to certain

conditions. Monsieur de la Peyrade, after enabling them to buy the house near the Madeleine, pledged

himself not only to obtain the cross for Monsieur Thuillier, but to write in his name a political pamphlet, and

assist him in his election to the Chamber of Deputies. It sounds like the romances of chivalry, in which the

hero, before obtaining the hand of the princess, is compelled to exterminate a dragon."

"Madame is very witty," said Madame Phellion, looking at her husband, who made her a sign not to interrupt.

"I have no time now," said the countess; "in fact it would be useless to tell you the manoeuvres by which

Monsieur de la Peyrade has contrived to hasten the period of this marriage; but it concerns you to know that,

thanks to his duplicity, Celeste is being forced to choose between him and Monsieur Felix; fifteen days were

given her in which to make her choice; the time expires tomorrow, and, thanks to the unfortunate state of

feeling into which your son's attitude has thrown her, there is very serious danger of seeing her sacrifice to

"Fight, monsieur; come this evening in force to the Thuilliers'; induce Monsieur Felix to accompany you;

lecture him until he promises to be a little more flexible in his philosophical opinions. Paris, said Henri IV., is

surely worth a mass. But let him avoid all such questions; he can certainly find in his heart the words and

tones to move a woman who loves him; it requires so little to satisfy her! I shall be there myself, and I will

help him to my utmost ability; perhaps, under the inspiration of the moment, I may think of some way to do

effectually. One thing is very certain: we have to fight a great battle tonight, and if we do not ALL do our

"My son is not here, madame," said Phellion, "and I regret it, for perhaps your generous devotion and urgent

words would succeed in shaking off his torpor; but, at any rate, I will lay before him the gravity of the

situation, and, beyond all doubt, he will accompany us tonight to the Thuilliers'."

"It is needless to say," added the countess, rising, "that we must carefully avoid the very slightest appearance

of collusion; we must not converse together; in fact, unless it can be done in some casual way, it would be

"I beg you to rely, madame, upon my prudence," replied Phellion, "and kindly accept the assurance"

"No, madame," replied Phellion, gravely, "I reserve that formula for the conclusion of my letters; I beg you to

"We will talk of that when we are out of danger," said Madame de Godollo, moving towards the door; "and if

Madame Phellion, the tenderest and most virtuous of mothers, will grant me a little place in her esteem, I

Madame Phellion plunged headlong into a responsive compliment; and the countess, in her carriage, was at

some distance from the house before Phellion had ceased to offer her his most respectful salutations.

As the Latinquarter element in Brigitte's salon became more rare and less assiduous, a livelier Paris began to

infiltrate it. Among his colleagues in the municipal council and among the upper employees of the prefecture

of the Seine, the new councillor had made several very important recruits. The mayor, and the deputy mayors

of the arrondissement, on whom, after his removal to the Madeleine quarter, Thuillier had called, hastened to

return the civility; and the same thing happened with the superior officers of the first legion. The house itself

had produced a contingent; and several of the new tenants contributed, by their presence, to change the aspect

of the dominical meetings. Among the number we must mention Rabourdin [see "Bureaucracy"], the former

head of Thuillier's office at the ministry of finance. Having had the misfortune to lose his wife, whose salon,

at an earlier period, checkmated that of Madame Colleville, Rabourdin occupied as a bachelor the third floor,

above the apartment let to Cardot, the notary. As the result of an odious slight to his just claims, Rabourdin

had voluntarily resigned his public functions. At this time, when he again met Thuillier, he was director of

one of those numerous projected railways, the construction of which is always delayed by either

parliamentary rivalry or parliamentary indecision. Let us say, in passing, that the meeting with this able

administrator, now become an important personage in the financial world, was an occasion to the worthy and

honest Phellion to display once more his noble character. At the time of the resignation to which Rabourdin

had felt himself driven, Phellion alone, of all the clerks in the office, had stood by him in his misfortunes.

Being now in a position to bestow a great number of places, Rabourdin, on meeting once more his faithful

"Mossieu," said Phellion, "your benevolence touches me and honors me, but my frankness owes you an

avowal, which I beg you not to take in ill part: I do not believe in 'railways,' as the English call them."

"That's an opinion to which you have every right," said Rabourdin, smiling; "but, meanwhile, until the

contrary is proved, we pay the employees in our office well, and I should be glad to have you with me in that

"Mossieu," returned the great citizen, "I did my duty at that time, and nothing more. As for the offer you have

been so good as to make to me, I cannot accept it; satisfied with my humble fortunes, I feel neither the need

nor the desire to reenter an administrative career; and, in common with the Latin poet, I may say, 'Claudite

Thus elevated in the character of its habitues, the salon Thuillier still needed a new element of life. Thanks to

the help of Madame de Godollo, a born organizer, who successfully put to profit the former connection of

Colleville with the musical world, a few artists came to make diversion from bouillotte and boston.

Oldfashioned and venerable, those two games were forced to beat a retreat before whist, the only manner,

Like Louis XVI., who began by putting his own hand to reforms which subsequently engulfed his throne,

Brigitte had encouraged, at first, this domestic revolution; the need of sustaining her position suitably in the

new quarter to which she had emigrated had made her docile to all suggestions of comfort and elegance. But

the day on which occurred the scene we are about to witness, an apparently trivial detail had revealed to her

the danger of the declivity on which she stood. The greater number of the new guests, recently imported by

Thuillier, knew nothing of his sister's supremacy in his home. On arrival, therefore, they all asked Thuillier to

present them to MADAME, and, naturally, Thuillier could not say to them that his wife was a figurehead

who groaned under the iron hand of a Richelieu, to whom the whole household bent the knee. It was therefore

not until the first homage rendered to the sovereign "de jure" was paid, that the newcomers were led up to

Brigitte, and by reason of the stiffness which displeasure at this misplacement of power gave to her greeting

they were scarcely encouraged to pay her any further attentions. Quick to perceive this species of overthrow,

Queen Elizabeth said to herself, with that profound instinct of domination which was her ruling passion:

Burrowing into that idea, she came to think that if the project of making a common household with la

Peyrade, then Celeste's husband, were carried out, the situation which was beginning to alarm her would

become even worse. From that moment, and by sudden intuition, Felix Phellion, that good young man, with

his head too full of mathematics ever to become a formidable rival to her sovereignty, seemed to her a far

better match than the enterprising lawyer, and she was the first, on seeing the Phellion father and mother

arrive without the son, to express regret at his absence. Brigitte, however, was not the only one to feel the

injury that the luckless professor was doing to his prospects in thus keeping away from her reception.

Madame Thuillier, with simple candor, and Celeste with feigned reserve, both made manifest their

displeasure. As for Madame de Godollo, who, in spite of a very remarkable voice, usually required much

pressing before she would sing (the piano having been opened since her reign began), she now went up to

Madame Phellion and asked her to accompany her, and between two verses of a song she said in her ear:

"He is coming," said Madame Phellion. "His father talked to him very decidedly; but tonight there happens

to be a conjunction of I don't know what planets; it is a great night at the Observatory, and he did not feel

"It is inconceivable that a man should be so foolish!" exclaimed Madame de Godollo; "wasn't theology bad

And her vexation gave to her voice so vibrating a tone that her song ended in the midst of what the English

call a thunder of applause. La Peyrade, who feared her extremely, was not one of the last, when she returned

to her place, to approach her, and express his admiration; but she received his compliments with a coldness so

near to incivility that their mutual hostility was greatly increased. La Peyrade turned away to console himself

with Madame Colleville, who had still too many pretensions to beauty not to be the enemy of a woman made

"So you also, you think that woman sings well?" she said, contemptuously, to Theodose.

"At any rate, I have been to tell her so," replied la Peyrade, "because without her, in regard to Brigitte, there's

no security. But do just look at your Celeste; her eyes never leave that door, and every time a tray is brought

in, though it is an hour at least since the last guest came, her face expresses disappointment."

We must remark, in passing, that since the reign of Madame de Godollo trays were passed round on the

Sunday reception days, and that without scrimping; on the contrary, they were laden with ices, cakes, and

"Don't harass me!" cried Flavie. "I know very well what that foolish girl has in her mind; and your marriage

"But you know it is not for myself I make it," said la Peyrade; "it is a necessity for the future of all of us.

Come, come, there are tears in your eyes! I shall leave you; you are not reasonable. The devil! as that

And he went toward the group composed of Celeste, Madame Thuillier, Madame de Godollo, Colleville, and

Phellion. Madame Colleville followed him; and, under the influence of the feeling of jealousy she had just

"Oh, mamma!" cried the girl, "how can I sing after Madame de Godollo, with my poor thread of a voice?

"That is to say that, as usual, you make yourself pretentious and disagreeable; people sing as they can sing;

"My dear," said Colleville, who, having just lost twenty francs at the cardtables, found courage in his

illhumor to oppose his wife, "that saying, 'People sing as they can sing' is a bourgeois maxim. People sing

with a voice, if they have one; but they don't sing after hearing such a magnificent opera voice as that of

Madame la comtesse. For my part, I readily excuse Celeste for not warbling to us one of her sentimental little

"Then it is well worth while," said Flavie, leaving the group, "to spend so much money on expensive masters

"So," said Colleville, resuming the conversation which the invasion of Flavie had interrupted, "Felix no

"My dear and former colleague," said Phellion, "I am, as you are, annoyed with my son for neglecting, as he

does, the oldest friends of his family; and though the contemplation of those great luminous bodies suspended

in space by the hand of the Creator presents, in my opinion, higher interest than it appears to have to your

more eager brain, I think that Felix, by not coming here tonight, as he promised me he would, shows a want

"Science," said la Peyrade, "is a fine thing, but it has, unfortunately, the attribute of making bears and

"You are mistaken there, my dear child," said Madame de Godollo. "Pascal, who was himself a great example

of the falseness of your point of view, says, if I am not mistaken, that a little science draws us from religion,

"And yet, madame," said Celeste, "every one admits that Monsieur Felix is really very learned; when he

helped my brother with his studies nothing could be, so Francois told me, clearer or more comprehensible

than his explanations; and you see, yourself, he is not the more religious for that."

"I tell you, my dear child, that Monsieur Felix is not irreligious, and with a little gentleness and patience

"Bring back a savant to the duties of religion!" exclaimed la Peyrade. "Really, madame, that seems to me

very difficult. These gentlemen put the object of their studies before everything else. Tell a geometrician or a

geologist, for example, that the Church demands, imperatively, the sanctification of the Sabbath by the

suspension of all species of work, and they will shrug their shoulders, though God Himself did not disdain to

"So that in not coming here this evening," said Celeste, naively, "Monsieur Felix commits not only a fault

"But, my dearest," said Madame de Godollo, "do you think that our meeting here this evening to sing ballads

and eat ices and say evil of our neighborwhich is the customary habit of salonsis more pleasing to God

than to see a man of science in his observatory busied in studying the magnificent secrets of His creation?"

"There's a time for all things," said Celeste; "and, as Monsieur de la Peyrade says, God Himself did not

"That," said la Peyrade, "is one of the wittiest impieties ever uttered; those are the reasons that the world's

people put forth. They interpret and explain away the commands of God, even those that are most explicit

and imperative; they take them, leave them, or choose among them; the freethinker subjects them to his

During this harangue of the barrister Madame de Godollo had looked at the clock; it then said halfpast

eleven. The salon began to empty. Only one cardtable was still going on, Minard, Thuillier, and two of the

new acquaintances being the players. Phellion had just quitted the group with which he had so far been

sitting, to join his wife, who was talking with Brigitte in a corner; by the vehemence of his pantomimic action

it was easy to see that he was filled with some virtuous indignation. Everything seemed to show that all hope

"Monsieur," said the countess to la Peyrade, "do you consider the gentlemen attached to SaintJacques du

"This morning," continued the countess, "I had the happiness to be received by Pere Anselme. He is thought

the model of all Christian virtues, and yet the good father is a very learned mathematician."

"But you did say that a true Christian could not attend to any species of work on Sunday. If so, Pere Anselme

must be an unbeliever; for when I was admitted to his room I found him standing before a blackboard with a

bit of chalk in his hand, busy with a problem which was, no doubt, knotty, for the board was threeparts

covered with algebraic signs; and I must add that he did not seem to care for the scandal this ought to cause,

for he had with him an individual whom I am not allowed to name, a younger man of science, of great

Celeste and Madame Thuillier looked at each other, and both saw a gleam of hope in the other's eyes.

"Why can't you tell us the name of that young man of science?" Madame Thuillier ventured to say, for she

"Because he has not, like Pere Anselme, the saintliness which would absolve him in the eyes of monsieur

here for this flagrant violation of the Sabbath. Besides," added Madame de Godollo, in a significant manner,

"Then you know a good many scientific young men?" said Celeste, interrogatively; "this one and Monsieur

"My dear love," said the countess, "you are an inquisitive little girl, and you will not make me say what I do

not choose to say, especially after a confidence that Pere Anselme made to me; for if I did, your imagination

The gallop had already started, and every word the countess said only added to the anxious eagerness of the

"As for me," said la Peyrade, sarcastically, "I shouldn't be at all surprised if Pere Anselme's young

collaborator was that very Felix Phellion. Voltaire always kept very close relations with the Jesuits who

"Well, my young savant does talk of it to his venerable brother in science; he submits his doubts to him; in

"He is sure of it," replied the countess. "His young collaborator, apart from a religious education which he

certainly never had, has been brought up to the highest principles; he knows, moreover, that his conversion to

religion would make the happiness of a charming girl whom he loves, and who loves him. Now, my dear, you

"Oh! godmother!" whispered Celeste, yielding to the freshness of her feelings, "suppose it were he!"

At this moment the servant threw open the door of the salon, and, singular complication! announced

The young professor entered the room, bathed in perspiration, his cravat in disorder, and himself out of

"Father," said Felix, moving to the side of the room where Madame Thuillier and Celeste were seated, "I

could not leave before the end of the phenomenon; and then I couldn't find a carriage, and I have run the

"Your ears ought to have burned as you came," said la Peyrade, "for you have been for the last halfhour in

Felix did not answer. He saw Brigitte entering the salon from the diningroom where she had gone to tell the

After listening to a few reproaches for the rarity of his visits and receiving forgiveness in a very cordial

"Better late than never," he turned towards his pole, and was much astonished to hear himself addressed by

"Monsieur," she said, "I hope you will pardon the indiscretion I have, in the heat of conversation, committed

"Met me?" said Felix; "if I had the honor to meet you, madame, I did not see you."

"You saw me well enough to ask me to keep silence as to where I had met you; but, at any rate, I did not go

beyond a simple statement; I said you saw Pere Anselme sometimes, and had certain scientific relations with

"Yes, Pere Anselme," said la Peyrade, "a great mathematician who does not despair of converting you.

Felix looked around him with a bewildered air. Madame de Godollo fixed upon him a pair of eyes the

"I wish," he said finally, "I could have given that joy to Mademoiselle Celeste, but I think, madame, you are

"Ah! monsieur, then I must be more precise," said the countess, "and if your modesty still induces you to hide

a step that can only honor you, you can contradict me; I will bear the mortification of having divulged a

Madame Thuillier and Celeste were truly a whole drama to behold; never were doubt and eager expectation

more plainly depicted on the human face. Measuring her words deliberately, Madame de Godollo thus

"I said to these ladies, because I know how deep an interest they take in your salvation, and because you are

accused of boldly defying the commandments of God by working on Sundays, that I had met you this

morning at the house of Pere Anselme, a mathematician like yourself, with whom you were busy in solving a

problem; I said that your scientific intercourse with that saintly and enlightened man had led to other

explanations between you; that you had submitted to him your religious doubts, and he did not despair of

removing them. In the confirmation you can give of my words there is nothing, I am sure, to wound your

selfesteem. The matter was simply a surprise you intended for Celeste, and I have had the stupidity to

divulge it. But when she hears you admit the truth of my words you will have given her such happiness that I

"Come, monsieur," said la Peyrade, "there's nothing absurd or mortifying in having sought for light; you, so

honorable and so truly an enemy to falsehood, you cannot deny what madame affirms with such decision."

"Well," said Felix, after a moment's hesitation, "will you, Mademoiselle Celeste, allow me to say a few words

Celeste rose, after receiving an approving sign from Madame Thuillier. Felix took her hand and led her to the

"Celeste," he said, "I entreat you: wait! See," he added, pointing to the constellation of Ursa Minor, "beyond

those visible stars a future lies before us; I will place you there. As for Pere Anselme, I cannot admit what has

been said, for it is not true. It is an invented tale. But be patient with me; you shall soon know all."

"He is mad!" said the young girl, in tones of despair, as she resumed her place beside Madame Thuillier.

Felix confirmed this judgment by rushing frantically from the salon, without perceiving the emotion in which

his father and his mother started after him. After this sudden departure, which stupefied everybody, la

"You must admit, madame, that it is difficult to drag a man from the water when he persists in being

"I had no idea until this moment of such utter simplicity," replied the countess; "it is too silly. I pass over to

the enemy; and with that enemy I am ready and desirous to have, whenever he pleases, a frank and honest

The next day Theodose felt himself possessed by two curiosities: How would Celeste behave as to the option

she had accepted? and this Comtesse Torna de Godollo, what did she mean by what she had said; and what

The first of these questions seemed, undoubtedly, to have the right of way, and yet, by some secret instinct, la

Peyrade felt more keenly drawn toward the conclusion of the second problem. He decided, therefore, to take

his first step in that direction, fully understanding that he could not too carefully arm himself for the

The morning had been rainy, and this great calculator was, of course, not ignorant how much a spot of mud,

tarnishing the brilliancy of varnished boots, could lower a man in the opinion of some. He therefore sent his

porter for a cabriolet, and about three o'clock in the afternoon he drove from the rue SaintDominique

d'Enfer toward the elegant latitudes of the Madeleine. It may well be believed that certain cares had been

bestowed upon his toilet, which ought to present a happy medium between the negligent ease of a morning

costume and the ceremonious character of an evening suit. Condemned by his profession to a white cravat,

which he rarely laid aside, and not venturing to present himself in anything but a dresscoat, he felt himself

being drawn, of necessity, to one of the extremes he desired to avoid. However by buttoning up his coat and

wearing tan instead of strawcolored gloves, he managed to UNSOLEMNIZE himself, and to avoid that

provincial air which a man in full dress walking the streets of Paris while the sun is above the horizon never

The wary diplomatist was careful not to drive to the house where he was going. He was unwilling to be seen

from the countess' entresol issuing from a hired cab, and from the first floor he feared to be discovered

stopping short on his way up at the lower floor,a proceeding which could not fail to give rise to countless

He therefore ordered the driver to pull up at the corner of the rue Royale, whence, along a pavement that was

now nearly dry, he picked his way on tiptoe to the house. It so chanced that he was not seen by either the

porter or his wife; the former being beadle of the church of the Madeleine, was absent at a service, and the

wife had just gone up to show a vacant apartment to a lodger. Theodose was therefore able to glide

unobserved to the door of the sanctuary he desired to penetrate. A soft touch of his hand to the silken

bellrope caused a sound which echoed from the interior of the apartment. A few seconds elapsed, and then

another and more imperious bell of less volume seemed to him a notification to the maid that her delay in

opening the door was displeasing to her mistress. A moment later, a waitingwoman, of middle age, and too

The lawyer gave his name, and the woman ushered him into a diningroom, severely luxurious, where she

asked him to wait. A moment later, however, she returned, and admitted him into the most coquettish and

splendid salon it was possible to insert beneath the low ceilings of an entresol. The divinity of the place was

seated before a writingtable covered with a Venetian cloth, in which gold glittered in little spots among the

The barrister bowed in sign of assent. The handsome Hungarian then concluded a note on blue English paper,

which she placed in an envelope; after sealing it carefully, she rang the bell. The maid appeared immediately

and lighted a little spirit lamp; above the lamp was suspended a sort of tiny crucible, in which was a drop of

sealing wax; as soon as this had melted, the maid poured it on the envelope, presenting to her mistress a seal

with armorial bearings. This the countess imprinted on the wax with her own beautiful hands, and then

The woman made a movement to take the letter, but, either from haste or inadvertence, the paper fell from

her hand close to la Peyrade's feet. He stooped hastily to pick it up, and read the direction involuntarily. It

bore the words, "His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs"; the significant words, "For him only,"

"Pardon, monsieur," said the countess, receiving the paper, which he had the good taste to return to her own

hands in order to show his eagerness to serve her. "Be so good, mademoiselle, as to carry that in a way not to

lose it," she added in a dry tone to the unlucky maid. The countess then left her writingtable and took her

During these proceedings la Peyrade had the satisfaction of making an inventory of all the choice things by

which he was surrounded. Paintings by good masters detached themselves from walls of even tone; on a

piertable stood a very tall Japanese vase; before the windows the jardinieres were filled with lilium rubrum,

showing its handsome reversely curling petals surmounted by white and red camellias and a dwarf magnolia

from China, with flowers of sulphur white with scarlet edges. In a corner was a stand of arms, of curious

shapes and rich construction, explained, perhaps, by the lady's Hungarian nationality always that of the

hussar. A few bronzes and statuettes of exquisite selection, chairs rolling softly on Persian carpets, and a

perfect anarchy of stuffs of all kinds completed the arrangement of this salon, which the lawyer had once

before visited with Brigitte and Thuillier before the countess moved into it. It was so transformed that it

seemed to him unrecognizable. With a little more knowledge of the world la Peyrade would have been less

surprised at the marvellous care given by the countess to the decoration of the room. A woman's salon is her

kingdom, and her absolute domain; there, in the fullest sense of the word, she reigns, she governs; there she

Coquettishly lying back in a corner of the sofa, her head carelessly supported by an arm the form and

whiteness of which could be seen nearly to the elbow through the wide, open sleeve of a black velvet

dressinggown, her Cinderella foot in its dainty slipper of Russia leather resting on a cushion of orange satin,

the handsome Hungarian had the look of a portrait by Laurence or Winterhalter, plus the naivete of the pose.

"Monsieur," she said, with the slightly foreign accent which lent an added charm to her words, "I cannot help

thinking it rather droll that a man of your mind and rare penetration should have thought you had an enemy in

"But, Madame la comtesse," replied la Peyrade, allowing her to read in his eyes an astonishment mingled

with distrust, "all the appearances, you must admit, were of that nature. A suitor interposes to break off a

marriage which has been offered to me with every inducement; this rival does me the service of showing

himself so miraculously stupid and awkward that I could easily have set him aside, when suddenly a most

unlookedfor and able auxiliary devotes herself to protecting him on the very ground where he shows himself

"You must admit," said the countess, laughing, "that the protege showed himself a most intelligent man, and

"His clumsiness could not have been, I think, very unexpected to you," replied la Peyrade; "therefore the

"What a misfortune it would be," said the countess, with charmingly affected satire, "if your marriage with

Mademoiselle Celeste were prevented! Do you really care so much, monsieur, for that little schoolgirl?"

In that last word, especially the intonation with which it was uttered, there was more than contempt, there was

hatred. This expression did not escape an observer of la Peyrade's strength, but not being a man to advance

"Madame, the vulgar expression, to 'settle down,' explains this situation, in which a man, after many struggles

and being at an end of his efforts and his illusions, makes a compromise with the future. When this

compromise takes the form of a young girl with, I admit, more virtue than beauty, but one who brings to a

husband the fortune which is indispensable to the comfort of married life, what is there so astonishing in the

fact that his heart yields to gratitude and that he welcomes the prospect of a placid happiness?"

"I have always thought," replied the countess, "that the power of a man's intellect ought to be the measure of

his ambition; and I imagined that one so wise as to make himself, at first, the poor man's lawyer, would have

"Ah! madame," returned la Peyrade, "the iron hand of necessity compels us to strange resignations. The

question of daily bread is one of those before which all things bend the knee. Apollo was forced to 'get a

"The sheepfold of Admetus," said Madame de Godollo, "was at least a royal fold; I don't think Apollo would

The hesitation that preceded that last word seemed to convey in place of it a proper name; and la Peyrade

understood that Madame de Godollo, out of pure clemency, had suppressed that of Thuillier, had turned her

"I agree, madame, that your distinction is a just one," he replied, "but in this case Apollo has no choice."

"I don't like persons who charge too much," said the countess, "but still less do I like those who sell their

merchandise below the market price; I always suspect such persons of trying to dupe me by some clever and

complicated trick. You know very well, monsieur, your own value, and your hypocritical humility displeases

me immensely. It proves to me that my kindly overtures have not produced even a beginning of confidence

"I assure you, madame, that up to the present time life has never justified the belief in any dazzling

"Well, really," said the Hungarian, "perhaps I ought to believe in the humility of a man who is willing to

accept the pitiable finale of his life which I threw myself into the breach to prevent."

"Just as I, perhaps," said la Peyrade, with a touch of sarcasm, "ought to believe in the reality of a kindness

The countess cast a reproachful look upon her visitor; her fingers crumpled the ribbons of her gown; she

lowered her eyes, and gave a sigh, so nearly imperceptible, so slight, that it might have passed for an accident

"You are rancorous," she said, "and you judge people by one aspect only. After all," she added, as if on

reflection, "you are perhaps right in reminding me that I have taken the longest way round by meddling,

rather ridiculously, in interests that do not concern me. Go on, my dear monsieur, in the path of this glorious

marriage which offers you so many combined inducements; only, let me hope that you may not repent a

The Provencal had not been spoilt by an experience of "bonnes fortunes." The poverty against which he had

struggled so long never leads to affairs of gallantry, and since he had thrown off its harsh restraint, his mind

being wholly given up to the anxious work of creating his future, the things of the heart had entered but

slightly into his life; unless we must except the comedy he had played on Flavie. We can therefore imagine

the perplexity of this novice in the matter of adventures when he saw himself placed between the danger of

losing what seemed to be a delightful opportunity, and the fear of finding a serpent amid the beautiful flowers

that were offered to his grasp. Too marked a reserve, too lukewarm an eagerness, might wound the selflove

of that beautiful foreigner, and quench the spring from which he seemed invited to draw. On the other hand,

suppose that appearance of interest were only a snare? Suppose this kindness (ill explained, as it seemed to

him), of which he was so suddenly the object, had no other purpose than to entice him into a step which

might be used to compromise him with the Thuilliers? What a blow to his reputation for shrewdness, and

We know that la Peyrade was trained in the school of Tartuffe, and the frankness with which that great master

declares to Elmire that without receiving a few of the favors to which he aspired he could not trust in her

tender advances, seemed to the barrister a suitable method to apply to the present case, adding, however, a

"Madame la comtesse," he said, "you have turned me into a man who is much to be pitied. I was cheerfully

advancing to this marriage, and you take all faith in it away from me. Suppose I break it off, what use can

"La Bruyere, if I am not mistaken, said that nothing freshens the blood so much as to avoid committing a

"That may be; but it is, you must admit, a negative benefit; and I am of an age and in a position to desire

more serious results. The interest that you deign to show to me cannot, I think, stop short at the idea of

merely putting an end to my present prospects. I love Mademoiselle Colleville with a love, it is true, which

has nothing imperative about it; but I certainly love her, her hand is promised to me, and before renouncing

"So," said the countess, hastily, "in a given case you would not be averse to a rupture? And," she added, in a

more decided tone, "there would be some chance of making you see that in taking your first opportunity you

cut yourself off from a better future, in which a more suitable marriage may present itself?"

"Faith," she said, "is only a virtue when it believes without seeing. You doubt yourself, and that is another

form of stupidity. I am not happy, it seems, in my selection of those I desire to benefit."

"But, madame, it cannot be indiscreet to ask to know in some remote way at least, what future your kind

"It is very indiscreet," replied the countess, coldly, "and it shows plainly that you offer me only a conditional

confidence. Let us say no more. You are certainly far advanced with Mademoiselle Colleville; she suits you,

you say, in many ways; therefore marry her. I say again, you will no longer find me in your way."

"But does Mademoiselle Colleville really suit me?" resumed la Peyrade; "that is the very point on which you

have lately raised my doubts. Do you not think there is something cruel in casting me first in one direction

"Ah!" said the countess, in a tone of impatience, "you want my opinion on the premises! Well, monsieur,

there is one very conclusive fact to which I can bring proof: Celeste does not love you."

"So I have thought," said la Peyrade, humbly. "I felt that I was making a marriage of mere convenience."

"And she cannot love you, because," continued Madame de Godollo, with animation, "she cannot

comprehend you. Her proper husband is that blond little man, insipid as herself; from the union of those two

natures without life or heat will result in that lukewarm existence which, in the opinion of the world where

she was born and where she has lived, is the ne plus ultra of conjugal felicity. Try to make that little

simpleton understand that when she had a chance to unite herself with true talent she ought to have felt highly

honored! But, above all, try to make her miserable, odious family and surroundings understand it! Enriched

bourgeois, parvenus! there's the roof beneath which you think to rest from your cruel labor and your many

trials! And do you believe that you will not be made to feel, twenty times a day, that your share in the

partnership is distressingly light in the scale against their money? On one side, the Iliad, the Cid, Der

Freyschutz, and the frescos of the Vatican; on the other, three hundred thousand francs in good, ringing coin!

Tell me which side they will trust and admire! The artist, the man of imagination who falls into the bourgeois

atmosphereshall I tell you to what I compare him? To Daniel cast into the lion's den, less the miracle of

This invective against the bourgeoisie was uttered in a tone of heated conviction which could scarcely fail to

"Ah! madame," cried la Peyrade, "how eloquently you say things which again and again have entered my

troubled and anxious mind! But I have felt myself lashed to that most cruel fate, the necessity of gaining a

"Necessity! position!" interrupted the countess, again raising the temperature of her speech,"words void of

meaning! which have not even sound to able men, though they drive back fools as though they were

formidable barriers. Necessity! does that exist for noble natures, for those who know how to will? A Gascon

minister uttered a saying which ought to be engraved on the doors of all careers: 'All things come to him who

knows how to wait.' Are you ignorant that marriage, to men of a high stamp, is either a chain which binds

them to the lowest vulgarities of existence, or a wing on which to rise to the highest summits of the social

world? The wife you need, monsieur, and she would not be long wanting to your career if you had not,

with such incredible haste, accepted the first 'dot' that was offered you,the wife you should have chosen is

a woman capable of understanding you, able to divine your intellect; one who could be to you a

fellowworker, an intellectual confidant, and not a mere embodiment of the 'potaufeu'; a woman capable

of being now your secretary, but soon the wife of a deputy, a minister, an ambassador; one, in short, who

could offer you her heart as a mainspring, her salon for a stage, her connections for a ladder, and who, in

return for all she would give you of ardor and strength, asks only to shine beside your throne in the rays of the

Intoxicated, as it were, with the flow of her own words, the countess was really magnificent; her eyes

sparkled, her nostrils dilated; the prospect her vivid eloquence thus unrolled she seemed to see, and touch

with her quivering fingers. For a moment, la Peyrade was dazzled by this sunrise which suddenly burst upon

However, as he was a man most eminently prudent, who had made it his rule of life never to lend except on

"Madame la comtesse," he said, "you reproached me just now for speaking like a bourgeois, and I, in return,

am afraid that you are talking like a goddess. I admire you, I listen to you, but I am not convinced. Such

devotions, such sublime abnegations may be met with in heaven, but in this low world who can hope to be

"You are mistaken, monsieur," replied the countess, with solemnity; "such devotions are rare, but they are

neither impossible nor incredible; only, it is necessary to have the heart to find them, and, above all, the hand

La Peyrade saw that he had ended by displeasing her, and he felt that she dismissed him. He rose himself,

"Monsieur," said Madame de Godollo, "we Hungarians, primitive people and almost savages that we are,

have a saying that when our door is open both sides of it are opened wide; when we close it it is double

That dignified and ambiguous speech was accompanied by a slight inclination of the head. Bewildered,

confounded by this behavior, to him so new, which bore but little resemblance to that of Flavie, Brigitte, and

Madame Minard, la Peyrade left the house, asking himself again and again whether he had played his game

On leaving Madame de Godollo, la Peyrade felt the necessity of gathering himself together. Beneath the

conversation he had just maintained with this strange woman, what could he see,a trap, or a rich and

distinguished marriage offered to him. Under such a doubt as this, to press Celeste for an immediate answer

was neither clever nor prudent; it was simply to bind himself, and close the door to the changes, still very

illdefined, which seemed offered to him. The result of the consultation which Theodose held with himself as

he walked along the boulevard was that he ought, for the moment, to think only of gaining time.

Consequently, instead of going to the Thuilliers' to learn Celeste's decision, he went home, and wrote the

My dear Thuillier,You will certainly not think it extraordinary that I should not present myself at your

house today,partly because I fear the sentence which will be pronounced upon me, and partly because I

do not wish to seem an impatient and unmannerly creditor. A few days, more or less, will matter little under

such circumstances, and yet Mademoiselle Colleville may find them desirable for the absolute freedom of her

I am now more calm, and I have added a few more pages to our manuscript; it will take but little time to hand

Two hours later a servant, dressed in what was evidently the first step towards a livery, which the Thuilliers

did not as yet venture to risk, the "male domestic," whom Minard had mentioned to the Phellions, arrived at

"Good!" said la Peyrade; "evidently there is some hindrance on the other side; I shall have time to turn myself

That evening, when the servant announced him in the Thuillier salon, the Comtesse de Godollo, who was

sitting with Brigitte, hastened to rise and leave the room. As she passed la Peyrade she made him a very

ceremonious bow. There was nothing conclusive to be deduced from this abrupt departure, which might

After talking of the weather and so forth for a time, as persons do who have met to discuss a delicate subject

about which they are not sure of coming to an understanding, the matter was opened by Brigitte, who had

sent her brother to take a walk on the boulevard, telling him to leave her to manage the affair.

"My dear boy," she said to Theodose, "it was very nice of you not to come here today like a GRASPALL,

to put your pistol at our throats, for we were not, as it happened, quite ready to answer you. I think," she

"Then," said la Peyrade, quickly, "she has not decided in favor of Monsieur Felix Phellion?"

"Joker!" replied the old maid, "you know very well you settled that business last night; but you also know, of

"It is not an obstacle to my projects," continued Mademoiselle Thuillier; "but it serves to explain why I ask

for Celeste a little more time; and also why I have wished all along to postpone the marriage to a later date. I

wanted to give you time to insinuate yourself into the heart of my dear little girlbut you and Thuillier upset

"Nothing, I think, has been done without your sanction," said la Peyrade, "and if, during these fifteen days, I

have not talked with you on the subject, it was out of pure delicacy. Thuillier told me that everything was

"On the contrary, Thuillier knows very well that I refused to mix myself up on your new arrangements. If you

had not made yourself so scarce lately, I might have been the first to tell you that I did not approve of them.

"But that was too little," said la Peyrade; "your active help was absolutely necessary."

"Possibly; but I, who know women better than you, being one of them, I felt very sure that if Celeste was

told to choose between two suitors she would consider that a permission to think at her ease of the one she

liked best. I myself had always left her in the vague as to Felix, knowing as I did the proper moment to settle

"It is much worse than that," returned Brigitte; "she accepts you, and is willing to pledge her word; but it is so

easy to see she regards herself as a victim, that if I were in your place I should feel neither flattered nor secure

In any other condition of mind la Peyrade would probably have answered that he accepted the sacrifice, and

would make it his business to win the heart which at first was reluctantly given; but delay now suited him,

"Finish Thuillier's pamphlet, in the first place, or he'll go crazy; and leave me to work the other affair in your

"But am I in friendly hands? For, to tell you the truth, little aunt, I have not been able to conceal from myself

"Oh! nothing very tangible," said la Peyrade; "but ever since that Countess Torna has had a footing in your

"My poor boy, the countess has done me many services, and I am very grateful to her; but is that any reason

"But you must admit," said la Peyrade, craftily, "that she has told you a great deal of harm of me."

"Naturally she has; these fine ladies are all that way; they expect the whole world to adore them, and she sees

that you are thinking only of Celeste; but all she has said to me against you runs off my mind like water from

"Tell me how you are going to do it?" asked la Peyrade, with an air of great goodhumor.

"In the first place, I shall signify to Felix that he is not to set foot in this house again."

"Very possible; I shall make Phellion himself tell him. He's a man who is always astride of principles, and

he'll be the first to see that if his son will not do what is necessary to obtain Celeste's hand he ought to deprive

"Next, I shall signify to Celeste that she was left at liberty to choose one husband or the other, and as she did

not choose Felix she must make up her mind to take you, a pious fellow, such as she wants. You needn't be

uneasy; I'll sing your praises, especially your generosity in not profiting by the arrangement she agreed to

make today. But all that will take a week at least, and if Thuillier's pamphlet isn't out before then, I don't

"The pamphlet can be out in two days. But is it very certain, little aunt, that we are playing aboveboard?

Mountains, as they say, never meet, but men do; and certainly, when the time comes to promote the election,

I can do Thuillier either good or bad service. Do you know, the other day I was terribly frightened. I had a

letter from him in my pocket, in which he spoke of the pamphlet as being written by me. I fancied for a

moment that I had dropped it in the Luxembourg. If I had, what a scandal it would have caused in the

"Who would dare to play tricks with such a wily one as you?" said Brigitte, fully comprehending the

comminatory nature of la Peyrade's last words, interpolated into the conversation without rhyme or reason.

"But really," she added, "why should you complain of us? It is you who are behindhand in your promises.

That cross which was to have been granted within a week, and that pamphlet, which ought to have appeared a

"The pamphlet and the cross will both appear in good time; the one will bring the other," said la Peyrade,

rising. "Tell Thuillier to come and see me tomorrow evening, and I think we can then correct the last sheet.

But, above all, don't listen to the spitefulness of Madame de Godollo; I have an idea that in order to make

herself completely mistress of this house she wants to alienate all your old friends, and also that she is casting

"Well, in point of fact," said the old maid, whom the parting shot of the infernal barrister had touched on the

eversensitive point of her authority, "I must look into that matter you speak of there; she is rather coquettish,

La Peyrade gained a second benefit out of that speech so adroitly flung out; he saw by Brigitte's answer to it

that the countess had not mentioned to her the visit he had paid her during the day. This reticence might have

Four days later, the printer, the stitcher, the paper glazier having fulfilled their offices, Thuillier had the

inexpressible happiness of beginning on the boulevards a promenade, which he continued through the

Passages, and even to the PalaisRoyal, pausing before all the bookshops where he saw, shining in black

TAXATION AND THE SLIDINGSCALE by J. Thuillier, Member of the CouncilGeneral of the Seine.

Having reached the point of persuading himself that the care he had bestowed upon the correction of proofs

made the merit of the work his own, his paternal heart, like that of Maitre Corbeau, could not contain itself

for joy. We ought to add that he held in very low esteem those booksellers who did not announce the sale of

the new work, destined to become, as he believed, a European event. Without actually deciding the manner in

which he would punish their indifference, he nevertheless made a list of these rebellious persons, and wished

The next day he spent a delightful morning in writing a certain number of letters, sending the publication to

friends, and putting into paper covers some fifty copies, to which the sacramental phrase, "From the author,"

But the third day of the sale brought a slight diminution of his happiness. He had chosen for his editor a

young man, doing business at a breakneck pace, who had lately established himself in the Passage des

Panoramas, where he was paying a ruinous rent. He was the nephew of Barbet the publisher, whom Brigitte

had had as a tenant in the rue SaintDominique d'Enfer. This Barbet junior was a youth who flinched at

nothing; and when he was presented to Thuillier by his uncle, he pledged himself, provided he was not

shackled in his advertising, to sell off the first edition and print a second within a week.

Now, Thuillier had spent about fifteen hundred francs himself on costs of publication, such, for instance, as

copies sent in great profusion to the newspapers; but at the close of the third day SEVEN copies only had

been sold, and three of those on credit. It might be believed that in revealing to the horrorstricken Thuillier

this paltry result the young publisher would have lost at least something of his assurance. On the contrary,

"I am delighted at what has happened. If we had sold a hundred copies it would trouble me far more than the

fifteen hundred now on our hands; that's what I call hanging fire; whereas this insignificant sale only proves

"Parbleu!" said Barbet, "when we get notices in the newspapers. Newspaper notices are only useful to arouse

attention. 'Dear me!' says the public, 'there's a publication that must be interesting.' The title is

good,'Taxation and the SlidingScale,'but I find that the more piquant a title is, the more buyers distrust

it, they have been taken in so often; they wait for the notices. On the other hand, for books that are destined to

have only a limited sale, a hundred ready made purchasers will come in at once, but after that, goodbye to

"On the contrary, I think it is on the best track. When the 'Debats,' the 'Constitutionnel,' the 'Siecle,' and the

'Presse' have reviewed it, especially if the 'Debats' mauls it (they are ministerial, you know), it won't be a

"You say that easily enough," replied Thuillier; "but how are we to get hold of those gentlemen of the press?"

"Ah! I'll take care of that," said Barbet. "I am on the best of terms with the managing editors; they say the

"Ah! excuse me, papa Thuillier; there's only one way of seeing to the journalists; but as you grumbled about

the fifteen hundred francs for the advertisements, I did not venture to propose to you another extra expense."

"When you were nominated to the municipal council, where was the plan mooted?" asked the publisher.

"Yes, of course, in your own house, but at a dinner, followed by a ball, and the ball itself crowned by a

supper. Well, my dear master, there are no two ways to do this business; Boileau says:

"'All is done through the palate, and not through the mind; And it is by our dinners we govern mankind.'"

"Yes; but not at your own house; for these journalists, you see, if women are present, get stupid; they have to

behave themselves. And, besides, it isn't dinner they want, but a breakfastthat suits them best. In the

evening these gentlemen have to go to first representations, and make up their papers, not to speak of their

own little private doings; whereas in the mornings they have nothing to think about. As for me, it is always

"But that costs money, breakfasts like that," said Thuillier; "journalists are gourmands."

"Bah! twenty francs a head, without wine. Say you have ten of them; three hundred francs will see you

handsomely through the whole thing. In fact, as a matter of economy, breakfasts are preferable; for a dinner

"Oh, hang it! everybody knows it costs dear to get elected to the Chamber; and all this favors your

"Certainly not; send them your pamphlet and appoint them to meet you at Philippe's or Vefour'sthey'll

"Ten guests," said Thuillier, beginning to enter into the idea. "I did not know there were so many leading

"There are not," said the publisher; "but we must have the little dogs as well, for they bark loudest. This

breakfast is certain to make a noise, and if you don't ask them they'll think you pick and choose, and everyone

"Yes; I'll make the list, and you can write the notes and send them to me. I'll see that they are delivered; some

"If I were sure," said Thuillier, undecidedly, "that this expense would have the desired effect"

"IF I WERE SURE,that's a queer thing to say," said Barbet. "My dear master, this is money placed on

mortgage; for it, I will guarantee the sale of fifteen hundred copies,say at forty sous apiece; allowing the

discounts, that makes three thousand francs. You see that your costs and extra costs are covered, and more

"As you please, my dear master; but decide soon, for nothing gets mouldy so fast as a book; write hot, serve

hot, and buy hot,that's the rule for authors, publishers, and public; all is bosh outside of it, and no good to

When la Peyrade was consulted, he did not think in his heart that the remedy was heroic, but he had now

come to feel the bitterest animosity against Thuillier, so that he was well pleased to see this new tax levied on

As for Thuillier, the mania for posing as a publicist and getting himself talked about so possessed him that

although he moaned over this fresh bleeding of his purse, he had decided on the sacrifice before he even

spoke to la Peyrade. The reserved and conditional approval of the latter was, therefore, more than enough to

settle his determination, and the same evening he returned to Barbet junior and asked for the list of guests

Barbet gaily produced his little catalogue. Instead of the ten guests originally mentioned, there proved to be

fifteen, not counting himself or la Peyrade, whom Thuillier wanted to second him in this encounter with a set

of men among whom he himself felt he should be a little out of place. Casting his eyes over the list, he

"Heavens! my dear fellow, here are names of papers nobody ever heard of. Where's the 'Moralisateur,' the

"You'd better be careful how you scorn the 'Echo de la Bievre,'" said Barbet; "why, that's the paper of the

12th arrondissement, from which you expect to be elected; its patrons are those big tanners of the Mouffetard

"The 'Pelican'? that's a paper you'll find in every dentist's waiting room; dentists are the first PUFFISTS in

"Come, come, nonsense," said Thuillier, who proceeded to mark out certain names, reducing the whole

"Pooh!" said Thuillier, the freethinker, "do you suppose I give in to that superstition?"

The list being finally closed and settled at fourteen, Thuillier seated himself at the publisher's desk and wrote

the invitations, naming, in view of the urgency of the purpose, the next day but one for the meeting, Barbet

having assured him that no journalist would object to the shortness of the invitation. The meeting was

appointed at Vefour's, the restaurant par excellence of the bourgeoisie and all provincials.

Barbet arrived on the day named before Thuillier, who appeared in a cravat which alone was enough to create

a stir in the satirical circle in which he was about to produce himself. The publisher, on his own authority, had

changed various articles on the bill of fare as selected by his patron, more especially directing that the

champagne, ordered in true bourgeois fashion to be served with the dessert, should be placed on the table at

the beginning of breakfast, with several dishes of shrimps, a necessity which had not occurred to the

Thuillier, who gave a lipapproval to these amendments, was followed by la Peyrade; and then came a long

delay in the arrival of the guests. Breakfast was ordered at eleven o'clock; at a quarter to twelve not a

journalist had appeared. Barbet, who was never at a loss, made the consoling remark that breakfasts at

restaurants were like funerals, where, as every one knew, eleven o'clock meant midday.

Sure enough, shortly before that hour, two gentlemen, with pointed beards, exhaling a strong odor of tobacco,

made their appearance. Thuillier thanked them effusively for the "honor" they had done him; after which

came another long period of waiting, of which we shall not relate the tortures. At one o'clock the assembled

contingent comprised five of the invited guests, Barbet and la Peyrade not included. It is scarcely necessary to

say that none of the selfrespecting journalists of the better papers had taken any notice of the absurd

Breakfast now had to be served to this reduced number. A few polite phrases that reached Thuillier's ears

about the "immense" interest of his publication, failed to blind him to the bitterness of his discomfiture; and

without the gaiety of the publisher, who had taken in hand the reins his patron, gloomy as Hippolytus on the

road to Mycenae, let fall, nothing could have surpassed the glum and glacial coldness of the meeting.

After the oysters were removed, the champagne and chablis which had washed them down had begun,

nevertheless, to raise the thermometer, when, rushing into the room where the banquet was taking place, a

"Master," said the newcomer to Barbet (he was a clerk in the bookseller's shop), "we are done for! The

police have made a raid upon us; a commissary and two men have come to seize monsieur's pamphlet. Here's

"Look at that," said Barbet, handing the document to la Peyrade, his customary assurance beginning to

"A summons to appear at once before the court of assizes," said la Peyrade, after reading a few lines of the

"Didn't you fulfil all the necessary formalities?" he said to Barbet, in a choking voice.

"This is not a matter of formalities," said la Peyrade, "it is a seizure for what is called press misdemeanor,

exciting contempt and hatred of the government; you probably have the same sort of compliment awaiting

"Hang it, my dear fellow! you know very well what you put in your pamphlet; for my part, I don't see

"There's some misunderstanding," said Barbet, recovering courage; "it will all be explained, and the result

"Nonsense! you'll have time to write your article later," said another of the brotherhood; "what has a

That, of course, was a parody on the famous speech of Charles XII., King of Sweden, when a shot interrupted

"Messieurs," said Thuillier, rising, "I am sure you will excuse me for leaving you. If, as Monsieur Barbet

thinks, there is some misunderstanding, it ought to be explained at once; I must therefore, with your

permission, go to the police court. La Peyrade," he added in a significant tone, "you will not refuse, I

presume, to accompany me. And you, my dear publisher, you would do well to come too."

"No, faith!" said Barbet, "when I breakfast, I breakfast; if the police have committed a blunder, so much the

"Well, I should say, what is perfectly true, that I had never read a line of your pamphlet. One thing is very

annoying; those damned juries hate beards, and I must cut off mine if I'm compelled to appear in court."

"Come, my dear amphitryon, sit down again," said the editor of the "Echo de la Bievre," "we'll stand by you;

I've already written an article in my head which will stir up all the tanners in Paris; and, let me tell you, that

"No, monsieur," replied Thuillier, "no; a man like me cannot rest an hour under such an accusation as this.

Continue your breakfast without us; I hope soon to see you again. La Peyrade, are you coming?"

"He's charming, isn't he?" said Barbet, when Thuillier and his counsel had left the room. "To ask me to leave

a breakfast after the oysters, and go and talk with the police! Come, messieurs, close up the ranks," he added,

"Tiens!" said one of the hungry journalists, who had cast his eyes into the garden of the PalaisRoyal, on

which the diningroom of the restaurant opened, "there's Barbanchu going by; suppose I call him in?"

Barbanchu, his hat being over his eyes, was some time in discovering the cloud above him whence the voice

"Here, up here!" called the voice, which seemed to Barbanchu celestial when he saw himself hailed by a man

with a glass of champagne in his hand. Then, as he seemed to hesitate, the party above called out in

When Thuillier left the office of the public prosecutor he could no longer have any illusions. The case against

him was serious, and the stern manner in which he had been received made him see that when the trial came

up he would be treated without mercy. Then, as always happens among accomplices after the nonsuccess of

an affair they have done in common, he turned upon la Peyrade in the sharpest manner: La Peyrade had paid

no attention to what he wrote; he had given full swing to his stupid SaintSimonian ideas; HE didn't care for

the consequences; it was not HE who would have to pay the fine and go to prison! Then, when la Peyrade

answered that the matter did not look to him serious, and he expected to get a verdict of acquittal without

"Parbleu! the thing is plain enough; monsieur sees nothing in it? Well, I shall not put my honor and my

fortune into the hands of a little upstart like yourself; I shall take some great lawyer if the case comes to trial.

Under the injustice of these remarks la Peyrade felt his anger rising. However, he saw himself disarmed, and

not wishing to come to an open rupture, he parted from Thuillier, saying that he forgave a man excited by

fear, and would go to see him later in the afternoon, when he would probably be calmer; they could then

Accordingly, about four o'clock, the Provencal arrived at the house in the Place de la Madeleine. Thuillier's

irritation was quieted, but frightful consternation had taken its place. If the executioner were coming in half

an hour to lead him to the scaffold he could not have been more utterly unstrung and woebegone. When la

Peyrade entered Madame Thuillier was trying to make him take an infusion of linden leaves. The poor

woman had come out of her usual apathy, and proved herself, beside the present Sabinus, another Eponina.

As for Brigitte, who presently appeared, bearing a footbath, she had no mercy or restraint towards

Theodose; her sharp and bitter reproaches, which were out of all proportion to the fault, even supposing him

to have committed one would have driven a man of the most placid temperament beside himself. La Peyrade

felt that all was lost to him in the Thuillier household, where they now seemed to seize with joy the occasion

to break their word to him and to give free rein to revolting ingratitude. On an ironical allusion by Brigitte to

the manner in which he decorated his friends, la Peyrade rose and took leave, without any effort being made

After walking about the streets for awhile, la Peyrade, in the midst of his indignation, turned to thoughts of

Madame de Godollo, whose image, to tell the truth, had been much in his mind since their former interview.

Not only once when the countess met the barrister at the Thuilliers had she left the room; but the same

performance took place at each of their encounters; and la Peyrade had convinced himself, without knowing

exactly why, that in each case, this affectation of avoiding him, signified something that was not indifference.

To have paid her another visit immediately would certainly have been very unskilful; but now a sufficient

time had elapsed to prove him to be a man who was master of himself. Accordingly, he returned upon his

steps to the Boulevard de la Madeleine, and without asking the porter if the countess was at home, he passed

the lodge as if returning to the Thuilliers', and rang the bell of the entresol.

The maid who opened the door asked him, as before, to wait until she notified her mistress; but, on this

occasion, instead of showing him into the diningroom, she ushered him into a little room arranged as a

He waited long, and knew not what to think of the delay. Still, he reassured himself with the thought that if

she meant to dismiss him he would not have been asked to wait at all. Finally the maid reappeared, but even

"Madame la comtesse," said the woman, "was engaged on a matter of business, but she begged monsieur be

so kind as to wait, and to amuse himself with the books in the library, because she might be detained longer

The excuse, both in form and substance, was certainly not discouraging, and la Peyrade looked about him to

fulfil the behest to amuse himself. Without opening any of the carved rosewood bookcases, which enclosed a

collection of the most elegantly bound volumes he had ever laid his eyes upon, he saw on an oblong table

with claw feet a pellmell of books sufficient for the amusement of a man whose attention was keenly alive

But, as he opened one after another of the various volumes, he began to fancy that a feast of Tantalus had

been provided for him: one book was English, another German, a third Russian; there was even one in

cabalistic letters that seemed Turkish. Was this a polyglottic joke the countess had arranged for him?

One volume, however, claimed particular attention. The binding, unlike those of the other books, was less

rich than dainty. Lying by itself at a corner of the table, it was open, with the back turned up, the edges of the

leaves resting on the green tablecloth in the shape of a tent. La Peyrade took it up, being careful not to lose

the page which it seemed to have been some one's intention to mark. It proved to be a volume of the

illustrated edition of Monsieur Scribe's works. The engraving which presented itself on the open page to la

Peyrade's eyes, was entitled "The Hatred of a Woman"; the principal personage of which is a young widow,

desperately pursuing a poor young man who cannot help himself. There is hatred all round. Through her

devilries she almost makes him lose his reputation, and does make him miss a rich marriage; but the end is

that she gives him more than she took away from him, and makes a husband of the man who was thought her

If chance had put this volume apart from the rest, and had left it open at the precise page where la Peyrade

found it marked, it must be owned that, after what had passed between himself and the countess, chance can

sometimes seem clever and adroit. As he stood there, thinking over the significance which this more or less

accidental combination might have, la Peyrade read through a number of scenes to see whether in the details

as well as the general whole they applied to the present situation. While thus employed, the sound of an

opening door was heard, and he recognized the silvery and slightly drawling voice of the countess, who was

"Then I may promise the ambassadress," said a man's voice, "that you will honor her ball with your

"Yes, commander, if my headache, which is just beginning to get a little better, is kind enough to go away."

"Au revoir, then, fairest lady," said the gentleman. After which the doors were closed, and silence reigned

The title of commander reassured la Peyrade somewhat, for it was not the rank of a young dandy. He was

nevertheless curious to know who this personage was with whom the countess had been shut up so long.

Hearing no one approach the room he was in, he went to the window and opened the curtain cautiously,

prepared to let it drop back at the slightest noise, and to make a quick rightaboutface to avoid being

caught, "flagrante delicto," in curiosity. An elegant coupe, standing at a little distance, was now driven up to

the house, a footman in showy livery hastened to open the door, and a little old man, with a light and jaunty

movement, though it was evident he was one of those relics of the past who have not yet abandoned powder,

stepped quickly into the carriage, which was then driven rapidly away. La Peyrade had time to observe on his

breast a perfect string of decorations. This, combined with the powdered hair, was certain evidence of a

La Peyrade had picked up his book once more, when a bell from the inner room sounded, quickly followed

by the appearance of the maid, who invited him to follow her. The Provencal took care NOT to replace the

volume where he found it, and an instant later he entered the presence of the countess.

A pained expression was visible on the handsome face of the foreign countess, who, however, lost nothing of

her charm in the languor that seemed to overcome her. On the sofa beside her was a manuscript written on

giltedged paper, in that large and opulent handwriting which indicates an official communication from some

ministerial office or chancery. She held in her hand a crystal bottle with a gold stopper, from which she

frequently inhaled the contents, and a strong odor of English vinegar pervaded the salon.

"Oh! it is nothing," replied the countess; "only a headache, to which I am very subject. But you, monsieur,

what has become of you? I was beginning to lose all hope of ever seeing you again. Have you come to

announce to me some great news? The period of your marriage with Mademoiselle Colleville is probably so

"But, madame," he answered, in a tone that was almost tart, "you, it seems to me, must know too well

everything that goes on in the Thuillier household not to be aware that the event you speak of is not

"No, I assure you, I know nothing; I have strictly forbidden myself from taking any further interest in an

affair which I felt I had meddled with very foolishly. Mademoiselle Brigitte and I talk of everything except

"And it is no doubt the desire to allow me perfect freedom in the matter that induces you to take flight

"Yes," said the countess, "that ought to be the reason that makes me leave the room; else, why should I be so

"Ah! madame, there are other reasons that might make a woman avoid a man's presence. For instance, if he

has displeased her; if the advice, given to him with rare wisdom and kindness, was not received with proper

"Oh, my dear monsieur," she replied, "I have no such ardor in proselytizing that I am angry with those who

"On the contrary, madame, in the matter of my marriage your judgment was perfectly correct."

"How so?" said the countess, eagerly. "Has the seizure of the pamphlet, coming directly after the failure to

"No," said la Peyrade, "my influence in the Thuillier household rests on a solid basis; the services I have

rendered Mademoiselle Brigitte and her brother outweigh these checks, which, after all, are not irreparable."

"Certainly," replied la Peyrade; "when the Comtesse du Bruel takes it into her head to seriously obtain that bit

of red ribbon, she can do so, in spite of all obstacles that are put in her way."

"But, madame, only a day or two ago Madame du Bruel told Madame Colleville that the unexpected

opposition she had met with piqued her, and that she meant to go in person to the minister."

"But you forget that since then this seizure has been made by the police; it is not usual to decorate a man who

is summoned before the court of assizes. You seem not to notice that the seizure argues a strong illwill

against Monsieur Thuillier, and, I may add, against yourself, monsieur, for you are known to be the culprit.

You have not, I think, taken all this into account. The authorities appear to have acted not wholly from legal

"I must own," he said, after that rapid glance, "that I have tried in vain to find any passage in that pamphlet

"In my opinion," said the countess, "the king's servants must have a vivid imagination to persuade themselves

they were dealing with a seditious publication. But that only proves the strength of the underground power

"May I dare to utter a suspicion, madame?" said la Peyrade, with some agitation.

"Yes, say what you think," replied Madame de Godollo. "I shall not blame you if you guess right."

"Supposing that is so," said the countess; "do you know how many lines Richelieu required from a man's

"You can imagine, then, that a pamphlet of two hundred pages might afford aslightly intriguing woman

"I see it all, madame, I understand it!" cried la Peyrade, with animation. "I believe that woman to be one of

the elite of her sex, with as much mind and malice as Richelieu! Adorable magician! it is she who has set in

motion the police and the gendarmes; but, more than that, it is she who withholds that cross the ministers

"Ah! I struggle no longer," said la Peyrade. Then, with an assumed air of contrition, he added, "You must,

"Not quite as much as you may think," replied the countess; "but, after all, suppose that I do hate you?"

"Ah! madame," cried la Peyrade, ardently, "I should then be the happiest of unhappy men; for that hatred

would seem to me sweeter and more precious than your indifference. But you do not hate me; why should

you feel to me that most blessed feminine sentiment which Scribe has depicted with such delicacy and wit?"

Madame de Godollo did not answer immediately. She lowered her eyelids, and the deeper breathing of her

"The hatred of a woman!" she said. "Is a man of your stoicism able to perceive it?"

"Ah! yes, madame," replied la Peyrade, "I do indeed perceive it, but not to revolt against it; on the contrary, I

bless the harshness that deigns to hurt me. Now that I know my beautiful and avowed enemy, I shall not

despair of touching her heart; for never again will I follow any road but the one that she points out to me,

never will I march under any banner but hers. I shall waitfor her inspiration, to think; for her will, to will;

for her commands, to act. In all things I will be her auxiliary,more than that, her slave; and if she still

repulses me with that dainty foot, that snowy hand, I will bear it resignedly, asking, in return for such

obedience one only favor,that of kissing the foot that spurns me, of bathing with tears the hand that

During this long cry of the excited heart, which the joy of triumph wrung from a nature so nervous and

impressionable as that of the Provencal, he had slidden from his chair, and now knelt with one knee on the

ground beside the countess, in the conventional attitude of the stage, which is, however, much more common

"Rise, monsieur," said the countess, "and be so good as to answer me." Then, giving him a questioning look

from beneath her beautiful frowning brows, she continued: "Have you wellweighed the outcome of the

words you have just uttered? Have you measured the full extent of your pledge, and its depth? With your

hand on your heart and on your conscience, are you a man to fulfil those words? Or are you one of the falsely

humble and perfidious men who throw themselves at our feet only to make us lose the balance of our will and

"I!" exclaimed la Peyrade; "never can I react against the fascination you have wielded over me from the

moment of our first interview! Ah! madame, the more I have resisted, the more I have struggled, the more

you ought to trust in my sincerity and its tardy expression. What I have said, I think; that which I think aloud

today I have thought in my soul since the hour when I first had the honor of admittance to you; and the

many days I have passed in struggling against this allurement have ended in giving me a firm and deliberate

"Severity?" said the countess; "possibly. But you ought to think of the kindness too. Question yourself

carefully. We foreign women do not understand the careless ease with which a Frenchwoman enters upon a

solemn engagement. To us, our YES is sacred; our word is a bond. We do and we will nothing by halves. The

arms of my family bear a motto which seems significant under the present circumstances,'All or Nothing';

"That is how I understand my pledge," replied la Peyrade; "and on leaving this room my first step will be to

break with that ignoble past which for an instant I seemed to hold in the balance against the intoxicating

"No," said the countess, "do it calmly and advisedly; I do not like rash conduct; you will not please me by

taking open steps. These Thuilliers are not really bad at heart; they humiliated you without knowing that they

did so; their world is not yours. Is that their fault? Loosen the tie between you, but do not violently break it.

And, above all, reflect. Your conversion to my beliefs is of recent date. What man is certain of what his heart

"Madame," said la Peyrade, "I am that man. We men of Southern blood do not love as you say a

"But," said the countess, with a charming smile, "I thought it was hatred we were talking of."

"Ah, madame," cried the barrister, "explained and understood as it has been, that word is still a thing that

hurts me. Tell me rather, not that you love me, but that the words you deigned to say to me at our first

"My friend," said the countess, dwelling on the word; "one of your moralists has said: 'There are persons who

So saying, she held out her hand to her suitor with a charming gesture of modesty and grace. La Peyrade,

quite beside himself, darted upon that beautiful hand and devoured it with kisses.

"Enough, child!" said the countess, gently freeing her imprisoned fingers; "adieu now, soon to meet again!

La Peyrade picked up his hat, and seemed about to rush from the apartment; but at the door he turned and cast

upon the handsome creature a look of tenderness. The countess made him, with her head, a graceful gesture

of adieu; then, seeing that la Peyrade was inclined to return to her, she raised her forefinger as a warning to

On the staircase la Peyrade stopped to exhale, if we may so express it, the happiness of which his heart was

full. The words of the countess, the ingenious preparation she had made to put him on the track of her

sentiments, seemed to him the guarantee of her sincerity, and he left her full of faith.

Possessed by that intoxication of happy persons which shows itself in their gestures, their looks, their very

gait, and sometimes in actions not authorized by their commonsense, after pausing a moment, as we have

said, on the staircase, he ran up a few steps till he could see the door of the Thuilliers' apartment.

"At last!" he cried, "fame, fortune, happiness have come to me; but, above all, I can now give myself the joy

of vengeance. After Dutocq and Cerizet, I will crush YOU, vile bourgeois brood!"

So saying, he shook his fist at the innocent door. Then he turned and ran out; the popular saying that the earth

The next day, for he could not restrain any longer the tempest that was swelling within him, la Peyrade went

to see Thuillier in the bitterest and most hostile of moods. What was therefore his amazement when, before

he had time to put himself on guard and stop the demonstration of union and oblivion, Thuillier flung himself

"My friend," cried the municipal councillor, as he loosened his clasp, "my political fortune is made; this

morning all the newspapers, without exception, have spoken of the seizure of my pamphlet; and you ought to

"Simple enough," said la Peyrade, not moved by this enthusiasm; "you are a topic for them, that's all. But this

does not alter the situation; the prosecution will be only the more determined to have you condemned."

"Well, then," said Thuillier, proudly raising his head, "I will go to prison, like Beranger, like Lamennais, like

"My good fellow, persecution is charming at a distance; but when you hear the big bolts run upon you, you

"But," objected Thuillier, "prisoners condemned for political offences are always allowed to do their time in

hospital if they like. Besides, I'm not yet convicted. You said yourself you expected to get me acquitted."

"Yes, but since then I have heard things which make that result very doubtful; the same hand that withheld

your cross has seized your pamphlet; you are being murdered with premeditation."

"If you know who that dangerous enemy is," said Thuillier, "you can't refuse to point him out to me."

"I don't know him," replied la Peyrade; "I only suspect him. This is what you get by playing too shrewd a

"Playing a shrewd game!" said Thuillier, with the curiosity of a man who is perfectly aware that he has

"Yes," said la Peyrade, "you made a sort of decoy of Celeste to attract young bloods to your salon. All the

world has not the forbearance of Monsieur Godeschal, who forgave his rejection and generously managed

"Nothing is easier to understand. Without counting me, how many suitors have you had for Mademoiselle

Colleville? Godeschal, Minard junior, Phellion junior, Olivier Vinet, the substitute judge,all men who have

"Olivier Vinet, the substitute judge!" cried Thuillier, struck with a flash of light. "Of course; the blow must

have come from him. His father, they say, has a long arm. But it can't be truly said that we sent him about his

business,to use your expression, which strikes me as indecorous,for he never came to the house but

once, and made no offer; neither did Minard junior or Phellion junior, for that matter. Godeschal is the only

one who risked a direct proposal, and he was refused at once, before he dipped his beak in the water."

"It is always so!" said la Peyrade, still looking for a ground of quarrel. "Straightforward and outspoken

"Ah ca! what's all this?" said Thuillier; "what are you insinuating? Didn't you settle everything with Brigitte

the other day? You take a pretty time to come and talk to me about your loveaffairs, when the sword of

"Oh!" said la Peyrade, ironically; "so now you are going to make the most of your interesting position of

accused person! I knew very well how it would be; I was certain that as soon as your pamphlet appeared the

"Parbleu! your pamphlet!" cried Thuillier. "I think you are a fine fellow to boast of that when, on the

"Well, truly, my dear Theodose," said Thuillier, with feeling, "I should never have thought that you would

choose the hour of adversity to come and put your pistol at our throats and make me the object of your sneers

"Well done!" said la Peyrade; "now it is the hour of adversity! A minute ago you were flinging yourself into

my arms as a man to whom some signal piece of luck had happened. You ought really to choose decidedly

"It is all very well to be witty," returned Thuillier; "but you can't controvert what I say. I am logical, if I am

not brilliant. It is very natural that I should console myself by seeing that public opinion decides in my favor,

and by reading in its organs the most honorable assurances of sympathy; but do you suppose I wouldn't rather

that things had taken their natural course? Besides, when I see myself the object of unworthy vengeance on

the part of persons as influential as the Vinets, how can I help measuring the extent of the dangers to which I

"Well," said la Peyrade, with pitiless persistency, "I see that you prefer to play the part of Jeremiah."

"Yes," said Thuillier, in a solemn tone. "Jeremiah laments over a friendship I did think true and devoted, but

"What services?" asked la Peyrade. "Did you not tell me positively, no later than yesterday, that you would

not accept my help under any form whatever? I offered to plead your case, and you answered that you would

"Yes; in the first shock of surprise at such an unexpected blow, I did say that foolish thing; but, on reflection,

who can explain as well as you can the intention of the words you wrote with your own pen? Yesterday I was

almost out of my mind; but you, with your wounded selflove, which can't forgive a momentary impatience,

"Yes, my dear fellow; and I don't know any other hands in which I could better place my case. I should have

to pay a monstrous sum to some great legal luminary, and he wouldn't defend me as ably as you."

"Well, I refuse. Roles have changed, as you see, diametrically. Yesterday, I thought, as you do, that I was the

man to defend you. Today, I see that you had better take the legal luminary, because, with Vinet's

antagonism against you the affair is taking such proportions that whoever defends it assumes a fearful

"I understand," said Thuillier, sarcastically. "Monsieur has his eye on the magistracy, and he doesn't want to

quarrel with a man who is already talked of for Keeper of the Seals. It is prudent, but I don't know that it is

"You mean," said la Peyrade, seizing the ball in its bound, "that to get you out of the claws of that jury is a

thirteenth labor of Hercules, imposed upon me to earn the hand of Mademoiselle Colleville? I expected that

demands would multiply in proportion to the proofs of my devotion. But that is the very thing that has worn

me out, and I have come here today to put an end to this slave labor by giving back to you your pledges.

You may dispose of Celeste's hand; for my part, I am no longer a suitor for it."

The unexpectedness and squareness of this declaration left Thuillier without words or voice, all the more

because at this moment entered Brigitte. The temper of the old maid had also greatly moderated since the

"Well," she continued, paying no attention to the stiffness of his manner, "the government has got itself into a

pretty mess by seizing your pamphlet. You ought to see how the morning papers lash it! Here," she added,

giving Thuillier a small sheet printed on sugarpaper, in coarse type, and almost illegible,"here's another,

you didn't read; the porter has just brought it up. It is a paper from our old quarter, 'L'Echo de la Bievre.' I

don't know, gentlemen, if you'll be of my opinion, but I think nothing could be better written. It is droll,

though, how inattentive these journalists are! most of them write your name without the H; I think you ought

Thuillier took the paper, and read the article inspired to the reviewer of the tanner's organ by stomach

gratitude. Never in her life had Brigitte paid the slightest attention to a newspaper, except to know if it was

the right size for the packages she wrapped up in it; but now, suddenly, converted to a worship of the press by

the ardor of her sisterly love, she stood behind Thuillier and reread, over his shoulder, the more striking

"Yes," said Thuillier, folding up the paper, "that's warm, and very flattering to me. But here's another matter!

Monsieur has come to tell me that he refuses to plead for me, and renounces all claim to Celeste's hand."

"That is to say," said Brigitte, "he renounces her if, after having pleaded, the marriage does not take place

'subito.' Well, poor fellow, I think that's a reasonable demand. When he has done that for us there ought to be

no further delay; and whether Mademoiselle Celeste likes it or not, she must accept him, because, you know,

"Do you hear that, my good fellow?" said la Peyrade, seizing upon Brigitte's speech. "When I have pleaded,

the marriage is to take place. Your sister is frankness itself; she, at least, doesn't practise diplomacy."

"Diplomacy!" echoed Brigitte. "I'd like to see myself creeping underground in matters. I say things as I think

"Do be silent," cried Thuillier, stamping his foot; "you don't say a word that doesn't turn the knife in the

"The knife in the wound?" said Brigitte, inquiringly. "Ah ca! are you two quarrelling?"

"I told you," said Thuillier, "that la Peyrade had returned our promises; and the reason he gives is that we are

asking him another service for Celeste's hand. He thinks he has done us enough without it."

"He has done us some services, no doubt," said Brigitte; "but it seems to me that we have not been ungrateful

to him. Besides, it was he who made the blunder, and I think it rather odd he should now wish to leave us in

"Your reasoning, mademoiselle," said la Peyrade, "might have some appearance of justice if I were the only

barrister in Paris; but as the streets are black with them, and as, only yesterday, Thuillier himself spoke of

engaging some more important lawyer than myself, I have not the slightest scruple in refusing to defend him.

Now, as to the marriage, in order that it may not be made the object of another brutal and forcible demand

upon me, I here renounce it in the most formal manner, and nothing now prevents Mademoiselle Colleville

"As you please, my dear monsieur," said Brigitte, "if that's your last word. We shall not be at a loss to find a

husband for Celeste,Felix Phellion or another. But you must permit me to tell you that the reason you give

is not the true one. We can't go faster than the fiddles. If the marriage were settled today, there are the banns

to publish; you have sense enough to know that Monsieur le maire can't marry you before the formalities are

"Yes," said la Peyrade, "and if I lose the case it will be I who have sent him to prison,just as yesterday it

"As for that, it seems to me that if you had written nothing the police would have found nothing to bite."

"My dear Brigitte," said Thuillier, seeing la Peyrade shrug his shoulders, "your argument is vicious in the

sense that the writing was not incriminating on any side. It is not la Peyrade's fault if persons of high station

have organized a persecution against me. You remember that little substitute, Monsieur Olivier Vinet, whom

Cardot brought to one of our receptions. It seems that he and his father are furious that we didn't want him for

"Well, why did we refuse him," said Brigitte, "if it wasn't for the fine eyes of monsieur here? For, after all, a

"No doubt," said la Peyrade, nonchalantly. "Only, he did not happen to bring you a million."

"Ah!" cried Brigitte, firing up. "If you are going to talk any more about that house you helped us to buy, I

shall tell you plainly that if you had had the money to trick the notary you never would have come after us.

You needn't think I have been altogether your dupe. You spoke just now of a bargain, but you proposed that

bargain yourself. 'Give me Celeste and I'll get you that house,'that's what you said to us in so many words.

"Come, come, Brigitte," said Thuillier, "you are making a great deal out of nothing."

"Nothing! nothing!" exclaimed Brigitte. "Did we, or did we not, have to pay much more than we expected?"

"My dear Thuillier," said la Peyrade, "I think, with you, that the matter is now settled, and it can only be

embittered by discussing it further. My course was decided on before I came here; all that I have now heard

can only confirm it. I shall not be the husband of Celeste, but you and I can remain good friends."

"One moment, monsieur," said Brigitte, barring his way; "there is one matter which I do not consider settled;

and now that we are no longer to have interests in common, I should not be sorry if you would be so good as

to tell me what has become of a sum of ten thousand francs which Thuillier gave you to bribe those rascally

"Brigitte!" cried Thuillier, in anguish, "you have a devil of a tongue! You ought to be silent about that; I told

it to you in a moment of illtemper, and you promised me faithfully never to open your lips about it to any

"So I did; but," replied the implacable Brigitte, "we are parting. When people part they settle up; they pay

their debts. Ten thousand francs! For my part, I thought the cross itself dear at that; but for a cross that has

"Come, la Peyrade, my friend, don't listen to her," said Thuillier, going up to the barrister, who was pale with

anger. "The affection she has for me blinds her; I know very well what government offices are, and I

"Monsieur," said la Peyrade, "I am, unfortunately, not in a position to return to you, instantly, that money, an

accounting for which is so insolently demanded. Grant me a short delay; and have the goodness to accept my

"To the devil with your note!" cried Thuillier; "you owe me nothing; on the contrary, it is we who owe you;

for Cardot told me I ought to give you at least ten thousand francs for enabling us to buy this magnificent

"Cardot! Cardot!" said Brigitte; "he is very generous with other people's money. We were giving monsieur

La Peyrade was too great a comedian not to turn the humiliation he had just endured into a scene finale. With

"Mademoiselle," he said, "when I had the honor to be received by you I was poor; you long saw me suffering

and ill at ease, knowing, alas! too well, the indignities that poverty must bear. From the day that I was able to

give you a fortune which I never thought of for myself I have felt, it is true, more assurance; and your own

kindness encouraged me to rise out of my timidity and depression. Today, when I, by frank and loyal

conduct, release you from anxiety,for, if you chose to be honest, you would acknowledge that you have

been thinking of another husband for Celeste,we might still remain friends, even though I renounce a

marriage which my delicacy forbids me to pursue. But you have not chosen to restrain yourself with the

limits of social politeness, of which you have a model beside you in Madame de Godollo, who, I am

persuaded, although she is not at all friendly to me, would never have approved of your odious behavior.

Thank Heaven! I have in my heart some religious sentiment at least; the Gospel is not to me a mere

deadletter, andunderstand me well, mademoiselleI FORGIVE YOU. It is not to Thuillier, who would

refuse them, but to you that I shall, before long, pay the ten thousand francs which you insinuate I have

applied to my own purposes. If, by the time they are returned to you, you feel regret for your unjust

suspicions, and are unwilling to accept the money, I request that you will turn it over to the bureau of

"To the bureau of Benevolence!" cried Brigitte, interrupting him. "No, I thank you! the idea of all that money

being distributed among a crowd of donothings and devotes, who'll spend it in junketing! I've been poor too,

my lad; I made bags for the money of others long before I had any money of my own; I have some now, and I

take care of it. So, whenever you will, I am ready to receive that ten thousand francs and keep it. If you didn't

know how to do what you undertook to do, and spent that money in trying to put salt on a sparrow's tail, so

Seeing that he had missed his effect, and had made not the slightest impression on Brigitte's granite, la

Peyrade cast a disdainful look upon her and left the room majestically. As he did so he noticed a movement

made by Thuillier to follow him, and also the imperious gesture of Brigitte, always queen and mistress, which

At the moment when la Peyrade was preparing to lay at the feet of the countess the liberty he had recovered

in so brutal a manner, he received a perfumed note, which made his heart beat, for on the seal was that

momentous "All or Nothing" which she had given him as the rule of the relation now to be inaugurated

Dear Monsieur,I have heard of the step you have taken; thank you! But I must now prepare to take my

own. I cannot, as you may well think, continue to live in this house, and among these people who are so little

of our own class and with whom we have nothing in common. To arrange this transaction, and to avoid

explanations of the fact that the entresol welcomes the voluntary exile from the firstfloor, I need today and

tomorrow to myself. Do not therefore come to see me until the day after. By that time I shall have executed

That "Wholly thine" in Latin seemed charming to la Peyrade, who was not, however, astonished, for Latin is

a second national language to the Hungarians. The two days' waiting to which he was thus condemned only

fanned the flame of the ardent passion which possessed him, and on the third day when reached the house by

the Madeleine his love had risen to a degree of incandescence of which only a few days earlier he would

This time the porter's wife perceived him; but he was now quite indifferent as to whether or not the object of

his visit should be known. The ice was broken, his happiness was soon to be official, and he was more

Running lightly up the stairs, he prepared to ring the bell, when, on putting out his hand to reach the silken

bellcord he perceived that the bellcord had disappeared. La Peyrade's first thought was that one of those

serious illnesses which make all noises intolerable to a patient would explain its absence; but with the thought

came other observations that weakened it, and which, moreover, were not in themselves comforting.

From the vestibule to the countess's door a stair carpet, held at each step by a brass rod, made a soft ascent to

the feet of visitors; this, too, had been removed. A screendoor covered with green velvet and studded with

brass nails had hitherto protected the entrance to the apartment; of that no sign, except the injury to the wall

done by the workmen in taking it away. For a moment the barrister thought, in his agitation, that he must

have mistaken the floor, but, casting his eye over the baluster he saw that he had not passed the entresol.

He then resigned himself to make known his presence at the great lady's door as he would have done at that

of a grisette. He rapped with his knuckles, but a hollow sonority revealing the void, "intonuere cavernae,"

echoed beyond the door which he vainly appealed to with his fist. He also perceived from beneath that door a

ray of vivid light, the sure sign of an uninhabited apartment where curtains and carpets and furniture no

longer dim the light or deaden sound. Compelled to believe in a total removal, la Peyrade now supposed that

in the rupture with Brigitte, mentioned as probable by Madame de Godollo, some brutal insolence of the old

maid had necessitated this abrupt departure. But why had he not been told of it? And what an idea, to expose

him to this ridiculous meeting with what the common people call, in their picturesque language, "the wooden

Before leaving the door finally, and as if some doubt still remained in his mind, la Peyrade made a last and

"Who's knocking like that, as if they'd bring the house down?" said the porter, attracted by the noise to the

"Of course she doesn't live here now; she has moved away. If monsieur had told me he was going to her

"I knew that she was going to leave the apartment," said la Peyrade, not wishing to seem ignorant of the

"I suppose it was something sudden," said the porter, "for she went off early this morning with posthorses."

"That's to be supposed," said the porter; "people don't usually take posthorses and a postilion to change from

"Her letters? I am ordered to deliver them to Monsieur le commandeur, the little old gentlemen who came to

"Yes, yes, certainly," said la Peyrade, keeping his presence of mind in the midst of the successive shocks

"I couldn't say every day; but he came often. Well, I am told to give the countess's letters to him."

"And for other persons of her acquaintance," said la Peyrade, carelessly, "did she leave no message?"

"But I think," said the porter, "that Mademoiselle Thuillier knows more about it than I do. Won't monsieur go

"No, never mind," said la Peyrade, "I only came to tell Madame de Godollo about a commission she asked

"Well, as I told you, she left with posthorses this morning. Two hours earlier monsieur might still have

found her; but now, with post horses, she must by this time have gone a good distance."

La Peyrade departed, with a sense of despair in his heart. Added to the anxiety caused by this hasty departure,

jealousy entered his soul, and in this agonizing moment of disappointment the most distressing explanations

"These clever diplomatic women are often sent on secret missions which require the most absolute silence,

"Suppose she were one of those intriguing adventurers whom foreign governments employ as agents?

Suppose the tale, more or less probable, of that Russian princess forced to sell her furniture to Brigitte were

also that of this Hungarian countess? And yet," he continued, as his brain made a third evolution in this

frightful anarchy of ideas and feelings, "her education, her manners, her language, all bespoke a woman of

the best position. Besides, if she were only a bird of passage, why have given herself so much trouble to win

La Peyrade might have continued to plead thus for and against for a long time had he not been suddenly

"Take care! my dear barrister; a frightful danger threatens you; you are running right into it."

La Peyrade, thus arrested, looked round and found himself in the arms of Phellion.

The scene took place in front of a house which was being pulled down at the corner of the rues Duphot and

SaintHonore. Posted on the pavement of the other side of the street, Phellion, whose taste for watching the

process of building our readers may remember, had been witnessing for the last fifteen minutes the drama of

a wall about to fall beneath the united efforts of a squadron of workmen. Watch in hand, the great citizen was

estimating the length of the resistance which that mass of freestone would present to the destructive labor of

which it was the object. Precisely at the crucial moment of the impending catastrophe la Peyrade, lost in the

tumult of his thoughts, was entering, heedless of the shouts addressed to him on all sides, the radius within

which the stones would fall. Seen by Phellion (who, it must be said, would have done the same for a total

stranger) la Peyrade undoubtedly owed his life to him; for, at the moment when he was violently flung back

by the vigorous grasp of the worthy citizen, the wall fell with the noise of a cannonshot, and the stones

"Are you blind and deaf?" said the workman whose business it was to warn the passers, in a tone of amenity

"Thank you, my dear friend," said la Peyrade, recalled to earth. "I should certainly have been crushed like an

"My reward," replied the latter, "lies in the satisfaction of knowing that you are saved from an imminent

peril. And I may say that that satisfaction is mingled, for me, with a certain pride; for I was not mistaken by a

single second in the calculation which enabled me to foresee the exact moment when that formidable mass

would be displaced from its centre of gravity. But what were you thinking of, my dear monsieur? Probably of

the plea you are about to make in the Thuillier affair. The public prints have informed me of the danger of

prosecution by the authorities which hangs above the head of our estimable friend. You have a noble cause to

defend, monsieur. Habituated as I am, through my labors as a member of the reading committee of the

Odeon, to judge of works of intellect, and with my hand upon my conscience, I declare that after reading the

incriminated passages, I can find nothing in the tone of that pamphlet which justifies the severe measures of

which it is the object. Between ourselves," added the great citizen, lowering his voice, "I think the

"So I think," said la Peyrade, "but I am not employed for the defence. I have advised Thuillier to engage some

"It may be good advice," said Phellion; "at any rate, it speaks well for your modesty. Poor man! I went to him

at once when the blow fell, but I did not see him; I saw only Brigitte, who was having a discussion with

Madame de Godollo. There is a woman with strong political views; it seems she predicted that the seizure

"Did you know that the countess had left Paris?" said la Peyrade, rushing at the chance of speaking on the

"Ah! left Paris, has she?" said Phellion. "Well, monsieur, I must tell you that, although there was not much

sympathy between us, I regard her departure as a misfortune. She will leave a serious void in the salon of our

friends. I say this, because it is my belief, and I am not in the habit of disguising my convictions."

"Yes," said la Peyrade, "she is certainly a very distinguished woman, with whom in spite of her prejudice

against me, I think I should have come to an understanding. But this morning, without leaving any word as to

"Posthorses!" said Phellion. "I don't know whether you will agree with me, monsieur, but I think that

travelling by post is a most agreeable method of conveyance. Certainly Louis XI., to whom we owe the

institution, had a fortunate inspiration in the matter; although, on the other hand, his sanguinary and despotic

government was not, to my humble thinking, entirely devoid of reproach. Once only in my life have I used

that method of locomotion, and I can truly say I found it far superior, in spite of its inferior relative rapidity,

to the headlong course of what in England are called RAILWAYS; where speed is attained only at the price

La Peyrade paid but little attention to Phellion's phraseology. "Where can she have gone?"round that idea

he dug and delved in every direction, an occupation that would have made him indifferent to a far more

interesting topic. However, once started, like the locomotive he objected to, the great citizen went on:

"I made that journey at the period of Madame Phellion's last confinement. She was in Perche, with her

mother, when I learned that serious complications were feared from the milkfever. Overcome with terror at

the danger which threatened my wife, I went instantly to the postoffice to obtain a seat in the mailcoach,

but all were taken; I found they had been engaged for more than a week. Upon that, I came to a decision; I

went to the rue Pigalle, and, for a very large sum in gold a postchaise and three horses were placed at my

disposal, when unfortunately the formality of a passport, with which I had neglected to supply myself, and

without which, in virtue of the decrees of the consulate of 17 Nivose, year VII., the post agents were not

The last few words were like a flash of light to la Peyrade, and without waiting for the end of the postal

odyssey of the great citizen, he darted away in the direction of the rue Pigalle, before Phellion, in the middle

Reaching the Royal postal establishment, la Peyrade was puzzled as to whom to address himself in order to

obtain the information he wanted. He began by explaining to the porter that he had a letter to send to a lady of

his acquaintance that morning by post, neglecting, very thoughtlessly, to send him her address, and that he

thought he might discover it by means of the passport which she must have presented in order to obtain

"Was it a lady accompanied by a maid whom I took up on the boulevard de la Madeleine?" asked a postilion

sitting in the corner of the room where la Peyrade was making his preliminary inquiry.

"Exactly," said la Peyrade, going eagerly up to the providential being, and slipping a fivefranc piece into his

"Ah! well, she's a queer traveller!" said the man, "she told me to take her to the Bois de Boulogne, and there

she made me drive round and round for an hour. After that, we came back to the Barriere de l'Etoile, where

she gave me a good 'pourboire' and got into a hackney coach, telling me to take the travelling carriage back to

Furnished with that information la Peyrade resumed his course, and fifteen minutes later he was questioning

the liverystable keeper; but that individual knew only that a lady residing on the Boulevard de la Madeleine

had hired, without horses, a travellingcarriage for half a day; that he had sent out the said carriage at nine

that morning, and it was brought back at twelve by a postilion of the Royal Post house.

"Never mind," thought la Peyrade, "I am certain now she has not left Paris, and is not avoiding me. Most

probably, she wants to break utterly with the Thuilliers, and so has invented this journey. Fool that I am! no

Worn out with emotion and fatigue, and in order to verify as quickly as possible this new supposition, la

Peyrade flung himself into a street cab, and in less than a quarter of an hour, having promised the driver a

good pourboire, he was deposited at the house in the rue SaintDominique d'Enfer. There he was compelled

to endure still longer the tortures of waiting. Since Brigitte's departure, the duty of the porter, Coffinet, had

been very negligently performed, and when la Peyrade rushed to the lodge to inquire for his letter, which he

thought he saw in the case that belonged to him, the porter and his wife were both absent and their door was

locked. The wife was doing some household work in the building, and Coffinet himself, taking advantage of

that circumstance, had allowed a friend to entice him into a neighboring wineshop, where, between two

glasses, he was supporting, against a republican who was talking disrespectfully against it, the cause of the

It was twenty minutes before the worthy porter, remembering the "property" entrusted to his charge, decided

to return to his post. It is easy to imagine the reproaches with which la Peyrade overwhelmed him. He

excused himself by saying that he had gone to do a commission for Mademoiselle, and that he couldn't be at

the door and where his masters chose to send him at the same time. At last, however, he gave the lawyer a

With his heart rather than his eyes la Peyrade recognized the handwriting, and, turning over the missive, the

arms and motto confirmed the hope that he had reached the end of the cruellest emotion he had ever in his life

experienced. To read that letter before that odious porter seemed to him a profanation. With a refinement of

feeling which all lovers will understand, he gave himself the pleasure of pausing before his happiness; he

would not even unseal that blissful note until the moment when, with closed doors and no interruptions to

distract him, he could enjoy at his ease the delicious sensation of which his heart had a foretaste.

Rushing up the staircase two steps at a time, the now joyous lover committed the childish absurdity of

locking himself in; then, having settled himself at his ease before his desk, and having broken the seal with

religious care, he was forced to press his hand on his heart, which seemed to burst from his bosom, before he

Dear Monsieur,I disappear forever, because my play is played out. I thank you for having made it both

attractive and easy. By setting against you the Thuilliers and Collevilles (who are fully informed of your

sentiments towards them), and by relating in a manner most mortifying to their bourgeois selflove the true

reason of your sudden and pitiless rupture with them, I am proud and happy to believe that I have done you a

signal service. The girl does not love you, and you love nothing but the eyes of her "dot"; I have therefore

saved you both from a species of hell. But, in exchange for the bride you have so curtly rejected, another

charming girl is proposed to you; she is richer and more beautiful than Mademoiselle Colleville, andto

P.S. For further information apply, without delay, to Monsieur du Portail, householder, rue

HonoreChevalier, near the rue de la Cassette, quartier SaintSulpice, by whom you are expected.

When he had read this letter the advocate of the poor took his head in his hands; he saw nothing, heard

Several days were necessary to la Peyrade before he could even begin to recover from the crushing blow

which had struck him down. The shock was terrible. Coming out of that golden dream which had shown him

a perspective of the future in so smiling an aspect, he found himself fooled under conditions most cruel to his

selflove, and to his pretensions to depth and cleverness; irrevocably parted from the Thuilliers; saddled with

a hopeless debt of twentyfive thousand francs to Madame Lambert, together with another of ten thousand to

Brigitte, which his dignity required him to pay with the least delay possible; and, worst of all,to complete

his humiliation and his sense of failure,he felt that he was not cured of the passionate emotion he had felt

for this woman, the author of his great disaster, and the instrument of his ruin.

Either this Delilah was a very great lady, sufficiently high in station to allow herself such compromising

caprices,but even so, she would scarcely have cared to play the role of a coquette in a vaudeville where he

himself played the part of ninny,OR she was some noted adventuress who was in the pay of this du Portail

and the agent of his singular matrimonial designs. Evil life or evil heart, these were the only two verdicts to

be pronounced on this dangerous siren, and in either case, it would seem, she was not very deserving of the

regrets of her victim; nevertheless, he was conscious of feeling them. We must put ourselves in the place of

this son of Provence, this region of hot blood and ardent heads, who, for the first time in his life finding

himself face to face with jewelled love in laces, believed he was to drink that passion from a wroughtgold

cup. Just as our minds on waking keep the impression of a vivid dream and continue in love with what we

know was but a shadow, la Peyrade had need of all his mental energy to drive away the memory of that

treacherous countess. We might go further and say that he never ceased to long for her, though he was careful

to drape with an honest pretext the intense desire that he had to find her. That desire he called curiosity, ardor

for revenge; and here follow the ingenious deductions which he drew for himself:

"Cerizet talked to me about a rich heiress; the countess, in her letter, intimates that the whole intrigue she

wound about me was to lead to a rich marriage; rich marriages flung at a man's head are not so plentiful that

two such chances should come to me within a few weeks; therefore the match offered by Cerizet and that

proposed by the countess must be the crazy girl they are so frantic to make me marry; therefore Cerizet, being

in the plot, must know the countess; therefore, through him I shall get upon her traces. In any case, I am sure

of information about this extraordinary choice that has fallen upon me; evidently, these people, whoever they

are, who can pull the wires of such puppets to reach their ends must be persons of considerable position;

Since the dinner at the Rocher de Cancale, the pair had not met. Once or twice la Peyrade had asked Dutocq

at the Thuilliers' (where the latter seldom went now, on account of the distance to their new abode) what had

Hence it might be inferred that resentment, the "manet alta mente repostum" was still living in the breast of

the vindictive usurer. La Peyrade, however, was not stopped by that consideration. After all, he was not going

to ask for anything; he went under the pretext of renewing an affair in which Cerizet had taken part, and

Cerizet never took part in anything unless he had a personal interest in it. The chances were, therefore, that he

would be received with affectionate eagerness rather than unpleasant acerbity. Moreover, he decided to go

and see the copying clerk at Dutocq's office; it would look, he thought, less like a visit than if he went to his

den in the rue des Poules. It was nearly two o'clock when la Peyrade made his entrance into the precincts of

the justiceofpeace of the 12th arrondissement. He crossed the first room, in which were a crowd of persons

whom civil suits of one kind or another summoned before the magistrate. Without pausing in that

waitingroom, la Peyrade pushed on to the office adjoining that of Dutocq. There he found Cerizet at a

shabby desk of blackened wood, at which another clerk, then absent, occupied the opposite seat.

Seeing his visitor, Cerizet cast a savage look at him and said, without rising, or suspending the copy of the

"You here, Sieur la Peyrade? You have been doing fine things for your friend Thuillier!"

"I?" replied Cerizet. "As you see, still rowing my galley; and, to follow out the nautical metaphor, allow me

to ask what wind has blown you hither; is it, perchance, the wind of adversity?"

La Peyrade, without replying, took a chair beside his questioner, after which he said in a grave tone:

"I suppose," said Cerizet, spitefully, "the Thuilliers have grown cold since the seizure of the pamphlet."

"The Thuilliers are ungrateful people; I have broken with them," replied la Peyrade.

"Rupture or dismissal," said Cerizet, "their door is shut against you; and from what Dutocq tells me, I judge

that Brigitte is handling you without gloves. You see, my friend, what it is to try and manage affairs alone;

complications come, and there's no one to smooth the angles. If you had got me that lease, I should have had

a footing at the Thuilliers', Dutocq would not have abandoned you, and together we could have brought you

"But suppose I don't want to reenter that port?" said la Peyrade, with some sharpness. "I tell you I've had

enough of those Thuilliers, and I broke with them myself; I warned them to get out of my sun; and if Dutocq

told you anything else you may tell him from me that he lies. Is that clear enough? It seems to me I've made it

"Well, exactly, my good fellow, if you are so savage against your Thuilliers you ought to have put me among

"There you are right," said la Peyrade; "I wish I could have set you at their legsbut as for that matter of the

"Of course," said Cerizet, "it was your conscience which obliged you to tell Brigitte that the twelve thousand

francs a year I expected to make out of it were better in her pocket than in mine."

"It seems that Dutocq continues the honorable profession of spy which he formerly practised at the ministry

of finance," said la Peyrade, "and, like others who do that dirty business, he makes his reports more witty

"Look here!" said la Peyrade. "I have come to talk to you on serious matters. Will you do me the favor to

"Say on, my friend," said Cerizet, laying down his pen, which had never ceased to run, up to this moment, "I

"You talked to me some time ago," said la Peyrade, "about marrying a girl who was rich, fully of age, and

"Well done!" cried Cerizet. "I expected this; but you've been some time coming to it."

"In offering me this heiress, what did you have in your mind?" asked la Peyrade.

"Parbleu! to help you to a splendid stroke of business. You had only to stoop and take it. I was formally

charged to propose it to you; and, as there wasn't any brokerage, I should have relied wholly on your

"But you are not the only person who was commissioned to make me that offer. A woman had the same

"A woman!" cried Cerizet in a perfectly natural tone of surprise. "Not that I know of."

"Yes, a foreigner, young and pretty, whom you must have met in the family of the bride, to whom she seems

"Never," said Cerizet, "never has there been the slightest question of a woman in this negotiation. I have

"What!" said la Peyrade, fixing upon Cerizet a scrutinizing eye, "did you never hear of the Comtesse Torna

"Then," said la Peyrade, "it must really have been another match; for that woman, after many singular

preliminaries, too long to explain to you, made me a formal offer of the hand of a young woman much richer

"No, she did not embellish the proposal with that accessory; but there's another detail which may put you on

the track of her. Madame de Godollo exhorted me, if I wished to push the matter, to go and see a certain

"Then it is the same marriage which is offered to you through two different mediums. It is strange I was not

"In short," said la Peyrade, "you not only didn't have wind of the countess's intervention, but you don't know

"At present I can't," replied Cerizet, "but I'll find out about her; for the whole proceeding is rather cavalier

towards me; but this employment of two agents only shows you how desirable you are to the family."

At this moment the door of the room was opened cautiously, a woman's head appeared, and a voice, which

"Ah! excuse me! I see monsieur is busy. Could I say a word to monsieur when he is alone?"

Cerizet, who had an eye as nimble as a hand, instantly noticed a certain fact. La Peyrade, who was so placed

as to be plainly seen by the newcomer, no sooner heard that drawling, honeyed voice, than he turned his

head in a manner to conceal his features. Instead therefore of being roughly sent away, as usually happened to

petitioners who addressed the most surly of official clerks, the modest visitor heard herself greeted in a very

"Come in, come in, Madame Lambert," said Cerizet; "you won't be kept waiting long; come in."

"Ah! monsieur!" cried his creditor, whom the reader has no doubt recognized, "how fortunate I am to meet

monsieur! I have been several times to his office to ask if he had had time to attend to my little affair."

"I have had many engagements which have kept me away from my office lately; but I attended to that matter;

"Oh! how good monsieur is! I pray God to bless him," said the pious woman, clasping her hands.

"Bless me! do you have business with Madame Lambert?" said Cerizet; "you never told me that. Are you

"No, unfortunately," said Madame Lambert, "my master won't take any counsel; he is so selfwilled, so

obstinate! But, my good monsieur, what I came to ask is whether the family council is to meet."

"But monsieur, I hear those gentlemen of the Royal court said the family had no rights"

"Yes, that's so," said the clerk; "the lower court and the Royal court have both, on the petition of the relatives,

"I should hope so!" said the woman; "to think of making him out a lunatic! him so full of wisdom and

"But the relations don't mean to give up; they are going to try the matter again under a new form, and ask for

the appointment of a judicial counsel. That's what the family council meets for tomorrow; and I think, this

time, my dear Madame Lambert, your old Picot will find himself restrained. There are serious allegations, I

can tell you. It was all very well to take the eggs, but to pluck the hen was another thing."

"Is it possible that monsieur can suppose" began the devote, clasping her hands under her chin.

"I suppose nothing," said Cerizet; "I am not the judge of this affair. But the relations declare that you have

pocketed considerable sums, and made investments about which they demand inquiry."

"Oh! heavens!" said the woman, casting up her eyes; "they can inquire; I am poor; I have not a deed, nor a

"I dare say not," said Cerizet, glancing at la Peyrade out of the corner of his eye; "but there are always friends

to take care of such things. However, that is none of my business; every one must settle his own affairs in his

"I came, monsieur," she replied, "to implore you, monsieur, to implore Monsieur the judge's clerk, to speak in

our favor to Monsieur the justiceofpeace. Monsieur the vicar of SaintJacques is also to speak to him. That

poor Monsieur Picot!" she went on, weeping, "they'll kill him if they continue to worry him in this way."

"I sha'n't conceal from you," said Cerizet, "that the justiceofpeace is very illdisposed to your cause. You

must have seen that the other day, when he refused to receive you. As for Monsieur Dutocq and myself, our

assistance won't help you much; and besides, my good woman, you are too closemouthed."

"Monsieur asked me if I had laid by a few little savings; and I couldn't tell him that I had, bebecause they

have gone to keep the hhouse of that poor Monsieur Piicot; and now they accuse me of rrobbing

"My opinion is," said Cerizet, "that you are making yourself out much poorer than you are; and if friend

Peyrade here, who seems to be more in your confidence, hadn't his tongue tied by the rules of his

"I!" said la Peyrade, hastily, "I don't know anything of madame's affairs. She asked me to draw up a petition

"Ah! that's it, is it?" said Cerizet. "Madame had doubtless gone to see you about this petition the day Dutocq

met her at your office, the morning after our dinner at the Rocher de Cancalewhen you were such a

"Well, my good Madame Lambert, I'll ask my patron to speak to the justiceofpeace, and, if I get a chance,

I'll speak to him myself; but, I repeat it, he is very much prejudiced against you."

Madame Lambert retired with many curtseys and protestations of gratitude. When she was fairly gone la

"You don't seem to believe that that woman came to me about a petition; and yet nothing was ever truer. She

is thought a saint in the street she lives in, and that old man they accuse her of robbing is actually kept alive

by her devotion, so I'm told. Consequently, the neighbors have put it into the good woman's head to apply for

the Montyon prize; and it was for the purpose of putting her claims in legal shape that she applied to me."

"Dear! dear! the Montyon prize!" cried Cerizet; "well, that's an idea! My good fellow, we ought to have

cultivated it before,I, especially, as banker of the poor, and you, their advocate. As for this client of yours,

it is lucky for her Monsieur Picot's relatives are not members of the French academy; it is in the correctional

policecourt, sixth chamber, where they mean to give her the reward of virtue. However, to come back to

what we were talking about. I tell you that after all your tergiversations you had better settle down peaceably;

"He is a little old man," replied Cerizet, "as shrewd as a weasel. He gives me the idea of having dealings with

"Yes," said la Peyrade, "perhaps I will; but, first of all, I want you to find out for me about this Comtesse de

"What do you care about her? She is nothing but a supernumerary, that countess."

"I have my reasons," said la Peyrade; "you can certainly get some information about her in three days; I'll

"My good fellow," said Cerizet, "you seem to me to be amusing yourself with things that don't pay; you

"Plague take him!" thought la Peyrade; "he spies everything; there's no hiding anything from him! No," he

said, aloud, "I am not in love; on the contrary, I am very cautious. I must admit that this marriage with a crazy

girl doesn't attract me, and before I go a step into it I want to know where I put my feet. These crooked

proceedings are not reassuring, and as so many influences are being brought to bear, I choose to control one

by another. Therefore don't play sly, but give me all the information you get into your pouch about Madame

la Comtesse Torna de Godollo. I warn you I know enough to test the veracity of your report; and if I see you

"Trying to overreach you, monseigneur!" replied Cerizet, in the tone and manner of Frederic Lemaitre. "Who

As he pronounced those words in a slightly mocking tone, Dutocq appeared, accompanied by his little clerk.

"Bless me!" he exclaimed, seeing la Peyrade and Cerizet together; "here's the trinity reconstituted! but the

object of the alliance, the 'casus foederis,' has floated off. What have you done to that good Brigitte, la

"Thuillier began by not being very hostile to you; but it now seems that the seizure business has taken a good

turn, and having less need of you he is getting drawn into his sister's waters; and if the tendency continues, I

"Well, I'm out of it all," said la Peyrade, "and if anybody ever catches me in such a mess again!Well,

adieu, my friends," he added. "And you, Cerizet, as to what we were speaking about, activity, safety, and

When la Peyrade reached the courtyard of the municipal building, he was accosted by Madame Lambert, who

"Monsieur wouldn't believe, I am sure," she said, in a deprecating tone, "the villainous things that Monsieur

Cerizet said about me; monsieur knows it was the little property I received from my uncle in England that I

"Yes, yes," said la Peyrade, "but you must understand that with all these rumors set about by your master's

"You ought also to understand how important it is for your interests to keep secret the other service which I

did for you. At the first appearance of any indiscretion on your part that money, as I told you, will be

As he turned to leave her, a nasal voice was heard from a window on the staircase.

"Madame Lambert!" cried Cerizet, who, suspecting the colloquy, had gone to the staircase window to make

sure of it. "Madame Lambert! Monsieur Dutocq has returned; you may come up and see him, if you like."

Impossible for la Peyrade to prevent the conference, although he knew the secret of that twentyfive

"Certainly," he said to himself as he walked away, "I'm in a run of illluck; and I don't know where it will

In Brigitte's nature there was such an alldevouring instinct of domination, that it was without regret, and, we

may even say, with a sort of secret joy that she saw the disappearance of Madame de Godollo. That woman,

she felt, had a crushing superiority over her; and this, while it had given a higher order to the Thuillier

establishment, made her ill at ease. When therefore the separation took place, which was done, let us here

say, on good terms, and under fair and honorable pretexts, Mademoiselle Thuillier breathed more freely. She

felt like those kings long swayed by imperious and necessary ministers, who celebrate within their hearts the

day when death delivers them from a master whose services and rival influence they impatiently endured.

Thuillier was not far from having the same sentiment about la Peyrade. But Madame de Godollo was only the

elegance, whereas la Peyrade was the utility of the house they had now simultaneously abandoned; and after

the lapse of a few days, a terrible need of Theodose made itself felt in the literary and political existence of

his dear, good friend. The municipal councillor found himself suddenly appointed to draft an important

report. He was unable to decline the task, saddled as he was with the reputation, derived from his pamphlet,

of being a man of letters and an able writer; therefore, in presence of the perilous honor conferred upon him

by his colleagues of the general Council, he sat down terrified by his solitude and his insufficiency.

In vain did he lock himself into his study, gorge himself with black coffee, mend innumerable pens, and write

a score of times at the head of his paper (which he was careful to cut of the exact dimensions as that used by

la Peyrade) the solemn words: "Report to the Members of the Municipal Council of the City of Paris,"

followed, on a line by itself, by a magnificent MESSIEURSnothing came of it! He was fain to issue

furious from his study, complaining of the horrible household racket which "cut the thread of his ideas";

though really no greater noise than the closing of a door or the opening of a closet or the moving of a chair

had made itself heard. All this, however, did not help the advancement of the work, which remained, as

Most fortunately, it happened that Rabourdin, wanting to make some change in his apartment, came, as was

proper, to submit his plan to the owner of the house. Thuillier granted cordially the request that was made to

him, and then discoursed to his tenant about the report with which he was charged,being desirous, he said,

Rabourdin, to whom no administrative question was foreign, very readily threw upon the subject a number of

very clear and lucid ideas. He was one of those men to whom the quality of the intellect to which they

address themselves is more or less indifferent; a fool, or a man of talent who will listen to them, serves

equally well to think aloud to, and they are, as a stimulant, about the same thing. After Rabourdin had said his

say, he observed that Thuillier had not understood him; but he had listened to himself with pleasure, and he

was, moreover, grateful for the attention, obtuse as it was, of his hearer, and also for the kindliness of the

"I must have among my papers," he said as he went away, "something on this subject; I will look it up and

Accordingly, that same evening Thuillier received a voluminous manuscript; and he spent the entire night in

delving into that precious repository of ideas, from which he extracted enough to make a really remarkable

report, clumsily as the pillage was managed. When read before the council it obtained a very great success,

and Thuillier returned home radiant and much elated by the congratulations he had received. From that

momenta moment that was marked in his life, for even to advanced old age he still talked of the "report he

had had the honor of making to the Councilgeneral of the Seine"la Peyrade went down considerably in

his estimation; he felt then that he could do very well without the barrister, and this thought of emancipation

was strengthened by another happiness which came to him at almost the same time.

A parliamentary crisis was imminent,a fact that caused the ministry to think about depriving its adversaries

of a theme of opposition which always has great influence on public opinion. It resolved therefore to relax its

rigor, which of late had been much increased against the press. Being included in this species of hypocritical

amnesty, Thuillier received one morning a letter from the barrister whom he had chosen in place of la

Peyrade. This letter announced that the Council of State had dismissed the complaint, and ordered the release

Then Dutocq's prediction was realized. That weight the less within his bosom, Thuillier took a swing toward

insolence; he chorused Brigitte, and came at last to speak of la Peyrade as a sort of adventurer whom he had

fed and clothed, a tricky fellow who had EXTRACTED much money from him, and had finally behaved with

such ingratitude that he was thankful not to count him any longer among his friends. Orgon, in short, was in

full revolt, and like Dorine, he was ready to cry out: "A beggar! who, when he came, had neither shoes nor

Cerizet, to whom these indignities were reported by Dutocq, would gladly have served them up hot to la

Peyrade; but the interview in which the copying clerk was to furnish information about Madame de Godollo

did not take place at the time fixed. La Peyrade made his own discoveries in this wise:

Pursued by the thought of the beautiful Hungarian, and awaiting, or rather not awaiting the result of Cerizet's

inquiry, he scoured Paris in every direction, and might have been seen, like the idlest of loungers, in the most

frequented places, his heart telling him that sooner or later he must meet the object of his ardent search.

One eveningit was towards the middle of Octoberthe autumn, as frequently happens in Paris, was

magnificent, and along the boulevards, where the Provencal was airing his love and his melancholy, the

outdoor life and gaiety were as animated as in summer. On the boulevard des Italiens, formerly known as

the boulevard de Gand, as he lounged past the long line of chairs before the Cafe de Paris, where, mingled

with a few women of the Chaussee d'Antin accompanied by their husbands and children, may be seen toward

evening a cordon of nocturnal beauties waiting only a gloved hand to gather them, la Peyrade's heart received

She was alone, in a dazzling toilet scarcely authorized by the place and her isolation; before her, mounted on

a chair, trembled a tiny lapdog, which she stroked from time to time with her beautiful hands. After

convincing himself that he was not mistaken, la Peyrade was about to dart upon that celestial vision, when he

was forestalled by a dandy of the most triumphant type. Without throwing aside his cigar, without even

touching his hat, this handsome young man began to converse with the barrister's ideal; but when she saw la

Peyrade making towards her the siren must have felt afraid, for she rose quickly, and taking the arm of the

"Is your carriage here, Emile? Mabille closes tonight, and I should like to go there."

The name of that disreputable place thus thrown in the face of the unhappy barrister, was a charity, for it

saved him from a foolish action, that of addressing, on the arm of the man who had suddenly made himself

her cavalier, the unworthy creature of whom he was thinking a few seconds earlier with so much tenderness.

But, as lovers are beings who will not allow their foothold to be taken from them easily, the Provencal was

neither convinced nor resigned as yet. Not far from the place which his countess had left, sat another woman,

also alone; but this one was ripe with years, with feathers on her head, and beneath the folds of a cashmere

shawl she concealed the plaintive remains of tarnished elegance and long past luxury. There was nothing

imposing about this sight, nor did it command respect, but the contrary. La Peyrade went up to the woman

"Madame," he said, "do you know that woman who has just gone away on the arm of a gentleman?"

Our readers will doubtless remember that at the time of the insurrection in Hungary our ears were battered by

the press and by novelists about the famous citadel of Komorn; and la Peyrade knew that by assuming a tone

"I don't know," replied la Peyrade, "but she is a woman who makes people think of her."

"And a very dangerous woman, monsieur," added his companion; "a fearful spendthrift, but with no

inclination to return generously what is done for her. I can speak knowingly of that; when she first arrived

"Yes, at that time I had in the environs of Ville d'Avray a very beautiful place, with park and coverts and a

stream for fishing; but as I was alone I found it dull, and several of these ladies and gentlemen said to me,

"Madame Louchard!" repeated la Peyrade, "are you any relation to Monsieur Louchard of the commercial

"His wife, monsieur, but legally separated from him. A horrid man who wants me to go back to him; but I,

though I'm ready to forgive most things, I can't forgive a want of respect; just imagine that he dared to raise

"Well," said la Peyrade, trying to bring her back to the matter in hand; "you organized those picnics, and

"Was one of my first lodgers. It was there she made acquaintance with an Italian, a handsome man, and rich,

a political refugee, but one of the lofty kind. You understand it didn't suit my purposes to have intrigues

going on in my house; still the man was so lovable, and so unhappy because he couldn't make Madame

Komorn like him, that at last I took an interest in this particular love affair; which produced a pot of money

for madame, for she managed to get immense sums out of that Italian. Well, would you believe that

whenbeing just then in great needI asked her to assist me with a trifling little sum, she refused me

pointblank, and left my house, taking her lover with her, who, poor man, can't be thankful for the

"It happened to him that this serpent knows every language in Europe; she is witty and clever to the tips of

her fingers, but more manoeuvring than either; so, being, as it appears, in close relations to the police, she

gave the government a lot of papers the Italian left about carelessly, on which they expelled him from

"Since then, she has had a good many adventures and upset several fortunes, and I thought she had left Paris.

For the last two months she was nowhere to be seen, but three days ago she reappeared, more brilliant than

ever. My advice to monsieur is not to trust himself in that direction; and yet, monsieur looks to me a

Southerner, and Southerners have passions; perhaps what I have told him will only serve to spur them up.

However, being warned, there's not so much danger, and she is a most fascinating creatureoh! very

fascinating. She used to love me very much, though we parted such illfriends; and just now, seeing me here,

The bow was returned with extreme coldness; his abrupt departure did not show him to be a man of

It might be supposed from the lively manner in which la Peyrade made these inquiries that his cure though

sudden was complete; but this surface of indifference and cool selfpossession was only the stillness of the

atmosphere that precedes a storm. On leaving Madame Louchard, la Peyrade flung himself into a streetcab

and there gave way to a passion of tears like that Madame Colleville had witnessed on the day he believed

What was his position now? The investment of the Thuilliers, prepared with so much care, all useless; Flavie

well avenged for the odious comedy he had played with her; his affairs in a worse state than they were when

Cerizet and Dutocq had sent him, like a devouring wolf, into the sheepfold from which he had allowed the

stupid sheep to drive him; his heart full of revengeful projects against the woman who had so easily got the

better of what he thought his cleverness; and the memory, still vivid, of the seductions to which he had

succumbed, such were the thoughts and emotions of his sleepless night, sleepless except for moments

The next day la Peyrade could think no more; he was a prey to fever, the violence of which became

sufficiently alarming for the physician who attended him to take all precautions against the symptoms now

appearing of brain fever: bleeding, cupping, leeches, and ice to his head; these were the agreeable finale to his

dream of love. We must hasten to add, however, that this violent crisis in the physical led to a perfect cure of

the mental being. The barrister came out of his illness with no other sentiment than cold contempt for the

treacherous Hungarian, a sentiment which did not even rise to a desire for vengeance.

Once more afoot, and reckoning with his future, on which he had lost so much ground, la Peyrade asked

himself if he had not better try to renew his relations with the Thuilliers, or whether he should be compelled

to fall back on the rich crazy woman who had bullion where others have brains. But everything that reminded

him of his disastrous campaign was repulsive to him; besides, what safety was there in dealing with this du

Great commotions of the soul are like those storms which purify the atmosphere; they induce reflection, they

counsel good and strong resolutions. La Peyrade, as the result of the cruel disappointment he had just

endured, examined his own soul. He asked himself what sort of existence was this, of base and ignoble

intrigue, which he had led for the past year? Was there for him no better, no nobler use to make of the

faculties he felt within him? The bar was open to him as to others; that was a broad, straight path which could

lead him to all the satisfaction of legitimate ambition. Like Figaro, who displayed more science and

calculation in merely getting a living than statesmen had shown in governing Spain for a hundred years, he, la

Peyrade, in order to install and maintain himself in the Thuillier household and marry the daughter of a

clarionet and a smirched coquette, had spent more mind, more art, andit should also be said, because in a

corrupt society it is an element that must be reckonedmore dishonesty than was needed to advance him in

"Enough of such connections as Dutocq and Cerizet," he said to himself; "enough of the nauseating

atmosphere of the Minards and Phellions and Collevilles and Barniols and all the rest of them. I'll shake off

this province 'intra muros,' a thousand times more absurd and petty than the true provinces; they at least, side

by side with their pettiness, have habits and customs that are characteristic, a 'sui generis' dignity; they are

frankly what they are, the antipodes of Parisian life; this other is but a parody of it. I will fling myself upon

In consequence of these reflections, la Peyrade went to see two or three barristers who had offered to

introduce him at the Palais in secondary cases. He accepted those that presented themselves at once, and three

weeks after his rupture with the Thuilliers he was no longer the "advocate of the poor," but a barrister

He had already pleaded several cases successfully when he received, one morning, a letter which greatly

disturbed him. The president of the order of barristers requested him to come to his office at the Palais in the

course of the day, as he had something of importance to say to him. La Peyrade instantly thought of the

transaction relating to the purchase of the house on the boulevard de la Madeleine; it must have come, he

thought, to the ears of the Council of Discipline; if so he was accountable to that tribunal and he knew its

Now this du Portail, whom he had never yet been to see, in spite of his conditional promise to Cerizet, was

likely to have heard the whole story of that transaction from Cerizet himself. Evidently all means were

thought good by that man, judging by the use he had made of the Hungarian woman. In his savage

determination to bring about the marriage with the crazy girl, had this virulent old man denounced him? On

seeing him courageously and with some appearance of success entering a career in which he might find fame

and independence, had his persecutor taken a step to make that career impossible? Certainly there was

enough likelihood in this suggestion to make the barrister wait in cruel anxiety for the hour when he might

While breakfasting rather meagrely, his mind full of these painful conjectures, Madame Coffinet, who had

the honor to take charge of his housekeeping, came up to ask if he would see Monsieur Etienne Lousteau.

A moment later he met his visitor, whose face did not seem utterly unknown to him.

"Monsieur," said this newcomer, "I had the honor of breakfasting with you not long ago at Vefour's; I was

"Ah, very good!" said the barrister, offering a chair; "you are attached to the staff of a newspaper?"

"Editorinchief of the 'Echo de la Bievre,' and it is on the subject of that paper that I have now called to see

"Is it possible you are not aware that the ministry met with terrible defeat last night? But instead of resigning,

as every one expected, they have dissolved the Chamber and appeal to the people."

"I knew nothing of all that," said la Peyrade. "I have not read the morning papers."

"So," continued Lousteau, "all parliamentary ambitions will take the field, and, if I am well informed,

Monsieur Thuillier, already member of the Councilgeneral, intends to present himself as candidate for

"Well, monsieur, I desire to place at his disposition an instrument the value of which I am confident you will

not underestimate. The 'Echo de la Bievre,' a specialist paper, can have a decisive influence on the election in

"And you would be disposed," asked la Peyrade, "to make that paper support Monsieur Thuillier's

"Better than that," replied Lousteau. "I have come to propose to Monsieur Thuillier that he purchase the paper

"But in the first place," said la Peyrade, "what is the present condition of the enterprise? In its character as a

specialist journal as you called it just nowit is a sheet I have seldom met with; in fact, it would be

entirely unknown to me were it not for the remarkable article you were so good as to devote to Thuillier's

"The position of the paper is excellent; we can give it to you on easy terms, for we were intending shortly to

"On the contrary, it happens to be quite natural. The founders, who were all representatives of the great

leather interest, started this paper for a special object. That object has been attained. The 'Echo de la Bievre'

has therefore become an effect without a cause. In such a case, stockholders who don't like the tail end of

matters, and are not eager after small profits, very naturally prefer to sell out."

"That," replied Lousteau, "is a point we did not consider; we were not very anxious to have subscribers; the

mainspring of the whole affair was direct and immediate action on the ministry of commerce to obtain a

higher duty on the introduction of foreign leathers. You understand that outside of the tannery circle, this

"I should have thought, however," persisted la Peyrade, "that a newspaper, however circumscribed its action,

would be a lever which depended for its force on the number of its subscribers."

"Not for journals which aim for a single definite thing," replied Lousteau, dogmatically. "In that case,

subscribers are, on the contrary, an embarrassment, for you have to please and amuse them, and in so doing,

the real object has to be neglected. A newspaper which has a definite and circumscribed object ought to be

like the stroke of that pendulum which, striking steadily on one spot, fires at a given hour the cannon of the

"At any rate," said la Peyrade, "what price do you put upon a publication which has no subscribers, does not

pay its expenses, and has until now been devoted to a purpose totally different from that you propose for it?"

"Before answering," returned Lousteau, "I shall ask you another question. Have you any intention of buying

"That's according to circumstances," replied la Peyrade. "Of course I must see Thuillier; but I may here

remark to you that he knows absolutely nothing about newspaper business. With his rather bourgeois ideas,

the ownership of a newspaper will seem to him a ruinous speculation. Therefore, if, in addition to an idea that

will scare him, you suggest an alarming price, it is useless for me to speak to him. I am certain he would

"No," replied Lousteau. "I have told you we should be reasonable; these gentlemen have left the whole matter

in my hands. Only, I beg to remark that we have had propositions from other parties, and in giving Monsieur

Thuillier this option, we intended to pay him a particular courtesy. When can I have your answer?"

"Tomorrow, I think; shall I have the honor of seeing you at your own house, or at the office of the journal?"

"No," said Lousteau, "tomorrow I will come here, at the same hour, if that is convenient to you."

"Perfectly," replied la Peyrade, bowing out his visitor, whom he was inclined to think more consequential

By the manner in which the barrister had received the proposition to become an intermediary to Thuillier, the

reader must have seen that a rapid revolution had taken place in his ideas. Even if he had not received that

extremely disquieting letter from the president of the order of barristers, the new situation in which Thuillier

would be placed if elected to the Chamber gave him enough to think about. Evidently his dear good friend

would have to come back to him, and Thuillier's eagerness for election would deliver him over, bound hand

and foot. Was it not the right moment to attempt to renew his marriage with Celeste? Far from being an

obstacle to the good resolutions inspired by his amorous disappointment and his incipient brain fever, such a

finale would ensure their continuance and success. Moreover, if he received, as he feared, one of those

censures which would ruin his dawning prospects at the bar, it was with the Thuilliers, the accomplices and

beneficiaries of the cause of his fall, that his instinct led him to claim an asylum.

With these thoughts stirring in his mind la Peyrade obeyed the summons and went to see the president of the

He was not mistaken; a very circumstantial statement of his whole proceeding in the matter of the house had

been laid before his brethren of the bar; and the highest dignitary of the order, after stating that an anonymous

denunciation ought always to be received with great distrust, told him that he was ready to receive and

welcome an explanation. La Peyrade dared not entrench himself in absolute denial; the hand from which he

believed the blow had come seemed to him too resolute and too able not to hold the proofs as well. But, while

admitting the facts in general, he endeavored to give them an acceptable coloring. In this, he saw that he had

"After the vacation which is now beginning I shall report to the Council of the order the charges made against

you, and the statements by which you have defended yourself. The Council alone has the right to decide on a

Thus dismissed, la Peyrade felt that his whole future at the bar was imperilled; but at least he had a respite,

and in case of condemnation a new project on which to rest his head. Accordingly, he put on his gown, which

he had never worn till now, and went to the fifth court room, where he was employed upon a case.

As he left the courtroom, carrying one of those bundles of legal papers held together by a strip of cotton

which, being too voluminous to hold under the arm, are carried by the hand and the forearm pressed against

the chest, la Peyrade began to pace about the Salle des Pas perdus with that harassed look of business which

denotes a lawyer overwhelmed with work. Whether he had really excited himself in pleading, or whether he

was pretending to be exhausted to prove that his gown was not a dignity for show, as it was with many of his

legal brethren, but an armor buckled on for the fight, it is certain that, handkerchief in hand, he was mopping

his forehead as he walked, when, in the distance, he spied Thuillier, who had evidently just caught sight of

La Peyrade was not surprised by the encounter. On leaving home he had told Madame Coffinet he was going

to the Palais, and should be there till three o'clock, and she might send to him any persons who called on

business. Not wishing to let Thuillier accost him too easily, he turned abruptly, as if some thought had

changed his purpose, and went and seated himself on one of the benches which surround the walls of that

great antechamber of Justice. There he undid his bundle, took out a paper, and buried himself in it with the air

of a man who had not had time to examine in his study a case he was about to plead. It is not necessary to say

that while doing this the Provencal was watching the manoeuvres of Thuillier out of the corner of his eye.

Thuillier, believing that la Peyrade was really occupied in some serious business, hesitated to approach him.

However, after sundry backings and fillings the municipal councillor made up his mind, and sailing straight

before the wind he headed for the spot he had been reconnoitring for the last ten minutes.

"Bless me, Theodose!" he cried as soon as he had got within hailing distance. "Do you come to the Palais

"It seems to me," replied Theodose, "that barristers at the Palais are like Turks at Constantinople, where a

friend of mine affirmed you could see a good many. It is YOU whom it is rather surprising to see here."

"Not at all," said Thuillier, carelessly. "I've come about that cursed pamphlet. Is there ever any end to your

legal bothers? I was summoned here this morning, but I don't regret it, as it gives me the happy chance of

"I, too," said la Peyrade, tying up his bundle. "I am very glad to see you, but I must leave you now; I have an

"Did you speak to Olivier Vinet, that mortal enemy of yours? he sits in that court," asked la Peyrade.

"Well, that's queer!" said the barrister; "that fellow must have the gift of ubiquity; he has been all the morning

in the fifth courtroom, and has just this minute given a judgment on a case I pleaded."

Thuillier colored, and got out of his hobble as best he could. "Oh, hang it!" he said; "those men in gowns are

La Peyrade shrugged his shoulders and said aloud, but as if to himself: "Always the same; crafty, crooked,

"Why, of you, my dear fellow, who take me for an imbecile, as if I and the whole world didn't know that your

pamphlet business came to an end two weeks ago. Why, then, summon you to court?"

"Well, I was sent for," said Thuillier, with embarrassment; "something about registry fees,it is all Greek to

"And they chose," said la Peyrade, "precisely the very day when the Moniteur, announcing the dissolution of

the Chamber, made you think about being a candidate for the 12th arrondissement."

"Why not?" asked Thuillier, "what has my candidacy to do with the fees I owe to the court?"

"I'll tell you," said la Peyrade, dryly. "The court is a thing essentially amiable and complaisant. 'Tiens!' it said

to itself, 'here's this good Monsieur Thuillier going to be a candidate for the Chamber; how hampered he'll be

by his attitude to his exfriend Monsieur de la Peyrade, with whom he wishes now he hadn't quarrelled. I'll

summon him for fees he doesn't owe; that will bring him to the Palais where la Peyrade comes daily; and in

that way he can meet him by chance, and so avoid taking a step which would hurt his selflove."

"Well, there you are mistaken!" cried Thuillier, breaking the ice. "I used so little craft, as you call it, that I've

"Well done!" said la Peyrade, "I like this frankness; I can get on with men who play aboveboard. Well, what

do you want of me? Have you come to talk about your election? I have already begun to work for it."

"Here," replied la Peyrade, feeling under his gown for his pocket and bringing out a paper, "here's what I

scribbled just now in the court room while the lawyer on the other side rambled on like an expert."

Calculating the editions at 5,000 the costs are: Paper, 5 reams at 12 francs . . . . . . . . . . 1,860 francs.

Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,400 " Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 " One administrator . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . 250 " One clerk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 " One editor (also cashier) . . . . . . . . . . . 200 " One

despatcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 " Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 " One office boy . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . 80 " Office expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 " Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 " License and

postage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,500 " Reporting and stenographic news . . . . . . . . 1,800 " Total

"I?" asked la Peyrade, "I want nothing at all; you are the one to be asked if you want to be a deputy."

"Undoubtedly I do; because, when you urged me to become a municipal councillor, you put the idea into my

head. But reflect, my dear Theodose, one hundred and eighty one thousand three hundred and twenty francs

"Yes," said la Peyrade, "you could very well support that expense, for considering the end you want to obtain

there is nothing exorbitant in it. In England they make much greater sacrifices to get a seat in Parliament; but

in any case, I beg you to observe that the costs are very high on that estimate, and some could be cut off

altogether. For instance, you would not want an administrator. You, yourself, an old accountant, and I, an old

journalist, can very well manage the affair between us. Also rent, we needn't count that; you have your old

apartment in the rue SaintDominique which is not yet leased; that will make a fine newspaper office."

"Well, that's something; but your error consists in calculating on the yearly cost. When do the elections take

"Very good; two months will cost you thirty thousand francs, even supposing the paper had no subscribers."

"True," said Thuillier, "the expense is certainly less than I thought at first. But does a newspaper really seem

"So essential that without that power in our hands, I won't have anything to do with the election. You don't

seem to see, my poor fellow, that in going to live in the other quarter you have lost, electorally speaking, an

immense amount of ground. You are no longer the man of the place, and your election could be balked by the

cry of what the English call 'absenteeism.' This makes your game very hard to play."

"I admit that," said Thuillier; "but there are so many things wanted besides money,a name for one thing, a

"A name, we have one made to hand; editors, they are you and I and a few young fellows who grow on every

"Precisely, and that's why I give my approval to the affair. Do you think I should be fool enough to advise

you to start an entirely new paper? 'Echo de la Bievre!' that title is a treasure to a man who wants support for

his candidacy in the 12th arrondissement. Say the word only, and I put that treasure into your hands."

"There now, you see," said Thuillier in a discouraged tone; "you never counted in the cost of purchase."

"How you dwell on nothings!" said la Peyrade, hunching his shoulders; "we have other and more important

"Parbleu!" exclaimed la Peyrade; "do you suppose that after all that has taken place between us I should

boldly harness myself to your election without knowing exactly what benefit I am to get for it?"

"But," said Thuillier, rather astonished, "I thought that friendship was a good exchange for such services."

"Yes; but when the exchange consists in one side giving all and the other side nothing, friendship gets tired of

"But, my dear Theodose, what have I to offer you that you have not already rejected?"

"I rejected it, because it was offered without heartiness, and seasoned with Mademoiselle Brigitte's vinegar;

every selfrespecting man would have acted as I did. Give and keep don't pass, as the old legal saying is; but

"I!I think you took offence very unreasonably; but the engagement might be renewed."

"So be it," replied la Peyrade; "but I will not put myself at the mercy of either the success of the election or

Mademoiselle Celeste's caprices. I claim the right to something positive and certain. Give and take; short

"I perfectly agree with you," said Thuillier, "and I have always treated you with too much good faith to fear

any of these precautions you now want to take. But what guarantees do you want?"

"I want that the husband of Celeste should manage your election, and not Theodose de la Peyrade."

"By hurrying things as much as possible, so Brigitte said, it would still take fifteen days; and just think, with

"Day after tomorrow," replied la Peyrade, "the banns can be published for the first time at the mayor's

office, in the intervals of publication some things could be done, for though the publishing of the banns is not

a step from which there is no retreat, it is at least a public pledge and a long step taken; after that we can get

your notary to draw the contract at once. Moreover, if you decide on buying this newspaper, I shouldn't be

afraid that you would go back on me, for you don't want a useless horse in your stable, and without me I am

"But, my dear fellow," said Thuillier, going back to his objections, "suppose that affair proves too onerous?"

"There's no need to say that you are the sole judge of the conditions of the purchase. I don't wish any more

than you do to buy a pig in a poke. If tomorrow you authorize me, I won't say to buy, but to let these people

know that you may possibly make the purchase, I'll confer with one of them on your behalf, and you may be

"And as soon as the paper is purchased we are to fix the day for signing the contract?"

"Yes," replied Thuillier; "but will you bind yourself to use your utmost influence on the election?"

"As if it were my own," replied la Peyrade, "which, by the bye, is not altogether an hypothesis. I have already

"Certainly," said Thuillier, with humility, "you would make a better deputy than I; "but you are not of the

"There's a better reason than that," said la Peyrade; "you are my friend; I find you again what you once were,

and I shall keep the pledges I have given you. As for the election, I prefer that people say of me, 'He makes

deputies, but will be none himself.' Now I must leave you and keep my appointment. Tomorrow in my own

Whoso has ever been a newspaper man will ever be one; that horoscope is as sure and certain as that of

drunkards. Whoever has tasted that feverishly busy and relatively lazy and independent life; whoever has

exercised that sovereignty which criticises intellect, art, talent, fame, virtue, absurdity, and even truth;

whoever has occupied that tribune erected by his own hands, fulfilled the functions of that magistracy to

which he is selfappointed,in short, whosoever has been, for however brief a span, that proxy of public

opinion, looks upon himself when remanded to private life as an exile, and the moment a chance is offered to

For this reason when Etienne Lousteau went to la Peyrade, a former journalist, with an offer of the weapon

entitled the "Echo de la Bievre," all the latter's instincts as a newspaper man were aroused, in spite of the very

inferior quality of the blade. The paper had failed; la Peyrade believed he could revive it. The subscribers, on

the vendor's own showing, were few and far between, but he would exercise upon them a "compelle intrare"

both powerful and irresistible. In the circumstances under which the affair was presented to him it might

surely be considered provincial. Threatened with the loss of his position at the bar, he was thus acquiring, as

we said before, a new position and that of a "detached fort"; compelled, as he might be, to defend himself, he

could from that vantageground take the offensive and oblige his enemies to reckon with him.

On the Thuillier side, the newspaper would undoubtedly make him a personage of considerable importance;

he would have more power on the election; and by involving their capital in an enterprise which, without

him, they would feel a gulf and a snare, he bound them to him by selfinterests so firmly that there was

This horizon, rapidly taken in during Etienne Lousteau's visit, had fairly dazzled the Provencal, and we have

seen the peremptory manner in which Thuillier was forced into accepting with some enthusiasm the

The cost of the purchase was ridiculously insignificant. A banknote for five hundred francs, for which

Etienne Lousteau never clearly accounted to the shareholders, put Thuillier in possession of the name,

property, furniture, and goodwill of the newspaper, which he and la Peyrade at once busied themselves in

While this regeneration was going on, Cerizet went one morning to see du Portail, with whom la Peyrade was

"Well," said the little old man to the poor man's banker, "what effect did the news we gave to the president of

"Phew!" said Cerizet, whose intercourse, no doubt pretty frequent, with du Portail had put him on a footing of

some familiarity with the old man, "there's no question of that now. The eel has wriggled out of our hands;

neither softness nor violence has any effect upon that devil of a man. He has quarrelled with the bar, and is in

better odor than ever with Thuillier. 'Necessity,' says Figaro, 'obliterates distance.' Thuillier needs him to push

"And no doubt," said du Portail, without much appearance of feeling, "the marriage is fixed for an early

"Yes," replied Cerizet, "but there's another piece of work on hand. That crazy fellow has persuaded Thuillier

to buy a newspaper, and he'll make him sink forty thousand francs in it. Thuillier, once involved, will want to

get his money back, and in my opinion they are bound together for the rest of their days."

"Oh, a cabbageleaf that calls itself the 'Echo de la Bievre'!" replied Cerizet with great scorn; "a paper which

an old hack of a journalist on his last legs managed to set up in the Mouffetard quarter by the help of a lot of

tannersthat, you know, is the industry of the quarter. From a political and literary point of view the affair is

"Well, for local service to the election the instrument isn't so bad," remarked du Portail. "La Peyrade has

talent, activity, and much resource of mind; he may make something out of that 'Echo.' Under what political

"Thuillier," replied the beggars' banker, "is an oyster; he hasn't any opinions. Until the publication of his

pamphlet he was, like all those bourgeois, a rabid conservative; but since the seizure he has gone over to the

Opposition. His first stage will probably be the Left centre; but if the election wind should blow from

another quarter, he'll go straight before it to the extreme left. Selfinterest, for those bourgeois, that's the

"Dear, dear!" said du Portail, "this new combination of la Peyrade's may assume the importance of a political

danger from the point of view of my opinions, which are extremely conservative and governmental." Then,

after a moment's reflection, he added, "I think you did newspaper work once upon a time; I remember 'the

"Yes," replied the usurer, "I even managed one with la Peyrade,an evening paper; and a pretty piece of

"Well," said du Portail, "why don't you do it again,journalism, I mean,with la Peyrade."

"Ah ca!" he cried, "are you the devil, monsieur? Can nothing ever be hidden from you?"

"Yes," said du Portail, "I know a good many things. But what has been settled between you and la Peyrade?"

"Well, remembering my experience in the business, and not knowing whom else to get, he offered to make

"I did not know that," said du Portail, "but it was quite probable. Did you accept?"

"Conditionally; I asked time for reflection. I wanted to know what you thought of the offer."

"Parbleu! I think that out of an evil that can't be remedied we should get, as the proverb says, wing or foot. I

"Very good; but in order to get into it there's a difficulty. La Peyrade knows I have debts, and he won't help

me with the thirty threethousand francs' security which must be paid down in my name. I haven't got them,

and if I had, I wouldn't show them and expose myself to the insults of creditors."

"You must have a good deal left of that twentyfive thousand francs la Peyrade paid you not more than two

"Only two thousand two hundred francs and fifty centimes," replied Cerizet. "I was adding it up last night;

"Do you mean to tell me that your liabilities were more than twenty five thousand francs?" said du Portail,

"Does a man go into bankruptcy for less?" replied Cerizet, as though he were enunciating a maxim.

"Well, I see I am expected to pay that sum myself," said du Portail, crossly; "but the question is whether the

utility of your presence in this enterprise is worth to me the interest on one hundred and thirty three

"Hang it!" said Cerizet, "if I were once installed near Thuillier, I shouldn't despair of soon putting him and la

Peyrade at loggerheads. In the management of a newspaper there are lots of inevitable disagreements, and by

always taking the side of the fool against the clever man, I can increase the conceit of one and wound the

conceit of the other until life together becomes impossible. Besides, you spoke just now of political danger;

now the manager of a newspaper, as you ought to know, when he has the intellect to be something better than

"There's a good deal of truth in that," said du Portail, "but defeat to la Peyrade, that's what I am thinking

"Well," said Cerizet, "I think I have another nice little insidious means of demolishing him with Thuillier."

"Say what it is, then!" exclaimed du Portail, impatiently; "you go round and round the pot as if I were a man

"You remember," said Cerizet, coming out with it, "that some time ago Dutocq and I were much puzzled to

know how la Peyrade was, all of a sudden, able to make that payment of twentyfive thousand francs?"

"Ha!" said the old man quickly, "have you discovered the origin of that very improbable sum in our friend's

And he related in all its details the affair of Madame Lambert, adding, however, that on questioning the

woman closely at the office of the justiceofpeace, after the meeting with la Peyrade, he had been unable to

extract from her any confession, although by her whole bearing she had amply confirmed the suspicions of

"Madame Lambert, rue du ValdeGrace, No. 9; at the house of Monsieur Picot, professor of mathematics,"

said du Portail, as he made a note of the information. "Very good," he added; "come back and see me

"But please remark," said the usurer, "that I must give an answer to la Peyrade in the course of today. He is

"Very well; you must accept, asking a delay of twentyfour hours to obtain your security. If, after making

certain inquiries I see it is more to my interests not to meddle in the affair, you can get out of it by merely

Independently of a sort of inexplicable fascination which du Portail exercised over his agent, he never lost an

opportunity to remind him of the very questionable point of departure of their intercourse.

"You guessed right," said du Portail. "That woman Lambert, being obliged to conceal the existence of her

booty, and wanting to draw interest on her stolen property, must have taken it into her head to consult la

Peyrade; his devout exterior may have recommended him to her. She probably gave him that money without

"That's precisely it," said du Portail. "There can't be the slightest doubt left. Now, what use do you expect to

"I expect to put it into his head that la Peyrade, to whom he is going to give his goddaughter and heiress, is

over head and ears in debt; that he makes enormous secret loans; and that in order to get out of his difficulties

he means to gnaw the newspaper to the bone; and I shall insinuate that the position of a man so much in debt

must be known to the public before long, and become a fatal blow to the candidate whose right hand he is."

"That's not bad," said du Portail; "but there's another and even more conclusive use to be made of the

"Thuillier has not yet been able, has he, to explain to himself the reason of the seizure of the pamphlet?"

"Yes, he has," replied Cerizet. "La Peyrade was telling me only yesterday, by way of explaining Thuillier's

idiotic simplicity, that he had believed a most ridiculous bit of humbug. The 'honest bourgeois' is persuaded

that the seizure was instigated by Monsieur Olivier Vinet, substitute to the procureurgeneral. The young

man aspired for a moment to the hand of Mademoiselle Colleville, and the worthy Thuillier has been made to

"Good!" said du Portail; "tomorrow, as a preparation for the other version of which you are to be the organ,

Thuillier shall receive from Monsieur Vinet a very sharp and decided denial of the abuse of power he

"But another explanation must take its place," continued du Portail; "you must assure Thuillier that he is the

victim of police machinations. That is all the police is good for, you know, machinations."

"I know that very well; I've made that affirmation scores of times when I was working for the republican

"When you were 'the courageous Cerizet,'" interrupted du Portail. "Well, the present machination, here it is.

The government was much displeased at seeing Thuillier elected without its influence to the Councilgeneral

of the Seine; it was angry with an independent and patriotic citizen who showed by his candidacy that he

could do without it; and it learned, moreover, that this excellent citizen was preparing a pamphlet on the

subject, always a delicate one, of the finances, as to which this dangerous adversary had great experience. So,

what did this essentially corrupt government do? It suborned a man in whom, as it learned, Thuillier placed

confidence, and for a sum of twentyfive thousand francs (a mere trifle to the police), this treacherous friend

agreed to insert into the pamphlet three or four phrases which exposed it to seizure and caused its author to be

summoned before the court of assizes. Now the way to make the explanation clinch the doubt in Thuillier's

mind is to let him know that the next day la Peyrade, who, as Thuillier knew, hadn't a sou, paid Dutocq

"The devil!" cried Cerizet, "it isn't a bad trick. Fellows of the Thuillier species will believe anything against

"We shall see, then," continued du Portail, "whether Thuillier will want to keep such a collaborator beside

"You are a strong man, monsieur," said Cerizet, again expressing his approbation; "but I must own that I feel

some scruples at the part assigned me. La Peyrade came and offered me the management of the paper, and,

"And that lease he knocked you out of in spite of his promises, have you forgotten that?" asked the little old

man. "Besides, are we not aiming for his happiness, though the obstinate fellow persists in thwarting our

"It is true," said Cerizet, "that the result will absolve me. Yes, I'll go resolutely along the ingenious path

you've traced out for me. But there's one thing more: I can't fling my revelation at Thuillier's head at the very

first; I must have time to prepare the way for it, but that security will have to be paid in immediately."

"Listen to me, Monsieur Cerizet," said du Portail, in a tone of authority; "if the marriage of la Peyrade to my

ward takes place it is my intention to reward your services, and the sum of thirty thousand francs will be your

perquisite. Now, thirty thousand from one side and twentyfive thousand from the other makes precisely

fiftyfive thousand francs that the matrimonial vicissitudes of your friend la Peyrade will have put into your

pocket. But, as country people do at the shows of a fair, I shall not pay till I come out. If you take that money

out of your own hoard I shall feel no anxiety; you will know how to keep it from the clutches of your

creditors. If, on the contrary, my money is at stake, you will have neither the same eagerness nor the same

intelligence in keeping it out of danger. Therefore arrange your affairs so that you can pay down your own

thirtythree thousand; in case of success, that sum will bring you in pretty nearly a hundred per cent. That's

Cerizet had no time to make any, for at that moment the door of du Portail's study opened abruptly, and a fair,

slender woman, whose face expressed angelic sweetness, entered the room eagerly. On her arm, wrapped in

"There!" she said, "that naughty Katte insisted that the doctor was not here. I knew perfectly well that I had

seen him enter. Well, doctor," she continued, addressing Cerizet, "I am not satisfied with the condition of my

little one, not satisfied at all; she is very pallid, and has grown so thin. I think she must be teething."

"Yes, evidently," he said, "it is the teeth; children always turn pale at that crisis; but there's nothing in that,

"Do you really think so, doctor," said the poor crazed girl, whom our readers have recognized as du Portail's

ward, Lydie de la Peyrade; "but see her dear little arms, how thin they are getting."

Then taking out the pins that fastened the swathings, she exhibited to Cerizet a bundle of linen which to her

"Why, no, no," said Cerizet, "she is a trifle thin, it is true, but the flesh is firm and her color excellent."

"Poor darling!" said Lydie, kissing her dream lovingly. "I do think she is better since morning. What had I

"Oh, yes!" cried the poor girl, her face brightening, "she adores them. Would chocolate be good for her?"

"Then I'll get what they call healthchocolate," said Lydie, with all the intonations of a mother, listening to

the doctor as to a god who reassured her. "Uncle," she added, "please ring for Bruneau, and tell him to go to

"Bruneau has just gone out," said her guardian; "but there's no hurry, he shall go in the course of the day."

"There, she is going to sleep," said Cerizet, anxious to put an end to the scene, which, in spite of his hardened

"True," said the girl, replacing the bandages and rising; "I'll put her to bed. Adieu, doctor; it is very kind of

you to come sometimes without being sent for. If you knew how anxious we poor mothers are, and how, with

"Yes, and I'll play her that sonata of Beethoven that dear papa was so fond of; it is wonderful how calming it

is. Adieu, doctor," she said again, pausing on the threshold of the door. "Adieu, kind doctor!" And she sent

"You see," said du Portail, "that she is an angel,never the least illhumor, never a sharp word; sad

sometimes, but always caused by a feeling of motherly solicitude. That is what first gave the doctors the idea

that if reality could take the place of her constant hallucination she might recover her reason. Well, this is the

girl that fool of a Peyrade refuses, with the accompaniment of a magnificent 'dot.' But he must come to it, or

I'll forswear my name. Listen," he added as the sound of a piano came to them; "hear! what talent! Thousands

of sane women can't compare with her; they are not as reasonable as she is, except on the surface."

When Beethoven's sonata, played from the soul with a perfection of shades and tones that filled her hardened

"I agree with you, monsieur; la Peyrade refuses an angel, a treasure, a pearl, and if I were in his placeBut

we shall bring him round to your purpose. Now I shall serve you not only with zeal, but with enthusiasm, I

As Cerizet was concluding this oath of fidelity at the door of the study, he heard a woman's voice which was

"Is he in his study, the dear commander?" said that voice, with a slightly foreign accent.

"Yes, madame, but please come into the salon. Monsieur is not alone; I will tell him you are here."

And he opened a hidden door which led through a dark corridor directly to the staircase, whence Cerizet

betook himself to the office of the "Echo de la Bievre," where a heated discussion was going on.

The article by which the new editors of every newspaper lay before the public their "profession of faith," as

the technical saying is, always produces a laborious and difficult parturition. In this particular case it was

necessary, if not openly to declare Thuillier's candidacy, to at least make it felt and foreseen. The terms of the

manifesto, after la Peyrade had made a rough draft of it, were discussed at great length. This discussion took

place in Cerizet's presence, who, acting on du Portail's advice, accepted the management, but postponed the

payment of the security till the next day, through the latitude allowed in all administrations for the

Cleverly egged on by this masterknave, who, from the start, made himself Thuillier's flatterer, the

discussion became stormy, and presently bitter; but as, by the deed of partnership the deciding word was left

to la Peyrade in all matters concerning the editorship, he finally closed it by sending the manifesto, precisely

Thuillier was incensed at what he called an abuse of power, and finding himself alone with Cerizet later in

the day, he hastened to pour his griefs and resentments into the bosom of his faithful manager, thus affording

the latter a readymade and natural opportunity to insinuate the calumnious revelation agreed upon with du

Portail. Leaving the knife in the wound, Cerizet went out to make certain arrangements to obtain the money

Tortured by the terrible revelation, Thuillier could not keep it to himself; he felt the need of confiding it, and

of talking over the course he would be compelled to take by this infernal discovery. Sending for a carriage he

Brigitte had from the first very vehemently declared against all the determinations made by Thuillier during

the last few days. For no purpose whatever, not even for the sake of her brother's election, would she agree to

a renewal of the relation to la Peyrade. In the first place, she had treated him badly, and that was a strong

reason for disliking him; then, in case that adventurer, as she now called him, married Celeste, the fear of her

authority being lessened gave her a species of secondsight; she had ended by having an intuitive sense of the

dark profundities of the man's nature, and now declared that under no circumstances and for no possible price

"Ruin yourself if you choose," she said, "you are the master of that, and you can do as you like; a fool and his

When, therefore, she listened to her brother's confidences it was not with reproaches, but, on the contrary,

with a crow of triumph, celebrating the probable return of her power, that she welcomed them.

"So much the better!" she cried; "it is well to know at last that the man is a spy. I always thought so, the

canting bigot! Turn him out of doors without an explanation. WE don't want him to work that newspaper.

This Monsieur Cerizet seems, from what you tell me, the right sort of man, and we can get another manager.

Besides, when Madame de Godollo went away she promised to write to me; and she can easily put us in the

way of finding some one. Poor, dear Celeste! what a fate we were going to give her!"

"How you run on!" said Thuillier. "La Peyrade, my dear, is so far only accused. He must be heard in his

"Ah, very good!" said Brigitte; "I see how it will be; you'll let that man twist you round his finger again. A

"Come, come, be calm, my good Brigitte," returned Thuillier. "We mustn't do anything hastily. Certainly, if

la Peyrade cannot furnish a justification, clear, categorical, and convincing, I shall decide to break with him,

and I'll prove to you that I am no milksop. But Cerizet himself is not certain; these are mere inductions, and I

only came to consult you as to whether I ought, or ought not, to demand an explanation outright."

"Not a doubt about it," replied Brigitte. "You ought to demand an explanation and go to the bottom of this

"That suffices," said Thuillier, leaving the room with solemnity; "you shall see that we will come to an

On his return to the office after his conference with Brigitte, Thuillier found la Peyrade at his post as

editorinchief, and in a position of much embarrassment, caused by the high hand he had reserved for

himself as the sole selector of articles and contributors. At this moment, Phellion, instigated by his family,

and deeply conscious of his position on the readingcommittee of the Odeon, had come to offer his services

"My dear monsieur," he said, continuing his remarks to la Peyrade, after inquiring of Thuillier about his

health, "I was a great student of the theatre in my youth; the stage and its scenic effects continue to have for

me peculiar attractions; and the white hairs which crown my brow today seem to me no obstacle to my

allowing your interesting publication to profit by the fruit of my studies and my experience. As member of

the readingcommittee of the Odeon theatre, I am conversant with the modern drama, andif I may be quite

sure of your discretion I will even confide to you that among my papers it would not be impossible for me

to find a certain tragedy entitled 'Sapor,' which in my young days won me some fame when read in salons."

"Ah!" said la Peyrade, endeavoring to gild the refusal he should be forced to give, "why not try to have it put

"Certainly," said Thuillier, "the director of any theatre to whom we should recommend"

"No," replied Phellion. "In the first place, as member of the reading committee of the Odeon, having to sit in

judgment upon others, it would not become me to descend into the arena myself. I am an old athlete, whose

business it is to judge of blows he can no longer give. In this sense, criticism is altogether within my sphere,

and all the more because I have certain views on the proper method of composing dramatic feuilletons which

I think novel. The 'castigat ridendo mores' ought to be, according to my humble lights, the great law, I may

say the only law of the stage. I should therefore show myself pitiless for those works, bred of imagination, in

"Excuse me," said la Peyrade, "for interrupting you; but before allowing you to take the trouble to develop

your poetical ideas, I ought to tell you that we have already made arrangements for our dramatic criticism."

"Yes," said Thuillier, "we have our dramatic critic, little thinking that you would offer us your valuable

"Well," said Phellion, suddenly becoming crafty,for there is something in the newspaper atmosphere,

impossible to say what, which flies to the head, the bourgeois head especially,"since you are good enough

to consider my pen capable of doing you some service, perhaps a series of detached thoughts on different

subjects, to which I should venture to give the name of 'Diversities,' might be of a nature to interest your

"Yes," said la Peyrade, with a maliciousness that was quite lost upon Phellion, "thoughts, especially in the

style of la Rochefoucauld or la Bruyere, might do. What do you think yourself, Thuillier?"

He reserved to himself the right to leave the responsibility of refusals, as far as he could, to the proprietor of

"But I imagine that thoughts, especially if detached, cannot be very consecutive," said Thuillier.

"Evidently not," replied Phellion; "detached thoughts imply the idea of a very great number of subjects on

which the author lets his pen stray without the pretension of presenting a whole."

"Oh, no!" replied Phellion, alarmed. "I could not put myself on exhibition in that way."

"Your modesty, which by the bye I understand and approve, settles the matter," said la Peyrade. "Thoughts

are a subject altogether individual, which imperatively require to be personified by a name. You must be

conscious of this yourself. 'Divers Thoughts by Monsieur ThreeStars' says nothing to the public."

Seeing that Phellion was about to make objections, Thuillier, who was in a hurry to begin his fight with la

"My dear Phellion," he said, "I beg your pardon for not being able to enjoy the pleasure of your conversation

any longer, but we have to talk, la Peyrade and I, over a matter of much importance, and in newspaper offices

this devilish time runs away so fast. If you are willing, we will postpone the question to another day. Madame

"Perfectly well," said the great citizen, rising, and not appearing to resent his dismissal. "When does your first

"Tomorrow I think our confession of faith will make its appearance," replied Thuillier, accompanying him

to the door. "You will receive a copy, my dear friend. We shall meet again soon, I hope. Come and see us,

and bring that manuscript; la Peyrade's point of view may be a little arbitrary."

With this balm shed upon his wound, Phellion departed, and Thuillier rang the bell for the porter.

"Could you recognize the gentlemen who has just gone out the next time you see him?" asked Thuillier.

"Oh, yes, m'sieu, his round ball of a head is too funny to forget; besides, it is Monsieur Phellion; haven't I

"Well, whenever he comes again neither I nor Monsieur de la Peyrade will be here. Remember that's a

"The devil!" cried la Peyrade, when the two partners were alone, "how you manage bores. But take care;

among the number there may be electors. You did right to tell Phellion you would send him a copy of the

"Well," said Thuillier, "we can't allow our time to be taken up by all the dullheads who come and offer their

services. But now you and I have to talk, and talk very seriously. Be seated and listen."

"Do you know, my dear fellow," said la Peyrade, laughing, "that journalism is making you into something

very solemn? 'Be seated, Cinna,'Caesar Augustus couldn't have said it otherwise."

"Cinnas, unfortunately, are more plentiful than people think," replied Thuillier.

He was still under the goad of the promise he had made to Brigitte, and he meant to fulfil it with cutting

sarcasm. The top continued the whirling motion imparted to it by the old maid's lash.

La Peyrade took a seat at the round table. As he was puzzled to know what was coming, he endeavored to

seem unconcerned, and picking up the large scissors used for the loans which all papers make from the

columns of their brethren of the press, he began to snip up a sheet of paper, on which, in Thuillier's

Though la Peyrade was seated and expectant, Thuillier did not begin immediately; he rose and went toward

the door which stood ajar, with the intention of closing it. But suddenly it was flung wide open, and Coffinet

"Will monsieur," said Coffinet to la Peyrade, "receive two ladies? They are very welldressed, and the young

"Yes, since they are here," growled Thuillier; "but get rid of them as soon as possible."

Coffinet's judgment on the toilet of the two visitors needs revision. A woman is welldressed, not when she

wears rich clothes, but when her clothes present a certain harmony of shapes and colors which form an

appropriate and graceful envelope to her person. Now a bonnet with a flaring brim, surmounted by nodding

plumes, an immense French cashmere shawl, worn with the awkward inexperience of a young bride, a plaid

silk gown with enormous checks and a triple tier of flounces with far too many chains and trinkets (though to

be just, the boots and gloves were irreproachable), constituted the apparel of the younger of these ladies. As

for the other, who seemed to be in the tow of her dressy companion, she was short, squat, and highcolored,

and wore a bonnet, shawl, and gown which a practised eye would at once have recognized as second hand.

Mothers of actresses are always clothed by this very economical process. Their garments, condemned to the

service of two generations, reverse the order of things, and go from descendants to ancestors.

Advancing two chairs, la Peyrade inquired, "To whom have I the honor of speaking?"

"Monsieur," said the younger visitor, "I am a dramatic artist, and as I am about to make my first appearance

in this quarter, I allow myself to hope that a journal of this locality will favor me."

"FoliesDramatiques," interposed the agreeable Madame Cardinal, whom the reader has doubtless

"You'll encourage her, monsieur, won't you?" said Madame Cardinal, in a coaxing voice; "she's so young,

"Mother!" said Olympe, with authority, "the public will judge me; all I want is that monsieur will kindly

"Very good, mademoiselle," said la Peyrade in a tone of dismissal, beginning to edge the pair to the door.

Olympe Cardinal went first, leaving her mother to hurry after her as best she could.

"At home to no one!" cried Thuillier to the officeboy as he closed the door and slipped the bolt. "Now," he

said, addressing la Peyrade, "we will talk. My dear fellow," he went on, starting with irony, for he

remembered to have heard that nothing was more confusing to an adversary, "I have heard something that

"Parbleu!" said the latter in a natural tone of voice, "it was seized because they chose to seize it. They wanted

to find, and they found, because they always find the things they want, what the king's adherents call

"No, you are wrong," said Thuillier; "the seizure was planned, concocted, and agreed upon before

"Between those who wanted to kill the pamphlet, and the wretches who were paid to betray it."

"Well, in any case, those who paid," said la Peyrade, "got mighty little for their money; for, persecuted

"Ah, I know," said Thuillier, "that you think a great deal of cleverness; but allow me to tell you that the

"So," said the barrister, without winking, "you have discovered that the police had plotted in advance the

"Yes, my dear fellow; and what is more, I know the actual sum paid to the person who agreed to carry out

"The person," said la Peyrade, thinking a moment,"perhaps I know the person; but as for the money, I

"Well, I can tell you the amount. It was twentyfivethousand francs," said Thuillier, dwelling on each

"Oh! excuse me, my dear fellow, but twentyfive thousand francs is a good deal of money. I don't deny that

you have become an important man; but you are not such a bugbear to the government as to lead it to make

such sacrifices. Twentyfive thousand francs is as much as would ever be given for the suppression of one of

those annoying pamphlets about the Civil list. But our financial lucubrations didn't annoy in that way; and

such a sum borrowed from the secretservice money for the mere pleasure of plaguing you, seems to me

"Apparently," said Thuillier, acrimoniously, "this honest gobetween had some interest in exaggerating my

value. One thing is very sure; this monsieur had a debt of twentyfive thousand francs which harassed him

much; and a short time before the seizure this same monsieur, who had no means of his own, paid off that

debt; and unless you can tell me where else he got the money, the inference I think is not difficult to draw."

"Monsieur Thuillier," he said, raising his voice, "let us get out of enigmas and generalities; will you do me

"Well, no," replied Thuillier, striking his hand upon the table, "I shall not name him, because of the

sentiments of esteem and affection which formerly united us; but you have understood me, Monsieur la

"I ought to have known," said the Provencal, in a voice changed by emotion, "that in bringing a serpent to

this place I should soon be soiled by his venom. Poor fool! do you not see that you have made yourself the

"Cerizet has nothing to do with it; on the contrary, he has told me the highest good of you. How was it, not

having a penny the night before,and I had reason to know it,that you were able to pay Dutocq the round

"No," he said, "it was not Dutocq who told you that. He is not a man to wrestle with an enemy of my strength

without a strong interest in it. It was Cerizet; he's the infamous calumniator, from whose hands I wrenched

the lease of your house near the Madeleine,Cerizet, whom in kindness, I went to seek on his dunghill that I

might give him the chance of honorable employment; that is the wretch, to whom a benefit is only an

encouragement to treachery. Tiens! if I were to tell you what that man is I should turn you sick with disgust;

"I don't know anything about Cerizet except through you," he said; "you introduced him to me as a manager,

offering every guarantee; but, allowing him to be blacker than the devil, and supposing that this

communication comes from him, I don't see, my friend, that all that makes YOU any the whiter."

"No doubt I was to blame," said la Peyrade, "for putting such a man into relations with you; but we wanted

some one who understood journalism, and that value he really had for us. But who can ever sound the depths

of souls like his? I thought him reformed. A manager, I said to myself, is only a machine; he can do no harm.

I expected to find him a man of straw; well, I was mistaken, he will never be anything but a man of mud."

"All that is very fine," said Thuillier, "but those twentyfive thousand francs found so conveniently in your

possession, where did you get them? That is the point you are forgetting to explain."

"But to reason about it," said la Peyrade; "a man of my character in the pay of the police and yet so poor that I

could not pay the ten thousand francs your harpy of a sister demanded with an insolence which you yourself

"But," said Thuillier, "if the origin of this money is honest, as I sincerely desire it may be, what hinders you

"I cannot," said la Peyrade; "the history of that money is a secret entrusted to me professionally."

"Come, come, you told me yourself that the statutes of your order forbid all barristers from doing business of

"Let us suppose," said la Peyrade, "that I have done something not absolutely regular; it would be strange

indeed after what I risked, as you know, for you, if you should have the face to reproach me with it."

"My poor friend, you are trying to shake off the hounds; but you can't make me lose the scent. You wish to

keep your secret; then keep it. I am master of my own confidence and my own esteem; by paying you the

"Do you mean that you dismiss me?" cried la Peyrade. "The money that you have put into the affair, all your

"In the first place," said Thuillier, "another editorinchief can be found; it is a true saying that no man is

indispensable. As for election to the Chamber I would rather never receive it than owe it to the help of one

"Go on," said la Peyrade, seeing that Thuillier hesitated, "or rather, no, be silent, for you will presently blush

By this time la Peyrade saw that without a confession to which he must compel himself, the influence and the

future he had just recovered would be cut from under his feet. Resuming his speech he said, solemnly:

"You will remember, my friend, that you were pitiless, and, by subjecting me to a species of moral torture,

"Go on," said Thuillier, "I take the whole responsibility upon myself. Make me see the truth clearly in this

"Well," said la Peyrade, "those twentyfive thousand francs are the savings of a servantwoman who came to

"A servant with twentyfive thousand francs of savings! Nonsense; she must serve in monstrously rich

"On the contrary, she is the one servant of an infirm old savant; and it was on account of the discrepancy

which strikes your mind that she wanted to put her money in my hands as a sort of trustee."

"Bless me! my friend," said Thuillier, flippantly, "you said we were in want of a romancefeuilletonist; but

"No, I do not believe you. Twentyfive thousand francs savings in the service of an old savant! that is about

"But if I prove to you the truth of my words; if I let you put your finger upon it?"

"In that case, like Saint Thomas, I shall lower my flag before the evidence. Meanwhile you must permit me,

"I'd give a hundred francs," he said to himself, "if Brigitte could have been here and heard me impeach him."

"Well," said la Peyrade, "suppose that without leaving this office, and by means of a note which you shall

read, I bring into your presence the person from whom I received the money; if she confirms what I say will

This proposal and the assurance with which it was made rather staggered Thuillier.

"I shall know what to do when the time comes," he replied, changing his tone. "But this must be done at once,

"And who will carry the note you write?" asked Thuillier, believing that by thus examining every detail he

"Carry the note! why, your own porter of course," replied la Peyrade; "you can send him yourself."

La Peyrade took a sheet of paper with the new heading and wrote as follows, reading the note aloud:

Madame Lambert is requested to call at once, on urgent business, at the office of the "Echo de la Bievre," rue

SaintDominique d'Enfer. The bearer of this note will conduct her. She is awaited impatiently by her devoted

"There, will that suit you?" said the barrister, passing the paper to Thuillier.

"Perfectly," replied Thuillier, taking the precaution to fold the letter himself and seal it. "Put the address," he

"You will carry this letter to its address," he said to the man, "and bring back with you the person named. But

"It is more than probable," replied la Peyrade; "in any case, neither you nor I will leave this room until she

When they were alone, la Peyrade took up a newspaper and appeared to be absorbed in its perusal.

Thuillier, beginning to get uneasy as to the upshot of the affair, regretted that he had not done something the

"Yes, I ought," he said to himself, "to have torn up that letter, and not driven him to prove his words."

Wishing to do something that might look like retaining la Peyrade in the position of which he had threatened

"By the bye, I have just come from the printingoffice; the new type has arrived, and I think we might make

La Peyrade did not answer; but he got up and took his paper nearer to the window.

"He is sulky," thought Thuillier, "and if he is innocent, he may well be. But, after all, why did he ever bring a

Then to hide his embarrassment and the preoccupation of his mind, he sat down before the editor's table, took

Presently la Peyrade returned to the table and sitting down, took another sheet and with the feverish rapidity

From the corner of his eye, Thuillier tried hard to see what la Peyrade was writing, and noticing that his

Soon after this, the porter opened the door and introduced Madame Lambert, whom he had found at home,

After requesting her to be seated and noticing that the porter was still there as if awaiting further orders he

The gravity and the lordly tone assumed by Thuillier only increased Madame Lambert's uneasiness. She came

expecting to see only la Peyrade, and she found herself received by an unknown man with a haughty manner,

while the barrister, who had merely bowed to her, said not a word; moreover, the scene took place in a

newspaper office, and it is a wellknown fact that to pious persons especially all that relates to the press is

"Well," said Thuillier to the barrister, "it seems to me that nothing hinders you from explaining to madame

In order to leave no loophole for suspicion in Thuillier's mind la Peyrade knew that he must put his question

bluntly and without the slightest preparation; he therefore said to her "ex abrupto":

"We wish to ask you, madame, if it is not true that about two and a half months ago you placed in my hands,

Though she felt the eyes of Thuillier and those of la Peyrade upon her, Madame Lambert, under the shock of

"Heavens!" she exclaimed, "twentyfive thousand francs! and where should I get such a sum as that?"

La Peyrade gave no sign on his face of the vexation he might be supposed to feel. As for Thuillier, who now

"So," resumed la Peyrade, "you are very certain that you did not place in my hands the sum of twentyfive

"Why, monsieur! did you ever hear of such a sum as that in the pocket of a poor woman like me? The little

that I had, as everybody knows, has gone to eke out the housekeeping of that poor dear gentleman whose

La Peyrade still did not show the slightest sign of annoyance; on the contrary, he seemed to be playing into

"You hear, my dear Thuillier," he said, "and if necessary I shall call for your testimony, that madame here

declares that she did not possess twentyfive thousand francs and could not therefore have placed them in my

hands. Now, as the notary Dupuis, in whose hands I fancied I had placed them, left Paris this morning for

Brussels carrying with him the money of all his clients, I have no account with madame, by her own showing,

"Has the notary Dupuis absconded?" screamed Madame Lambert, driven by this dreadful news entirely out of

her usual tones of dulcet sweetness and Christian resignation. "Ah, the villain! it was only this morning that

"Monsieur talks lightly enough," continued Madame Lambert, "though that brigand has carried off my

savings. But I gave them to monsieur, and monsieur is answerable to me for them; he is the only one I know

"Hey?" said la Peyrade to Thuillier, pointing to Madame Lambert, whose whole demeanor had something of

the motherwolf suddenly bereft of her cubs; "is that nature? tell me! Do you think now that madame and I

"I am thunderstruck at Cerizet's audacity," said Thuillier. "I am overwhelmed with my own stupidity; there is

"Madame," said la Peyrade, gaily, "excuse me for thus frightening you; the notary Dupuis is still a very

saintly man, and quite incapable of doing an injury to his clients. As for monsieur here, it was necessary that I

should prove to him that you had really placed that money in my hands; he is, however, another myself, and

"Oh, very good, monsieur!" said Madame Lambert. "I suppose these gentlemen have no further need of me?"

"No, my dear madame, and I beg you to pardon me for the little terror I was compelled to occasion you."

Madame Lambert turned to leave the room with all the appearance of respectful humility, but when she

reached the door, she retraced her steps, and coming close to la Peyrade said, in her smoothest tones:

"But I told you," said la Peyrade, stiffly, "that notaries never return on demand the money placed in their

"Does monsieur think that if I went to see Monsieur Dupuis himself and asked him"

"I think," said la Peyrade, interrupting her, "that you would do a most ridiculous thing. He received the

money from me in my own name, as you requested, and he knows only me in the matter."

"Then monsieur will be so kind, will he not, as to get back that money for me as soon as possible? I am sure I

would not wish to press monsieur, but in two or three months from now I may want it; I have heard of a little

"Very good, Madame Lambert," said la Peyrade, with wellconcealed irritation, "it shall be done as you

wish; and in less time, perhaps, than you have stated I shall hope to return your money to you."

"That won't inconvenience monsieur, I trust," said the woman; "he told me that at the first indiscretion I

"Then I have the honor to be the very humble servant of these gentlemen," said Madame Lambert, now

"You see, my friend, the trouble you have got me into," said la Peyrade to Thuillier as soon as they were

alone, "and to what I am exposed by my kindness in satisfying your diseased mind. That debt was dormant; it

was in a chronic state; and you have waked it up and made it acute. The woman brought me the money and

insisted on my keeping it, at a good rate of interest. I refused at first; then I agreed to place it in Dupuis's

hands, explaining to her that it couldn't be withdrawn at once; but subsequently, when Dutocq pressed me, I

"I am dreadfully sorry, dear friend, for my silly credulity. But don't be uneasy about the exactions of that

woman; we will manage to arrange all that, even if I have to make you an advance upon Celeste's 'dot.'"

"My excellent friend," said la Peyrade, "it is absolutely necessary that we should talk over our private

arrangements; to tell you the truth, I have no fancy for being hauled up every morning and questioned as to

my conduct. Just now, while waiting for that woman, I drew up a little agreement, which you and I will

discuss and sign, if you please, before the first number of the paper is issued."

"that by a paltry forfeit of five thousand francs, as stated in Article 14," interrupted Theodose, "you can put

me, when you choose, out of doors. No, I thank you! After my experience today, I want some better security

"My masters!" he exclaimed, "I've brought the money; and we can now sign the bond."

"It is this," replied Thuillier: "I refuse to be associated with doubleface men and calumniators. We have no

need of you or your money; and I request you not to honor these precincts any longer with your presence."

"Dear! dear! dear!" said Cerizet; "so papa Thuillier has let the wool be pulled over his eyes again!"

"Hey, my boy!" said Cerizet, turning to la Peyrade, "so you've twisted the old bourgeois round your finger

again? Well, well, no matter! I think you are making a mistake not to go and see du Portail, and I shall tell

"Please remember, my dear monsieur, that I never asked you to employ me; I was well enough off before you

sent for me, and I shall be after. But I'll give you a piece of advice: don't pay the twentyfive thousand francs

So saying, Cerizet put his thirtythree thousand francs in banknotes back into his wallet, took his hat from the

Thuillier had been led by Cerizet into what proved to be a most disastrous campaign. Now become the

humble servant of la Peyrade, he was forced to accept his conditions, which were as follows: five hundred

francs a month for la Peyrade's services in general; his editorship of the paper to be paid at the rate of fifty

francs a column,which was simply enormous, considering the small size of the sheet; a binding pledge to

continue the publication of the paper for six months, under pain of the forfeiture of fifteen thousand francs; an

absolute omnipotence in the duties of editorinchief,that is to say, the sovereign right of inserting,

controlling, and rejecting all articles without being called to explain the reasons of his actions, such were

the stipulations of a treaty in duplicate made openly, "in good faith," between the contracting parties. BUT, in

virtue of another and secret agreement, Thuillier gave security for the payment of the twentyfive thousand

francs for which la Peyrade was accountable to Madame Lambert, binding the said Sieur de la Peyrade, in

case the payment were required before his marriage with Celeste Colleville could take place, to acknowledge

Matters being thus arranged and accepted by the candidate, who saw no chance of election if he lost la

Peyrade, Thuillier was seized with a happy thought. He went to the CirqueOlympique, where he

remembered to have seen in the ticketoffice a former employee in his office at the ministry of Finance,a

man named Fleury; to whom he proposed the post of manager. Fleury, being an old soldier, a good shot, and

a skilful fencer, would certainly make himself an object of respect in a newspaper office. The workingstaff

of the paper being thus reconstituted, with the exception of a few coeditors or reporters to be added later,

but whom la Peyrade, thanks to the facility of his pen, was able for the present to do without, the first number

Thuillier now recommenced the explorations about Paris which we saw him make on the publication of his

pamphlet. Entering all reading rooms and cafes, he asked for the "Echo de la Bievre," and when informed,

alas, very frequently, that the paper was unknown in this or that establishment, "It is incredible!" he would

exclaim, "that a house which respects itself does not take such a widely known paper."

On that, he departed disdainfully, not observing that in many places, where this ancient trick of commercial

The evening of the day when the inauguration number containing the "profession of faith" appeared,

Brigitte's salon, although the day was not Sunday, was filled with visitors. Reconciled to la Peyrade, whom

her brother had brought home to dinner, the old maid went so far as to tell him that, without flattery, she

thought his leading article was a famous HIT. For that matter, all the guests as they arrived, reported that the

The public! everybody knows what that is. To every man who launches a bit of writing into the world, the

public consists of five or six intimates who cannot, without offending the author, avoid knowing something

"As for me!" cried Colleville, "I can truthfully declare that it is the first political article I ever read that didn't

"It is certain," said Phellion, "that the leading article seems to me to be stamped with vigor joined to an

"Yes," said Dutocq, "the matter is very well presented; and besides, there's a turn of phrase, a clever diction,

that doesn't belong to everybody. However, we must wait and see how it keeps on. I fancy that tomorrow

"Parbleu!" cried Thuillier, "that's what we are hoping for; and if the government would only do us the favor

"No, thank you," said Fleury, whom Thuillier had also brought home to dinner, "I don't want to enter upon

"Seized!" said Dutocq, "oh, you won't be seized; but I think the ministerial journals will fire a broadside at

The next day Thuillier was at the office as early as eight o'clock, in order to be the first to receive that

formidable salvo. After looking through every morning paper he was forced to admit that there was no more

mention of the "Echo de la Bievre" than if it didn't exist. When la Peyrade arrived he found his unhappy

"Does that surprise you?" said the Provencal, tranquilly. "I let you enjoy yesterday your hopes of a hot

engagement with the press; but I knew myself that in all probability there wouldn't be the slightest mention of

us in today's papers. Against every paper which makes its debut with some distinction, there's always a two

He did not know what it meant, but the words had a grandeur and a SOMETHING that appealed to his

imagination. After la Peyrade had explained to him that by "conspiracy of silence" was meant the agreement

of existing journals to make no mention of newcomers lest such notice should serve to advertise them,

Thuillier's mind was hardly better satisfied than it had been by the pompous flow of the words. The bourgeois

is born so; words are coins which he takes and passes without question. For a word, he will excite himself or

calm down, insult or applaud. With a word, he can be brought to make a revolution and overturn a

The paper, however, was only a means; the object was Thuillier's election. This was insinuated rather than

stated in the first numbers. But one morning, in the columns of the "Echo," appeared a letter from several

electors thanking their delegate to the municipal council for the firm and frankly liberal attitude in which he

had taken on all questions of local interests. "This firmness," said the letter, "had brought down upon him the

persecution of the government, which, towed at the heels of foreigners, had sacrificed Poland and sold itself

to England. The arrondissement needed a man of such tried convictions to represent it in the Chamber,a

man holding high and firm the banner of dynastic opposition, a man who would be, by the mere signification

Enforced by an able commentary from la Peyrade, this letter was signed by Barbet and Metivier and all

Brigitte's tradesmen (whom, in view of the election she had continued to employ since her emigration); also

by the family doctor and apothecary, and by Thuillier's builder, and Barniol, Phellion's soninlaw, who

professed to hold rather "advanced" political opinions. As for Phellion himself, he thought the wording of the

letter not altogether circumspect, andalways without fear as without reproachhowever much he might

expect that this refusal would injure his son in his dearest interests, he bravely refrained from signing it.

This trial kite had the happiest effect. The ten or a dozen names thus put forward were considered to express

the will of the electors and were called "the voice of the quarter." Thus Thuillier's candidacy made from the

start such rapid progress that Minard hesitated to put his own claims in opposition.

Delighted now with the course of events, Brigitte was the first to say that the time had come to attend to the

marriage, and Thuillier was all the more ready to agree because, from day to day, he feared he might be

called upon to pay the twentyfive thousand francs to Madame Lambert for which he had pledged himself. A

thorough explanation now took place between la Peyrade and the old maid. She told him honestly of the fear

she felt as to the maintenance of her sovereign authority when a SONINLAW of his mind and character

"If we," she ended by saying, "are to oppose each other for the rest of our days, it would be much better, from

the beginning, to make two households; we shouldn't be the less friends for that."

La Peyrade replied that nothing under the sun would induce him to consent to such a plan; on the contrary, he

regarded as amongst his happiest prospects for the future the security he should feel about the wise

management of the material affairs of the home in such hands as hers. He should have enough to do in the

management of outside interests, and he could not comprehend, for his part, how she could suppose he had

ever had the thought of interfering in matters that were absolutely out of his province. In short, he reassured

her so completely that she urged him to take immediate steps for the publication of the banns and the

signature of the marriage contract, declaring that she reserved to herself all the preparations relating to

Celeste, whose acceptance of this sudden conclusion she pledged herself to secure.

"My dear child," she said to Celeste the next morning, "I think you have given up all idea of being Felix

Phellion's wife. In the first place, he is more of an atheist than ever, and, besides, you must have noticed

yourself that his mind is quite shaky. You have seen at Madame Minard's that Madame Marmus, who

married a savant, officer of the Legion of honor, and member of the Institute. There's not a more unhappy

woman; her husband has taken her to live behind the Luxembourg, in the rue DuguayTrouin, a street that is

neither paved nor lighted. When he goes out, he doesn't know where he is going; he gets to the Champ de

Mars when he wants to go to the Faubourg Poissoniere; he isn't even capable of giving his address to the

driver of a street cab; and he is so absentminded he couldn't tell if it were before dinner or after. You can

imagine what sort of time a woman must have with a man whose nose is always at a telescope snuffing stars."

"Of course not, because he is younger; but with years his absent mindedness and his atheism will both

increase. We have therefore decided that he is not the husband you want, and we all, your mother, father,

Thuillier and myself, have determined that you shall take la Peyrade, a man of the world, who will make his

way, and one who has done us great services in the past, and who will, moreover, make your godfather

deputy. We are disposed to give you, in consideration of him, a much larger 'dot' than we should give to any

other husband. So, my dear, it is settled; the banns are to be published immediately, and this day week we

sign the contract. There's to be a great dinner for the family and intimates, and after that a reception, at which

the contract will be signed and your trousseau and corbeille exhibited. As I take all that into my own hands

I'll answer for it that everything shall be of the best kind; especially if you are not babyish, and give in

"There's no 'but,' in the matter," said the old maid, imperiously; "it is all arranged, and will be carried out,

"I will do as you choose, aunt," replied Celeste, feeling as if a thundercloud had burst upon her head, and

knowing but too well that she had no power to struggle against the iron will which had just pronounced her

She went at once to pour her sorrows into Madame Thuillier's soul; but when she heard her godmother

advising patience and resignation the poor child felt that from that feeble quarter she could get no help for

even the slightest effort of resistance, and that her sacrifice was virtually accomplished.

Precipitating herself with a sort of frenzy into the new element of activity thus introduced into her life,

Brigitte took the field in the making of the trousseau and the purchase of the corbeille. Like many misers,

who on great occasions come out of their habits and their nature, the old maid now thought nothing too good

for her purpose; and she flung her money about so lavishly that until the day appointed for the signing of the

contract, the jeweller, dressmaker, milliner, lingere, etc. (all chosen from the best establishments in Paris),

"It is like a procession," said Josephine, the cook, admiringly, to Francoise, the Minards' maid; "the bell never

The dinner on the great occasion was ordered from Chabot and Potel, and not from Chevet, by which act

Brigitte intended to prove her initiative and her emancipation from the late Madame de Godollo. The invited

guests were as follows: three Collevilles, including the bride, la Peyrade the groom, Dutocq and Fleury,

whom he had asked to be his witnesses, the extremely limited number of his relatives leaving him no choice,

Minard and Rabourdin, chosen as witnesses for Celeste, Madame and Mademoiselle Minard and Minard

junior, two of Thuillier's colleagues in the Councilgeneral; the notary Dupuis, charged with the duty of

drawing up the contract, and lastly, the Abbe Gondrin, director of the consciences of Madame Thuillier and

The latter was the former vicar of SaintJacques du HautPas, whose great refinement of manner and gift of

preaching had induced the archbishop to remove him from the humble parish where his career had begun to

the aristocratic church of the Madeleine. Since Madame Thuillier and Celeste had again become his

parishioners, the young abbe visited them occasionally, and Thuillier, who had gone to him to explain, after

his own fashion, the suitableness of the choice made for Celeste in the person of la Peyrade (taking pains as

he did so to cast reflections on the religious opinions of Felix Phellion), had easily led him to contribute by

When the time came to sit down to table three guests were missing, two Minards, father and son, and the

notary Dupuis. The latter had written a note to Thuillier in the morning, excusing himself from the dinner, but

saying that at nine o'clock precisely he would bring the contract and place himself at the orders of

Mademoiselle Thuillier. As for Julien Minard, his mother excused him as being confined to his room with a

sorethroat. The absence of Minard senior remained unexplained, but Madame Minard insisted that they

should sit down to table without him; which was done, Brigitte ordering that the soup be kept hot for him,

because in the bourgeois code of manners and customs a dinner without soup is no dinner at all.

The repast was far from gay, and though the fare was better, the vivacity and the warmth of the conversation

was far, indeed, from that of the famous improvised banquet at the time of the election to the

Councilgeneral. The gaps occasioned by the absence of three guests may have been one reason; then Flavie

was glum; she had had an interview with la Peyrade in the afternoon which ended in tears; Celeste, even if

she had been content with the choice imposed on her, would scarcely, as a matter of propriety, have seemed

joyful; in fact, she made no effort to brighten a sad face, and dared not look at her godmother, whose own

countenance gave the impression, if we may so express it, of the long bleating of a sheep. The poor girl

seeing this feared to exchange a look with her lest she might drive her to tears. Thuillier now felt himself, on

all sides, of such importance that he was pompous and consequential; while Brigitte, uneasy out of her own

world, where she could lord it over every one without competition, seemed constrained and embarrassed.

Colleville tried by a few jovialities to raise the temperature of the assemblage; but the coarse salt of his

witticisms had an effect, in the atmosphere in which he produced them, of a loud laugh in a sick chamber;

and a mute intimation from his wife, Thuillier, and la Peyrade to BEHAVE HIMSELF put a stopper on his

liveliness and turbulent expansion. It was somewhat remarkable that the gravest member of the party, aided

by Rabourdin, was the person who finally warmed up the atmosphere. The Abbe Gondrin, a man of a most

refined and cultivated mind, had, like every pure and wellordered soul, a fund of gentle gaiety which he was

well able to communicate, and liveliness was beginning to dawn upon the party when Minard entered the

After making his excuses on the ground of important duties, the mayor of the eleventh arrondissement, who

was in the habit of taking the lead in the conversation wherever he went, said, having swallowed a few hasty

"The Academy of Sciences received, today, at its afternoon session, the announcement of a vast discovery:

"Tiens!" said Colleville; "that will help to replace the one that Beranger thought was lost when he grieved (to

that air of 'Octavie') over Chateaubriand's departure: 'Chateaubriand, why fly thy land?'"

This quotation, which he sang, exasperated Flavie, and if the custom had been for wives to sit next to their

husbands, the former clarionet of the OperaComique would not have escaped with a mere "Colleville!"

"The point which gives this great astronomical event a special interest on this occasion," continued Minard,

"is that the author of the discovery is a denizen of the twelfth arrondissement, which many of you still

inhabit, or have inhabited. But other points are striking in this great scientific fact. The Academy, on the

reading of the communication which announced it, was so convinced of the existence of this star that a

deputation was appointed to visit the domicile of the modern Galileo and compliment him in the name of the

whole body. And yet this star is not visible to either the eye or the telescope! It is only by the power of

calculation and induction that its existence and the place it occupies in the heavens have been proved in the

most irrefutable manner: 'There MUST be THERE a hitherto unknown star; I cannot see it, but I am sure of

it,'that is what this man of science said to the Academy, whom he instantly convinced by his deductions.

And do you know, messieurs, who is this Christopher Columbus of a new celestial world? An old man,

"Monsieur Picot, or, if you prefer it, pere Picot, for that is how they call him in the rue du ValdeGrace,

where he lives. He is simply an old professor of mathematics, who has turned out several very fine

pupils,by the bye, Felix Phellion, whom we all know, studied under him, and it was he who read, on behalf

Hearing that name, and remembering the promise Felix had made her to lift her to the skies, which, as he said

it, she had fancied a sign of madness, Celeste looked at Madame Thuillier, whose face had taken a sudden

glow of animation, and seemed to say to her, "Courage, my child! all is not lost."

"My dear Theodose," said Thuillier, "Felix is coming here tonight; you must take him aside and get him to

give you a copy of that communication; it would be a fine stroke of fortune for the 'Echo' to be the first to

"Yes," said Minard, assuming the answer, "that would do good service to the public, for the affair is going to

make a great noise. The committee, not finding Monsieur Picot at home, went straight to the Minister of

Public Instruction; and the minister flew to the Tuileries and saw the King; and the 'Messager' came out this

eveningstrange to say, so early that I could read it in my carriage as I drove along with an

announcement that Monsieur Picot is named Chevalier of the Legion of honor, with a pension of eighteen

hundred francs from the fund devoted to the encouragement of science and letters."

"But eighteen hundred francs for the pension seems to me rather paltry," said Dutocq.

"So it does," said Thuillier, "and all the more because that money comes from the taxpayers; and, when one

"Eighteen hundred francs a year," interrupted Minard, "is certainly something, especially for savants, a class

"I think I have heard," said la Peyrade, "that this very Monsieur Picot leads a strange life, and that his family,

who at first wanted to shut him up as a lunatic, are now trying to have guardians appointed over him. They

say he allows a servantwoman who keeps his house to rob him of all he has. Parbleu! Thuillier, you know

her; it is that woman who came to the office the other day about some money in Dupuis's hands."

"Yes, yes, true," said Thuillier, significantly; "you are right, I do know her."

"It is queer," said Brigitte, seeing a chance to enforce the argument she had used to Celeste, "that all these

learned men are good for nothing outside of their science; in their homes they have to be treated like

"That proves," said the Abbe Gondrin, "the great absorption which their studies give to their minds, and, at

"When they are not as obstinate as mules," said Brigitte, hastily. "For myself, monsieur l'abbe, I must say that

if I had had any idea of marriage, a savant wouldn't have suited me at all. What do they do, these savants,

anyhow? Useless things most of the time. You are all admiring one who has discovered a star; but as long as

we are in this world what good is that to us? For all the use we make of stars it seems to me we have got

"Bravo, Brigitte!" said Colleville, getting loose again; "you are right, my girl, and I think, as you do, that the

"Colleville," said Flavie, "I must say that your style of behavior is in the worst taste."

"My dear lady," said the Abbe Gondrin, addressing Brigitte, "you might be right if we were formed of matter

only; and if, bound to our body, there were not a soul with instincts and appetites that must be satisfied. Well,

I think that this sense of the infinite which is within us, and which we all try to satisfy each in our own way,

is marvellously well helped by the labors of astronomy, that reveal to us from time to time new worlds which

the hand of the Creator has put into space. The infinite in you has taken another course; this passion for the

comfort of those about you, this warm, devoted, ardent affection which you feel for your brother, are equally

the manifestation of aspirations which have nothing material about them, and which, in seeking their end and

object, never think of asking, 'What good does that do? what is the use of this?' Besides, I must assure you

that the stars are not as useless as you seem to think. Without them how would navigators cross the sea? They

would be puzzled to get you the vanilla with which you have flavored the delicious cream I am now eating.

So, as Monsieur Colleville has perceived, there is more affinity than you think between a dish and a star; no

The abbe was here interrupted by the noise of a lively altercation in the antechamber.

"No, monsieur, you shall not go in," said another voice, that of the manservant. "The company are at table, I

Thuillier turned pale; ever since the seizure of his pamphlet, he fancied all sudden arrivals meant the coming

Among the various social rules imparted to Brigitte by Madame de Godollo, the one that most needed

repeating was the injunction never, as mistress of the house, to rise from the table until she gave the signal for

retiring. But present circumstances appeared to warrant the infraction of the rule.

"I'll go and see what it is," she said to Thuillier, whose anxiety she noticed at once. "What IS the matter?" she

"Here's a gentleman who wants to come in, and says that no one is ever dining at eight o'clock at night."

"But who are you, monsieur?" said Brigitte, addressing an old man very oddly dressed, whose eyes were

"Madame, I am neither a beggar nor a vagabond," replied the old man, in stentorian tones; "my name is Picot,

"Come in, monsieur, come in; we shall be only too happy to receive you," cried Thuillier, who, on hearing

"Hein! you scamp," said the learned man, turning upon the manservant, who had retired, seeing that the

Pere Picot was a tall old man, with an angular, stern face, who, despite the corrective of a blond wig with

heavy curls, and that of the pacific green shade we have already mentioned, expressed on his large features,

upon which the fury of study had produced a surface of leaden pallor, a snappish and quarrelsome

disposition. Of this he had already given proof before entering the diningroom, where every one now rose to

His costume consisted of a huge frockcoat, something between a paletot and a dressinggown, between

which an immense waistcoat of irongray cloth, fastened from the throat to the pit of the stomach with two

rows of buttons, hussar fashion, formed a sort of buckler. The trousers, though October was nearing its close,

were made of black lasting, and gave testimony to long service by the projection of a darn on the otherwise

polished surface covering the knees, the polish being produced by the rubbing of the hands upon those parts.

But, in broad daylight, the feature of the old savant's appearance which struck the eye most vividly was a pair

of Patagonian feet, imprisoned in slippers of beaver cloth, the which, moulded upon the mountainous

elevations of gigantic bunions, made the spectator think, involuntarily, of the back of a dromedary or an

Once installed in a chair which was hastily brought for him, and the company having returned to their places

at table, the old man suddenly burst out in thundering tones, amid the silence created by curiosity:

"Where is he,that rogue, that scamp? Let him show himself; let him dare to speak to me!"

"Who is it that offends you, my dear monsieur?" said Thuillier, in conciliating accents, in which there was a

"A scamp whom I couldn't find in his own home, and they told me he was here, in this house. I'm in the

apartment, I think, of Monsieur Thuillier of the Councilgeneral, place de la Madeleine, first story above the

"Precisely," said Thuillier; "and allow me to add, monsieur, that you are surrounded with the respect and

"And you will doubtless permit me to add," said Minard, "that the mayor of the arrondissement adjoining that

which you inhabit congratulates himself on being here in presence of Monsieur Picot, THE Monsieur

Picot, no doubt, who has just immortalized his name by the discovery of a star!"

"Yes, monsieur," replied the professor, elevating to a still higher pitch the stentorian diapason of his voice, "I

am Picot (Nepomucene), but I have not discovered a star; I don't concern myself with any such fiddlefaddle;

besides, my eyes are very weak; and that insolent young fellow I have come here to find is making me

ridiculous with such talk. I don't see him here; he is hiding himself, I know; he dares not look me in the face."

"An unnatural pupil of mine," replied the old mathematician; "a scamp, but full of ideas; his name is Felix

The name was received, as may well be imagined, with amazement. Finding the situation amusing, Colleville

"You laugh, fools!" cried the irate old man, rising. "Yes, come and laugh within reach of my arm."

So saying, he brandished a thick stick with a white china handle, which he used to guide himself, thereby

nearly knocking over a candelabrum on the dinnertable upon Madame Minard's head.

"You are mistaken, monsieur," cried Brigitte, springing forward and seizing his arm. "Monsieur Felix is not

here. He will probably come later to a reception we are about to give; but at present he has not arrived."

"They don't begin early, your receptions," said the old man; "it is past eight o'clock. Well, as Monsieur Felix

is coming later, you must allow me to wait for him. I believe you were eating your dinners; don't let me

"As you permit it, monsieur," said Brigitte, "we will continue, or, I should say, finish dinner, for we are now

"I am very willing, madame," replied the intruder. "No one ever refuses champagne, and I am always ready to

A place was made for him at table between Colleville and Mademoiselle Minard, and the former made it his

business to fill the glass of his new neighbor, before whom was placed a dish of small cakes.

"Monsieur," said la Peyrade in a cajoling tone, "you saw how surprised we were to hear you complain of

Monsieur Felix Phellion,so amiable, so inoffensive a young man. What has he done to you, that you

With his mouth full of cakes, which he was engulfing in quantities that made Brigitte uneasy, the professor

made a sign that he would soon answer; then, having mistaken his glass and swallowed the contents of

"You ask what that insolent young man had done to me? A rascally thing; and not the first, either. He knows

that I cannot abide stars, having very good reason to hate them, as you shall hear: In 1807, being attached to

the Bureau of Longitudes, I was part of the scientific expedition sent to Spain, under the direction of my

friend and colleague, JeanBaptiste Biot, to determine the arc of the terrestrial meridian from Barcelona to

the Balearic isles. I was just in the act of observing a star (perhaps the very one my rascally pupil has

discovered), when suddenly, war having broken out between France and Spain, the peasants, seeing me

perched with a telescope on Monte Galazzo, took it into their heads that I was making signals to the enemy.

A mob of savages broke my instruments, and talked of stringing me up. They were just going to do it, when

the captain of a vessel took me prisoner and thrust me into the citadel of Belver, where I spent three years in

the harshest captivity. Since them, as you may well believe, I loathe the whole celestial system; though I was,

without knowing it, the first to observe the famous comet of 1811; but I should have taken care not to say a

word about it if it had not been for Monsieur Flauguergues, who announced it. Like all my pupils, Phellion

knows my aversion to stars, and he knew very well the worst trick he could play me would be to saddle one

on my back; and that deputation that came to play the farce of congratulating me was mighty lucky not to

find me at home, for if they had, I can assure those gentlemen of the Academy, they would have had a hot

Everybody present thought the old mathematician's monomania quite delightful, except la Peyrade, who now,

in perceiving Felix Phellion's part in the affair, regretted deeply having caused the explanation.

"And yet, Monsieur Picot," said Minard, "if Felix Phellion is only guilty of attributing his discovery to you, it

seems to me that his indiscreet behavior has resulted in a certain compensation to you: the cross of the Legion

of honor, a pension, and the glory attached to your name are not to be despised."

"The cross and the pension I take," said the old man, emptying his glass, which, to Brigitte's terror, he set

down upon the table with a force that threatened to smash it. "The government has owed them to me these

twenty years; not for the discovery of stars,things that I have always despised,but for my famous

'Treatise on Differential Logarithms' (Kepler thought proper to call them monologarithms), which is a sequel

to the tables of Napier; also for my 'Postulatum' of Euclid, of which I was the first to discover the solution;

but above all, for my 'Theory of Perpetual Motion,'four volumes in quarto with plates; Paris, 1825. You

see, therefore, monsieur, that to give me glory is bringing water to the Seine. I had so little need of Monsieur

Felix Phellion to make me a position in the scientific world that I turned him out of my house long ago."

"Then it isn't the first star," said Colleville, flippantly, "that he dared to put upon you?"

"He did worse than that," roared the old man; "he ruined my reputation, he tarnished my name. My 'Theory of

Perpetual Motion,' the printing of which cost me every penny I owned, though it ought to have been printed

gratis at the Royal Printingoffice, was calculated to make my fortune and render me immortal. Well, that

miserable Felix prevented it. From time to time, pretending to bring messages from my editor, he would say,

the young sycophant, 'Papa Picot, your book is selling finely; here's five hundred francstwo hundred

francsand once it was two thousandwhich your publisher charged me to give you.' This thing went on

for years, and my publisher, who had the baseness to enter into the plot, would say to me, when I went to the

shop: 'Yes, yes, it doesn't do badly, it BUBBLES, that book; we shall soon be at the end of this edition.' I,

who didn't suggest anything, I pocketed my money, and thought to myself: 'My book is liked, little by little

its ideas are making their way; I may now expect, from day to day, that some great capitalist will come to me

"of 'Absorption of Liquids'?" asked Colleville, who had been steadily filling the old fellow's glass.

"No, monsieur, my 'Theory of Perpetual Motion,' 4 vols. in quarto with plates. But no! days, weeks went by

and nobody came; so, thinking that my publisher did not put all the energy he should into the matter, I tried to

sell the second edition to another man. It was that, monsieur, that enabled me to discover the whole plot, on

which, as I said before, I turned that serpent out of my house. In six years only nine copies had been sold!

Kept quiet in false security I had done nothing for the propagation of my book, which had been left to take

care of itself; and thus it was that I, victim of black and wicked jealousy, was shamefully despoiled of the

"But," said Minard, making himself the mouthpiece of the thoughts of the company, "may we not see in that

"To give me alms! is that what you mean?" interrupted the old man, with a roar that made Mademoiselle

Minard jump in her chair; "to humiliate me, dishonor meme, his old professor! Am I in need of charity?

Has Picot (Nepomucene), to whom his wife brought a dowry of one hundred thousand francs, ever stretched

out his palm to any one? But in these days nothing is respected. Old fellows, as they call us, our religion and

our good faith is taken advantage of so that these youths may say to the public: 'Old drivellers, don't you see

now they are good for nothing? It needs US, the young generation, US, the moderns, US, Young France, to

bring them up on a bottle.' Young greenhorn! let me see YOU try to feed ME! Old drivellers know more in

their little finger than you in your whole brain, and you'll never be worth us, paltry little intriguer that you

are! However, I know my day of vengeance will come; that young Phellion can't help ending badly; what he

did today, reading a statement to the Academy, under my name, was forgery, forgery! and the law will send

Brigitte, who quaked for her glasses, and whose nerves were exacerbated by the monstrous consumption of

cakes and wine, now gave the signal to return to the salon. Besides, she had heard the door bell ring several

times, announcing the arrival of guests for the evening. The question then was how to transplant the

"No, monsieur," he said, "you must allow me to stay where I am. I am not dressed for a party, and besides, a

strong light hurts my eyes. Moreover, I don't choose to give myself as a spectacle; it will be best that my

interview with Felix Phellion should take place between 'foureyes,' as they say."

No one insisted,the old man having, unconsciously, pretty nigh discrowned himself in the opinion of the

company. But before leaving, the careful housewife removed everything that was at all fragile from his reach;

"Oh! parbleu! he takes everything," said Brigitte to the male domestic, and she told the latter to keep an eye

When Brigitte returned to the salon she found that the Abbe Gondrin had become the centre of a great circle

"I thank Heaven for bestowing upon me such a pleasure. I have never felt an emotion like that aroused by the

scene we have just witnessed; even the rather burlesque form of this confidence, which was certainly very

artless, for it was quite involuntary, only adds to the honor of the surprising generosity it revealed. Placed as I

am by my ministry in the way of knowing of many charities, and often either the witness or intermediary of

good actions, I think I never in my life have met with a more touching or a more ingenious devotion. To keep

the left hand ignorant of what the right hand does is a great step in Christianity; but to go so far as to rob one's

self of one's own fame to benefit another under such conditions is the gospel applied in its highest precepts; it

is being more than a Sister of Charity; it is doing the work of an apostle of beneficence. How I should like to

With her arm slipped through that of her godmother, Celeste was standing very near the priest, her ears intent

upon his words, her arm pressing tighter and tighter that of Madame Thuillier, as the abbe analyzed the

generous action of Felix Phellion, until at last she whispered under her breath:

To destroy the inevitable effect which this hearty praise would surely have on Celeste, Thuillier hastened to

"Unfortunately, Monsieur l'abbe, the young man of whom you speak so warmly is not altogether unknown to

you. I have had occasion to tell you about him, and to regret that it was not possible to follow out certain

plans which we once entertained for him; I allude to the very compromising independence he affects in his

"Ah! is that the young man?" said the abbe; "you surprise me much; I must say such an idea would never

"You will see him presently, Monsieur l'abbe," said la Peyrade, joining in the conversation, "and if you

question him on certain grounds you will have no difficulty in discovering the ravages that a love of science

"I am afraid I shall not see him," said the abbe, "as my black gown would be out of place in the midst of the

more earthly gaiety that will soon fill this salon. But I know, Monsieur de la Peyrade, that you are a man of

sincerely pious convictions, and as, without any doubt, you feel as much interest in the young man's welfare

as I do myself, I shall say to you in parting: Do not be uneasy about him; sooner or later, such choice souls

come back to us, and if the return of these prodigals should be long delayed I should not fear, on seeing them

So saying, the abbe looked about to find his hat, and proceeded to slip quietly away.

Suddenly a fearful uproar was heard. Rushing into the diningroom, whence came a sound of furniture

overturned and glasses breaking, Brigitte found Colleville occupied in adjusting his cravat and looking

himself over to be sure that his coat, cruelly pulled awry, bore no signs of being actually torn.

"It is that old idiot," replied Colleville, "who is in a fury. I came to take my coffee with him, just to keep him

company, and he took a joke amiss, and collared me, and knocked over two chairs and a tray of glasses

"It is all because you've been teasing him," said Brigitte, crossly; "why couldn't you stay in the salon instead

of coming here to play your jokes, as you call them? You think you are still in the orchestra of the

This sharp rebuke delivered, Brigitte, like the resolute woman that she was, saw that she absolutely must get

rid of the ferocious old man who threatened her household with flames and blood. Accordingly, she

approached pere Picot, who was tranquilly engaged in burning brandy in his saucer.

"Monsieur," she said, at the top of her lungs, as if she were speaking to a deaf person (evidently thinking that

a blind one ought to be treated in the same manner), "I have come to tell you something that may annoy you.

Monsieur and Madame Phellion have just arrived, and they inform me that their son, Monsieur Felix, is not

"Then he got it this afternoon reading that lecture," cried the professor, joyfully. "That's justice!Madame,

"Well, madame, I ought to tell you that in a house where one can drink such excellent champagne, which

reminds me of that we used to quaff at the table of Monsieur de Fontanes, grandmaster of the University, it

is shameful to keep such brandy. I tell you, with the frankness I put into everything, that it is good only to

"He is the devil in person," thought Brigitte; "not a word of excuse about all that glass, but he must needs fall

foul of my brandy too! Monsieur," she resumed, in the same raised diapason, "as Monsieur Felix is not

"Family? I haven't any, madame, owing to the fact that they want to make me out a lunatic. But I have a

housekeeper, Madame Lambert, and I dare say she will be surprised not to see me home by this time. I think I

had better go now; if I stay later, the scene might be more violent. But I must own that in this strange quarter

"Carriage here, carriage there, indeed! my spiteful relations wouldn't lose the chance of calling me a

"I have an important message to send into your quarter," said Brigitte, seeing she must resolve to make the

sacrifice, "and I have just told my porter to take a cab and attend to it. If you would like to take advantage of

"I accept it, madame," said the old professor, rising; "and, if it comes to the worst, I hope you will testify

"Henri," said Brigitte to the manservant, "take monsieur down to the porter and tell him to do the errand I

told him about just now, and to take monsieur to his own door, and be very careful of him."

"Careful of him!" echoed the old man. "Do you take me for a trunk, madame, or a bit of cracked china?"

Seeing that she had got her man fairly to the door, Brigitte allowed herself to turn upon him.

"What I say, monsieur, is for your good. You must allow me to observe that you have not an agreeable

"Careful of him! careful of him!" repeated the old man. "Don't you know, madame, that by the use of such

words you may get people put into lunatic asylums? However, I will not reply rudely to the polite hospitality

I have received,all the more because, I think, I have put Monsieur Felix, who missed me intentionally, in

Before returning to the salon she was obliged to drink a whole glassful of water, the restraint she had been

forced to put upon herself in order to get rid of this troublesome guest having, to use her own expression, "put

The next morning Minard paid a visit to Phellion in his study. The great citizen and his son Felix were at that

moment engaged in a conversation which seemed to have some unusual interest for them.

"My dear Felix," cried the mayor of the eleventh arrondissement, offering his hand warmly to the young

professor, "it is you who bring me here this morning; I have come to offer you my congratulations."

"It has nothing to do with the Thuilliers," interrupted the mayor. "But," he added, looking hard at Felix, "can

"I do not think," said Phellion, "that ever, in his life, has my son concealed a thing from me."

"Then you know about the sublime astronomical discovery which he communicated to the Academy of

"Your kindness for me, Monsieur le maire," said Felix, hastily, "has led you astray; I was only the reader of

"But see," said Felix, offering Minard the "Constitutionnel," "here's the paper; not only does it announce that

Monsieur Picot is the maker of the discovery, but it mentions the rewards which, without losing a moment,

"Felix is right," said Phellion; "that journal is to be trusted. On this occasion I think the government has acted

"But, my dear commander, I repeat to you that the truth of the affair has got wind, and your son is shown to

be a most admirable fellow. To put his own discovery to the credit of his old professor so as to obtain for him

the recognition and favor of the authoritiesupon my word, in all antiquity I don't know a finer trait!"

"Felix!" said Phellion, beginning to show some emotion, "these immense labors to which you have devoted

"Misinformed!" cried Minard, "when I know the whole affair from Monsieur Picot himself!"

At this argument, stated in a way to leave no possible doubt, the truth began to dawn upon Phellion.

But he was obliged to sit down again; his legs refused to bear his weight; he turned pale; and that nature,

ordinarily so impassible, seemed about to give way under the shock of this happiness.

"My God!" said Felix, terrified, "he is ill; ring the bell, I entreat you, Monsieur Minard."

And he ran to the old man, loosened his cravat and unfastened the collar of his shirt, striking him in the palms

of his hands. But the sudden faintness was but momentary; almost immediately himself again, Phellion

gathered his son to his heart, and holding him long in his embrace, he said, in a voice broken by the tears that

The bell had been rung by Minard with magisterial force, and with such an accent that the whole household

"It is nothing, it is nothing," said Phellion to the servants, sending them away. But almost at the same

moment, seeing his wife, who now entered the room, he resumed his habitual solemnity.

"Madame Phellion," he said, pointing to Felix, "how many years is it since you brought that young man into

"Have you not thought, until now, that God had amply granted your maternal desires by making this child of

your womb an honest man, a pious son, and by gifting him for mathematics, that Science of sciences, with an

"I have," said Madame Phellion, understanding less and less what her husband was coming to.

"Well," continued Phellion, "you owe to God an additional thanksgiving, for He has granted that you be the

mother of a man of genius; his toil, which lately we rebuked, and which made us fear for the reason of our

"Ah ca!" cried Madame Phellion, "can't you stop coming yourself to an explanation of what you mean, and

"Your son," said Minard, cautious this time in measuring the joy he was about to bestow, fearing another

faintingfit of happiness, "has just made a very important scientific discovery."

"Is it true?" said Madame Phellion, going up to Felix, and taking him by both hands as she looked at him

"When I say important," continued Minard, "I am only sparing your maternal emotions; it is, in truth, a

sublime, a dazzling discovery. He is only twentyfive years old, but his name, from henceforth, is immortal."

"And this is the man," said Madame Phellion, half beside herself, and kissing Felix with effusion, "to whom

"No, not preferred, madame," said Minard, "for the Thuilliers are not the dupes of that adventurer. But he has

made himself necessary to them. Thuillier fancies that without la Peyrade he could not be elected; the

"But isn't it odious," cried Madame Phellion, "to consider such interests before the happiness of their child!"

"Ah!" said Minard, "but Celeste is not their child, only their adopted daughter."

"My good wife," said Phellion, "no censoriousness. The good God has just sent us a great consolation; and,

indeed, though certainly far advanced, this marriage, about which I regret to say Felix does not behave with

Seeing that Felix shook his head with a look of incredulity, Minard hastened to say:

"Yes, yes, the commander is quite right. Last night there was a hitch about signing the contract, and it was not

signed. You were not there, by the bye, and your absence was much remarked upon."

"We were invited," said Phellion, "and up to the last moment we hesitated whether to go or not. But, as you

will readily see, our position was a false one; besides, Felixand I see now it must have been in

consequence of his lecture at the Academywas completely worn out with fatigue and emotion. To present

ourselves without him would have seemed very singular; therefore we decided that it would be wisest and

The presence of the man whom he had just declared immortal did not deter Minard, when the occasion was

thus made for him, from plunging eagerly into one of the most precious joys of bourgeois existence, namely,

"Just imagine!" he began; "last night at the Thuilliers' the most extraordinary things took place, one after

First he related the curious episode of pere Picot. Then he told of the hearty approbation given to Felix's

conduct by the Abbe Gondrin, and the desire the young preacher had expressed to meet him.

"Rue de la Madeleine, No. 8," replied Minard. "But the great event of the evening was the spectacle of that

fine company assembled to listen to the marriagecontract, and waiting in expectation a whole hour for the

"Not even read, my friend. Suddenly some one came in and told Brigitte that the notary had started for

"Most important," replied Minard; "a little bankruptcy of five hundred thousand francs which the gentleman

"But who is this public officer," demanded Phellion, "so recreant, in this scandalous manner, to the sacred

"What!" said Madame Phellion, "that pious man? Why, he is churchwarden of the parish!"

"Eh! madame, those are the very ones," said Minard, "to run offthere are many precedents for that."

"But," said Phellion, "such news cast suddenly among the company must have fallen like a thunderbolt."

"Especially," said Minard, "as it was brought in the most unexpected and singular manner."

"Well, it seems," continued Minard, "that this canting swindler had charge of the savings of a number of

servants, and that Monsieur de la Peyradebecause, you see, they are all of a clique, these pious

"I always said so!" interrupted Madame Phellion. "I knew that Provencal was no good at all."

"It seems," continued the mayor, "that he had placed in Dupuis's hands all the savings of an old housekeeper,

pious herself, amounting to a pretty little sum. Faith! I think myself it was worth some trouble. How much do

you suppose it was? Twentyfive thousand francs, if you please! This housekeeper, whose name is Madame

"Madame Lambert!" cried Felix; "why, that's Monsieur Picot's housekeeper; close cap, pale, thin face, speaks

"Twentyfive thousand francs of savings!" said Felix. "I don't wonder that poor pere Picot is always out of

"And that someone had to meddle with the sale of his book," said Minard, slyly. "However that may be, you

can imagine that the woman was in a fine state of mind on hearing of the flight of the notary. Off she went to

la Peyrade's lodgings; there she was told he was dining at the Thuilliers'; to the Thuilliers' she came, after

running about the streetsfor they didn't give her quite the right address till ten o'clock; but she got there

while the company were still sitting round waiting for the notary, and gaping at each other, no one knowing

what to say and do, for neither Brigitte nor Thuillier have faculty enough to get out of such a scrape with

credit; and we all missed the voice of Madame de Godollo and the talent of Madame Phellion."

"Well, as I said," continued Minard, "at ten o'clock Madame Lambert reached the antechamber of Monsieur

the generalcouncillor, and there she asked, in great excitement, to see la Peyrade."

"That was natural," said Phellion; "he being the intermediary of the investment, this woman had a right to

"You should just have seen that Tartuffe!" continued Minard. "He had no sooner gone out than he returned,

bringing the news. As everybody was longing to get away, there followed a general helterskelter. And then

what does our man do? He goes back to Madame Lambert, who was crying that she was ruined! she was

lost!which might very well be true, but it might also be only a scene arranged between them in presence of

the company, whom the woman's outcries detained in the antechamber. 'Don't be anxious, my good woman,'

said la Peyrade; 'the investment was made at your request, consequently, I owe you nothing; BUT it is

enough that the money passed through my hands to make my conscience tell me I am responsible. If the

"Yes," said Phellion, "that was my idea as you told it; the intermediary is or ought to be responsible. I should

not have hesitated to do as Monsieur de la Peyrade did, and I do not think that after such conduct as that he

"Yes, you would have done so," said Minard, "and so should I, but we shouldn't have done it with a brass

band; we should have paid our money quietly, like gentlemen. But this electoral manager, how is he going to

At this moment the little page entered the room and gave a letter to Felix Phellion. It came from pere Picot,

and was written at his dictation by Madame Lambert, for which reason we will not reproduce the

orthography. The writing of Madame Lambert was of those that can never be forgotten when once seen.

"A letter from the professor"; then, before breaking the seal, he added, "Will you permit me, Monsieur le

"He'll rate you finely," said Minard, laughing. "I never saw anything so comical as his wrath last night."

Felix, as he read the letter, smiled to himself. When he had finished it, he passed it to his father, saying:

My dear Felix,I have just received your note; it came in the nick of time, for I was, as they say, in a fury

with you. You tell me that you were guilty of that abuse of confidence (about which I intended to write you a

piece of my mind) in order to give a knockdown blow to my relations by proving that a man capable of

making such complicated calculations as your discovery required was not a man to put in a lunatic asylum or

drag before a judiciary council. That argument pleases me, and it makes such a good answer to the infamous

proceedings of my relations that I praise you for having had the idea. But you sold it to me, that argument,

pretty dear when you put me in company with a star, for you know very well THAT propinquity wouldn't

please me at all. It is not at my age, and after solving the great problem of perpetual motion, that a man could

take up with such rubbish as that,good only for boys and greenhorns like you; and that is what I have taken

the liberty this morning to go and tell the minister of public instruction, by whom I must say I was received

with the most perfect urbanity. I asked him to see whether, as he had made a mistake and sent them to the

wrong address, he could not take back his cross and his pension,though to be sure, as I told him, I deserved

"The government," he replied, "is not in the habit of making mistakes; what it does is always properly done,

and it never annuls an ordinance signed by the hand of his Majesty. Your great labors have deserved the two

favors the King has granted you; it is a longstanding debt, which I am happy to pay off in his name."

"But Felix?" I said; "because after all for a young man it is not such a bad discovery."

"Monsieur Felix Phellion," replied the minister, "will receive in the course of the day his appointment to the

rank of Chevalier of the Legion of honor; I will have it signed this morning by the king. Moreover, there is a

"I, in the Academy!" I interrupted, with the frankness of speech you know I always use; "I execrate

academies; they are stiflers, extinguishers, assemblages of sloths, idlers, shops with big signs and nothing to

"Well, then," said the minister, smiling, "I think that at the next election Monsieur Felix Phellion will have

every chance, and among those chances I count the influence of the government which is secured to him."

There, my poor boy, is all that I have been able to do to reward your good intentions and to prove to you that

I am no longer angry. I think the relations are going to pull a long face. Come and talk about it today at four

o'clock,for I don't dine after bedtime, as I saw some people doing last night in a house where I had

occasion to mention your talents in a manner that was very advantageous to you. Madame Lambert, who does

better with a saucepan than with pen and ink, shall distinguish herself, though it is Friday, and she never lets

me off a fast day. But she has promised us a fish dinner worthy of an archbishop, with a fine halfbottle of

Your old professor and friend, Picot (Nepomucene), Chevalier of the Legion of honor.

P.S.Do you think you could obtain from your respectable mother a little flask of that old and excellent

cognac you once gave me? Not a drop remains, and yesterday I was forced to drink some stuff only fit to

bathe horses' feet, as I did not hesitate to say to the beautiful Hebe who served it to me.

"Of course he shall have some," said Madame Phellion; "not a flask, but a gallon."

"And I," said Minard, "who pique myself on mine, which didn't come from Brigitte's grocer either, I'll send

him several bottles; but don't tell him who sent them, Monsieur le chevalier, for you never can tell how that

"Bring me, I say, those articles of habiliment. I have an important visit to make; and Monsieur le maire will, I

"I myself must be off," said Minard. "I, too, have important business, though it isn't about a star."

Questioned in vain by Felix and his wife, Phellion completed his attire with a pair of white gloves, sent for a

carriage, and, at the end of half an hour, entered the presence of Brigitte, whom he found presiding over the

careful putting away of the china, glass, and silver which had performed their several functions the night

"Well, papa Phellion," she said, when they were both seated in the salon, "you broke your word yesterday;

you were luckier than the rest. Do you know what a trick that notary played us?"

"I know all," said Phellion; "and it is the check thus unexpectedly given to the execution of your plans that I

shall take for the text of an important conversation which I desire to have with you. Sometimes Providence

would seem to take pleasure in counteracting our bestlaid schemes; sometimes, also, by means of the

obstacles it raises in our path, it seems to intend to indicate that we are bearing too far to the right or to the

"Providence!" said Brigitte the strongminded,"Providence has something else to do than to look after us."

"That is one opinion," said Phellion; "but I myself am accustomed to see its decrees in the little as well as the

great things of life; and certainly, if it had allowed the fulfilment of your engagements with Monsieur de la

Peyrade to be even partially begun yesterday, you would not have seen me here today."

"Then," said Brigitte, "do you think that by default of a notary the marriage will not take place? They do say

"Dear lady," said the great citizen, "you will do me the justice to feel that neither I, nor my wife, have ever

attempted to influence your decision; we have allowed our young people to love each other without much

"It led to upsetting their minds," said Brigitte; "that's what love is, and that's why I deprived myself of it."

"What you say is, indeed, true of my unfortunate son," resumed Phellion; "for, notwithstanding the noble

distractions he has endeavored to give to his sorrow, he is today so miserably overcome by it that this

morning, in spite of the glorious success he has just obtained, he was speaking to me of undertaking a voyage

of circumnavigation around the globe,a rash enterprise which would detain him from his native land at

least three years, if, indeed, he escaped the dangers of so prolonged a journey."

"Well," said Brigitte, "it isn't a bad idea; he'll return consoled, having discovered three or four more new

"His present discovery suffices," said Phellion, with double his ordinary gravity, "and it is under the auspices

of that triumph, which has placed his name at so great a height in the scientific world, that I have the

assurance to say to you, pointblank: Mademoiselle, I have come to ask you, on behalf of my son, who loves

"But, my dear man," replied Brigitte, "it is too late; remember that we are DIAMETRICALLY engaged to la

"It is never, they say, too late to do well, and yesterday it would have been in my judgment too early. My son,

having to offer an equivalent for a fortune, could not say to you until today: 'Though Celeste, by your

generosity has a "dot" which mine is far from equalling, yet I have the honor to be a member of the Royal

order of the Legion of honor, and shortly, according to appearance, I shall be a member of the Royal

"Certainly," said Brigitte; "Felix is getting to be a very pretty match, but we have passed our word to la

Peyrade; the banns are published at the mayor's office, and unless something extraordinary happens the

contract will be signed. La Peyrade is very busy about Thuillier's election, which he has now got into good

shape; we have capital engaged with him in the affair of this newspaper; and it would be impossible to go

"So," said Phellion, "in one of the rare occasions of life when reason and inclination blend together, you think

you must be guided solely by the question of material interests. Celeste, as we know, has no inclination for

"Brought up with Felix!" interrupted Brigitte. "She was given a period of time to choose between Monsieur

de la Peyrade and your son,that's how we coerce her, if you please,and she would not take Monsieur

"You are mistaken, mademoiselle, my son is not an atheist; for Voltaire himself doubted if there could be

atheists; and no later than yesterday, in this house, an ecclesiastic, as admirable for his talents as for his

virtues, after making a magnificent eulogy of my son, expressed the desire to know him."

"Parbleu! yes, to convert him," said Brigitte. "But as for this marriage, I am sorry to tell you that the mustard

"Mademoiselle," said Phellion, rising, "I feel no humiliation for the useless step I have this day taken; I do

not even ask you to keep it secret, for I shall myself mention it to our friends and acquaintances."

"Tell it to whom you like, my good man," replied Brigitte, acrimoniously. "Because your son has discovered

a star,if, indeed, he did discover it, and not that old fool the government decorateddo you expect him to

"Enough," said Phellion, "we will say no more. I might answer that, without depreciating the Thuilliers, the

Orleans family seems to me more distinguished; but I do not like to introduce acerbity into the conversation,

and therefore, begging you to receive the assurance of my humble respects, I retire."

So saying, he made his exit majestically, and left Brigitte with the arrow of his comparison, discharged after

the manner of the Parthian "in extremis," sticking in her mind, and she herself in a temper all the more savage

because already, the evening before, Madame Thuillier, after the guests were gone, had the incredible

audacity to say something in favor of Felix. Needless to relate that the poor helot was roughly put down and

told to mind her own business. But this attempt at a will of her own in her sisterinlaw had already put the

old maid in a vile humor, and Phellion, coming to reopen the subject, exasperated her. Josephine, the cook,

and the "male domestic," received the afterclap of the scene which had just taken place. Brigitte found that

in her absence everything had been done wrong, and putting her own hand to the work, she hoisted herself on

a chair, at the risk of her neck, to reach the upper shelves of the closet, where her choicest china, for gala

This day, which for Brigitte began so ill, was, beyond all gainsaying, one of the stormiest and most

As an exact historian, we must go back and begin the day at six in the morning, when we can see Madame

Thuillier going to the Madeleine to hear the mass that the Abbe Gondrin was in the habit of saying at that

hour, and afterwards approaching the holy table,a viaticum which pious souls never fail to give themselves

About midday the abbe received a visit in his own home from Madame Thuillier and Celeste. The poor

child wanted a little development of the words by which the priest had given security, the evening before, in

Brigitte's salon, for the eternal welfare of Felix Phellion. It seemed strange to the mind of this girltheologian

that, without practising religion, a soul could be received into grace by the divine justice; for surely the

"My dear child," said the Abbe Gondrin, "learn to understand that saying which seems to you so inexplicable.

It is more a saying of thanksgiving for those who have the happiness to live within the pale of our holy

mother the Church than a malediction upon those who have the misfortune to live apart from her. God sees to

the depths of all hearts; He knows His elect; and so great is the treasure of His goodness that to none is it

given to limit its riches and its munificence. Who shall dare to say to God: Thou wilt be generous and

munificent so far and no farther. Jesus Christ forgave the woman in adultery, and on the cross He promised

heaven to a thief, in order to prove to us that He deals with men, not according to human sentiments, but

according to HIS wisdom and HIS mercy. He who thinks himself a Christian may be in the eyes of God an

idolator; and another who is thought a pagan may, by his feelings and his actions be, without his own

knowledge, a Christian. Our holy religion has this that is divine about it; all grandeur, all heroism are but the

practice of its precepts. I was saying yesterday to Monsieur de la Peyrade that pure souls must be, in course

of time, its inevitable conquest. It is all important to give them their just credit; that is a confidence which

"Ah! my God!" cried Celeste, "to learn that too late! I, who could have chosen between Felix and Monsieur

de la Peyrade, and did not dare to follow the ideas of my heart! Oh! Monsieur l'abbe, couldn't you speak to

"Impossible, my dear child," replied the vicar. "If I had the direction of Madame Colleville's conscience I

might perhaps say a word, but we are so often accused of meddling imprudently in family matters! Be sure

that my intervention here, without authority or right, would do you more harm than good. It is for you and for

those who love you," he added, giving a look to Madame Thuillier, "to see if these arrangements, already so

It was written that the poor child was to drink to the dregs the cup she had herself prepared by her

intolerance. As the abbe finished speaking, his housekeeper came in to ask if he would receive Monsieur

Felix Phellion. Thus, like the Charter of 1830, Madame de Godollo's officious falsehood was turned into

"Go this way," he said hastily, showing his two penitents out by a private corridor.

Life has such strange encounters that it does sometimes happen that the same form of proceeding must be

"Monsieur l'abbe," said Felix to the young vicar as soon as they met, "I have heard of the kind manner in

which you were so very good as to speak of me in Monsieur Thuillier's salon last night, and I should have

The Abbe Gondrin passed hastily over the compliments, eager to know in what way he could be useful to his

"With an intention that I wish to think kindly," replied Felix, "you were spoken to yesterday about the state of

my soul. Those who read it so fluently know more than I do about my inner being, for, during the last few

days I have felt strange, inexplicable feelings within me. Never have I doubted God, but, in contact with that

infinitude where he has permitted my thought to follow the traces of his work I seem to have gathered a sense

of him less vague, more immediate; and this has led me to ask myself whether an honest and upright life is

the only homage which his omnipotence expects of me. Nevertheless, there are numberless objections rising

in my mind against the worship of which you are the minister; while sensible of the beauty of its external

form in many of its precepts and practices, I find myself deterred by my reason. I shall have paid dearly,

perhaps by the happiness of my whole life, for the slowness and want of vigor which I have shown in seeking

the solution of my doubts. I have now decided to search to the bottom of them. No one so well as you,

Monsieur l'abbe, can help me to solve them. I have come with confidence to lay them before you, to ask you

to listen to me, to answer me, and to tell me by what studies I can pursue the search for light. It is a cruelly

afflicted soul that appeals to you. Is not that a good ground for the seed of your word?"

The Abbe Gondrin eagerly protested the joy with which, notwithstanding his own insufficiency, he would

undertake to reply to the scruples of conscience in the young savant. After asking him for a place in his

friendship, and telling him to come at certain hours for conversation, he asked him to read, as a first step, the

"Thoughts" of Pascal. A natural affinity, on the side of science, would, he believed, be established between

While this scene was passing, a scene to which the greatness of the interests in question and the moral and

intellectual elevation of the personages concerned in it gave a character of grandeur which, like all reposeful,

tranquil aspects, is easier far to comprehend than to reproduce, another scene, of sharp and bitter discord, that

chronic malady of bourgeois households, where the pettiness of minds and passions gives open way to it, was

Mounted upon her chair, her hair in disorder and her face and fingers dirty, Brigitte, duster in hand, was

cleaning the shelves of the closet, where she was replacing her library of plates, dishes, and sauceboats,

"Brigitte," she said, "when you have finished what you are about you had better come down to our apartment,

or else I'll send Celeste to you; she seems to me to be inclined to make trouble."

"I think she and Madame Thuillier went to see the Abbe Gondrin this morning, and she has been attacking me

about Felix Phellion, and talks of him as if he were a god; from that to refusing to marry la Peyrade is but a

"Those cursed skullcaps!" said Brigitte; "they meddle in everything! I didn't want to invite him, but you

"Proper! I despise proprieties!" cried the old maid. "He's a maker of speeches; he said nothing last night that

At this instant a servant announced to Brigitte the arrival of a clerk from the office of the new notary chosen,

in default of Dupuis, to draw up the contract. Without considering her disorderly appearance, Brigitte ordered

him to be shown in, but she made him the condescension of descending from her perch instead of talking

"Monsieur Thuillier," said the clerk, "came to our office this morning to explain to the master the clauses of

the contract he has been so good as to entrust to us. But before writing down the stipulations, we are in the

habit of obtaining from the lips of each donor a direct expression of his or her intentions. In accordance with

this rule, Monsieur Thuillier told us that he gives to the bride the reversion, at his death, of the house he

"Yes," said Brigitte, "that is the understanding. As for me, I give three hundred thousand francs a year in the

Threepercents, capital and interest; but the bride is married under the dotal system."

"That is so," said the clerk, consulting his notes. "Mademoiselle Brigitte, three thousand francs a year. Now,

there is Madame Celeste Thuillier, wife of LouisJerome Thuillier, who gives six thousand in the

"All that is just as if the notary had written it down," said Brigitte; "but if it is your custom you can see my

So saying, the old maid ordered the "male domestic" to take the clerk to Madame Thuillier.

A moment later the clerk returned, saying there was certainly some misunderstanding, and that Madame

Thuillier declared she had no intention of making any agreement in favor of the marriage.

Then, like a hurricane, she rushed into Madame Thuillier's chamber; the latter was pale and trembling.

"Yes," said the slave, declaring insurrection, although in a shaking voice; "my intention is to do nothing."

"It is not necessary that monsieur should listen to our discussion," said Madame Thuillier; "it will not appear

"No wonder you are ashamed of it," said Brigitte; "the appearance you are making is not very flattering to

youMonsieur," she continued, addressing the clerk, "it is easier, is it not, to mark out passages in a contract

"Then put in what you were told to write; later, if madame persists, the clause can be stricken out."

"Ah ca!" she cried, "have you lost your head? What is this crotchet you've taken into it?"

"Which you got from the Abbe Gondrin; you dare not deny that you went to see him with Celeste."

"It is true that Celeste and I saw our director this morning, but I did not open my lips to him about what I

"Yes. As I told you yesterday, I think Celeste can be more suitably married, and my intention is not to rob

"I know well," replied Madame Thuillier, "that I count for nothing in this house. So far as I am concerned, I

have long accepted my position; but, when the matter concerns the happiness of a child I regard as my

"Parbleu!" cried Brigitte, "you never knew how to have one; for, certainly, Thuillier"

"Sister," said Madame Thuillier, with dignity, "I took the sacrament this morning, and there are some things I

"There's a canting hypocrite for you!" cried Brigitte; "playing the saint, and bringing trouble into families!

And you think to succeed, do you? Wait till Thuillier comes home, and he'll shake this out of you."

By calling in the marital authority in support of her own, Brigitte showed weakness before the unexpected

resistance thus made to her inveterate tyranny. Madame Thuillier's calm words, which became every moment

"A drone!" she cried; "a helpless goodfornothing! who can't even pick up her own handkerchief! that thing

"I wish so little to be its mistress," said Madame Thuillier, "that last night I allowed you to silence me after

the first words I said in behalf of Celeste. But I am mistress of my own property, and as I believe that Celeste

"Yes, that which I received from my father and my mother, and which I brought as my 'dot' to Monsieur

"And pray who invested it, this property, and made it give you twelve thousand francs a year?"

"I have never asked you for any account of it," said Madame Thuillier, gently. "If it had been lost in the uses

you made of it, you would never have heard a single word from me; but it has prospered, and it is just that I

"Perhaps not; if this is the course you take, it is not at all sure that you and I will go out of the same door

"Do you mean that Monsieur Thuillier will send me away? He must have reasons for doing that, and, thank

"Viper! hypocrite! heartless creature!" cried Brigitte, coming to an end of her arguments.

"Am I, you imbecile?" cried the old maid, in a paroxysm of anger. "If I didn't restrain myself"

"No! you shall not go out," cried Brigitte, pushing her down into her chair; "and till Thuillier comes home

Just as Brigitte, her face on fire, returned to the room where she had left Madame Colleville, her brother came

"My dear," he said to the Megaera, not observing her fury, "everything is going on finely; the conspiracy of

silence is broken; two papers, the 'National' and a Carlist journal, have copied articles from us, and there's a

"Well, all is not going on finely here," said Brigitte, "and if it continues, I shall leave the barrack."

"Celeste make you a scene!" said Thuillier; "then it is the very first time in her life."

"About madame's not choosing that la Peyrade should marry her goddaughter; and out of spite, to prevent the

"Come, be calm," said Thuillier, not disturbed himself, the admission of the "Echo" into the polemic making

"You, Flavie," said Brigitte, when Thuillier had departed to his wife, "you will do me the pleasure to go down

to your own apartment, and tell Mademoiselle Celeste that I don't choose to see her now, because if she made

me any irritating answer I might box her ears. You'll tell her that I don't like conspiracies; that she was left at

liberty to choose Monsieur Phellion junior if she wanted him, and she did not want him; that the matter is

now all arranged, and that if she does not wish to see her 'dot' reduced to what you are able to give her, which

"But, my dear Brigitte," interrupted Flavie, turning upon her at this impertinence, "you may dispense with

reminding us in this harsh way of our poverty; for, after all, we have never asked you for anything, and we

pay our rent punctually; and as for the 'dot,' Monsieur Felix Phellion is quite ready to take Celeste with no

"Ha! so you too are going to meddle in this, are you?" cried Brigitte. "Very good; go and fetch him, your

Felix. I know, my little woman, that this marriage has never suited you; it IS disagreeable to be nothing more

Flavie had recovered the coolness she had lost for an instant, and without replying to this speech she merely

"My dear Brigitte," he said to his sister, "you have a most excellent heart, but at times you are so violent"

"I certainly do not blame you for the cause of the trouble, and I have just rebuked Celeste for her assumption;

"And besides," continued Thuillier, "a woman of Celeste's age can't be kept in prison."

"Parbleu! all this because in my anger at the infamous things she was spitting at me I may have turned the

"Come, come," said Thuillier, "these are not proper actions for people of our class."

"Oh! so it is I who am to blame, is it? Well, my lad, some day you'll remember this, and we shall see how

"You'll always take care of it," said Thuillier. "Housekeeping is your very life; you will be the first to get over

"We'll see about that," said Brigitte; "after twenty years of devotion, to be treated like the lowest of the low!"

And rushing to the door, which she slammed after her with violence, she went away.

"What I said,raised her hand to her and locked her in like a child. Celeste may certainly be rather

"She is not always pleasant, that good Brigitte," said Flavie; "she and I have just had a little setto."

"Oh, well," said Thuillier, "it will all pass off. I want to tell you, my dear Flavie, what fine success we have

had this morning. The 'National' quotes two whole paragraphs of an article in which there were several

Thuillier was again interrupted in the tale of his great political and literary success,this time by the

"Mademoiselle must be going to make a journey. She is getting her linen out of the drawers, and her gowns

"Another piece of nonsense!" said Thuillier. "Flavie, go and see what she has in her head."

"Not I," said Madame Colleville; "go yourself. In her present state of exasperation she might beat me."

"And my stupid wife, who must needs raise a fuss about the contract!" cried Thuillier. "She really must have

"I don't know anything about it," said Thuillier, crossly; "go and look for it, or else tell her it is lost."

"Faith, my dear friend," cried Thuillier, "it is high time you came; the house is in revolution, all about you,

Then he related to his assistant editor the circumstances of the civil war which had broken out.

"I think," he said, "that under the circumstances in which we now stand there is no impropriety in my asking

In this the Provencal showed his usual shrewd ability; he saw that in the mission of pacification thus given to

"My dear Thuillier," said la Peyrade, "you must, without any violence, let Mademoiselle Celeste know that

her consent must be given without further delay; make her think that this was the purpose for which you have

The manservant was sent down to the entresol with orders to tell Celeste that her godfather wished to speak

to her. As soon as she appeared, Thuillier said, to carry out the programme which had been dictated to

"My dear, your mother has told us things that astonish us. Can it be true that with your contract almost

signed, you have not yet decided to accept the marriage we have arranged for you?"

"Godfather," said Celeste, rather surprised at this abrupt summons, "I think I did not say that to mamma."

"Did you not just now," said Flavie, "praise Monsieur Felix Phellion to me in the most extravagant manner?"

"Come, come," said Thuillier, with authority, "let us have no equivocation; do you refuse, yes or no, to marry

"Dear, good friend," said la Peyrade, intervening, "your way of putting the question is rather too abrupt, and,

in my presence, especially, it seems to me out of place. In my position as the most interested person, will you

allow me to have an interview with mademoiselle, which, indeed, has now become necessary? This favor I

am sure will not be refused by Madame Colleville. Under present circumstances, there can surely be nothing

"I would certainly yield to it," said Flavie, "if I did not fear that these discussions might seem to open a

"But, my dear madame, I have the strongest desire that Mademoiselle Celeste shall remain, until the very last

moment, the mistress of her own choice. I beg you, therefore, to grant my request."

"So be it!" said Madame Colleville; "you think yourself very clever, but if you let that girl twist you round

her finger, so much the worse for you. Come, Thuillier, since we are 'de trop' here."

As soon as the pair were alone together, la Peyrade drew up a chair for Celeste, and took one himself,

"You will, I venture to believe, do me the justice to say that until today I have never annoyed you with the

expression of my sentiments. I was aware of the inclinations of your heart, and also of the warnings of your

conscience. I hoped, after a time, to make myself acceptable as a refuge from those two currents of feeling;

but, at the point which we have now reached, I think it is not either indiscreet or impatient to ask you to let

"Monsieur," replied Celeste, "as you speak to me so kindly and frankly, I will tell you, what indeed you know

already, that, brought up as I was with Monsieur Felix Phellion, knowing him far longer than I have known

you, the idea of marrying alarmed me less in regard to him than it would in regard to others."

"At one time, I believe," remarked la Peyrade, "you were permitted to choose him if you wished."

"Nearly," replied Celeste. "I am accustomed to submit to the judgment of those who are wiser than myself,

monsieur, and you heard yesterday the manner in which the Abbe Gondrin spoke of Monsieur Phellion."

"God forbid," said la Peyrade, "that I should seek to invalidate the judgment of so excellent a man; but I

venture to say to you, mademoiselle, that there are great differences among the clergy; some are thought too

stern, some far too indulgent; moreover, the Abbe Gondrin is more of a preacher than a casuist."

"But, Monsieur Felix," said Celeste, eagerly, "seems to wish to fulfil Monsieur l'abbe's hopes of him, for I

"Ah!" said la Peyrade, with a touch of irony, "so he really decided to go to Pere Anselme! But, admitting that

on the religious side Monsieur Phellion may now become all that you expect of him, have you reflected,

"No, but it is a reason why he should think more of himself. For the modesty which was once the chief charm

of his nature, he is likely to substitute great assumption, and you must remember, mademoiselle, that he who

has discovered one world will want to discover two; you will have the whole firmament for rival; in short,

"You plead your cause with such adroitness," said Celeste, smiling, "that I think you might be as a lawyer

"Mademoiselle," said la Peyrade, "let us speak seriously; there is another and far more serious aspect to the

situation. Do you know that, at this moment, in this house, and without, I am sure, desiring it, you are the

"Yes, concerning your godmother. Through the extreme affection that she has for you she seems to have

become another woman; for the first time in her life she has shown a mind of her own. With an energy of will

which comes at times to those who have never expended any, she declares that she will not make her

proposed liberal gift to you in the contract; and I need not tell you who is the person aimed at in this

"But, monsieur, I entreat you to believe that I knew nothing of this idea of my godmother."

"I know that," said la Peyrade, "and the matter itself would be of small importance if Mademoiselle Brigitte

had not taken this attitude of your godmother, whom she has always found supple to her will, as a personal

insult to herself. Very painful explanations, approaching at last to violence, have taken place. Thuillier,

placed between the hammer and the anvil, has been unable to stop the affair; on the contrary, he has, without

intending it, made matters worse, till they have now arrived at such a point that Mademoiselle Brigitte is

"The truth; and the servants will confirm it to youfor I feel that my revelations are scarcely believable."

"But it is impossible! impossible!" said the poor child, whose agitation increased with every word of the

"That is, you did not intend to be, for the harm is done; and I pray Heaven it may not be irremediable."

"I should answer, without hesitation, sacrifice yourself, mademoiselle, if it were not that I should then be

"Monsieur," said Celeste, "you interpret ill the resistance that I have made, though, in fact, I have scarcely

expressed it. I have certainly had a preference, but I have never considered myself in the light of a victim; and

whatever it is necessary to do to restore peace in this house to which I have brought trouble, I shall do it

"That would be for me," said la Peyrade, humbly, "more than I could dare ask for myself; but, for the result

which we both seek, I must tell you frankly that something more is needed. Madame Thuillier has not

changed her nature to instantly change back again on the mere assurance by others of your compliance. It is

necessary that she should hear from your own lips that you accede to my suit, and that you do so with

eagerness,assumed, indeed, but sufficiently well assumed to induce her to believe in it."

"So be it," said Celeste. "I shall know how to seem smiling and happy. My godmother, monsieur, has been a

The position was such, and Celeste betrayed so artlessly the depth and, at the same time, the absolute

determination of her sacrifice, that with any heart at all la Peyrade would have loathed the part he was

playing; but Celeste, to him, was a means of ascent, and provided the ladder can hold you and hoist you, who

would ever ask if it cared to or not? It was therefore decided that Celeste should go to her godmother and

convince her of the mistake she had made in supposing an objection to la Peyrade which Celeste had never

intended to make. Madame Thuillier's opposition overcome, all was once more easy. La Peyrade took upon

himself the duty of making peace between the two sistersinlaw, and we can well imagine that he was not at

a loss for fine phrases with which to assure the artless girl of the devotion and love which would take from

When Celeste went to her godmother she found her by no means as difficult to convince as she had expected.

To go to the point of rebellion which Madame Thuillier had actually reached, the poor woman, who was

acting against her instincts and against her nature, had needed a tension of will that, in her, was almost

superhuman. No sooner had she received the false confidences of her goddaughter than the reaction set in; the

strength failed her to continue in the path she had taken. She was therefore easily the dupe of the comedy

The tempest calmed on this side, the barrister found no difficulty in making Brigitte understand that in

quelling the rebellion against her authority she had gone a little farther than was proper. This authority being

no longer in danger, Brigitte ceased to be incensed with the sisterinlaw she had been on the point of

beating, and the quarrel was settled with a few kind words and a kiss, poor Celeste paying the costs of war.

After dinner, which was only a family meal, the notary, to whose office they were to go on the following day

to sign the contract (it being impossible to give a second edition of the abortive party), made his appearance.

He came, he said, to submit the contract to the parties interested before engrossing it. This attention was not

surprising in a man who was just entering into business relations with so important a person as the municipal

La Peyrade was far too shrewd to make any objections to the terms of the contract, which was now read. A

few changes requested by Brigitte, which gave the new notary a high idea of the old maid's business capacity,

showed la Peyrade plainly that more precautions were being taken against him than were altogether

becoming; but he was anxious not to raise difficulties, and he knew that the meshes of a contract are never so

close that a determined and clever man cannot get through them. The appointment was then made for the

signing of the contract the next day, at two o'clock, in the notary's office, the family only being present.

During the rest of the evening, taking advantage of Celeste's pledge to seem smiling and happy, la Peyrade

played, as it were, upon the poor child, forced her, by a specious exhibition of gratitude and love, to respond

to him on a key that was far, indeed, from the true state of a heart now wholly filled by Felix. Flavie, seeing

the manner in which la Peyrade put forth his seductions, was reminded of the pains he had formerly taken to

fascinate herself. "The monster!" she said, beneath her breath. But she was forced to bear the torture with a

good grace; la Peyrade was evidently approved by all, and in the course of the evening a circumstance came

to light, showing a past service done by him to the house of Thuillier, which brought his influence and his

"My dear friends," he said, "I have come to make a little revelation which will greatly surprise you, and will,

I think, prove a lesson to all of us when a question arises as to receiving foreigners in our homes."

"That Hungarian woman you were so delighted with, that Madame Torna, Comtesse de Godollo"

"Well," continued Minard, "she was no better than she should be; you were petting in your house for two

"Who told you that tale?" asked Brigitte, not willing to admit that she had fallen into such a snare.

"Oh, it isn't a tale," said the mayor, eagerly. "I know the thing myself, 'de visu.'"

"Dear me! do you frequent such women?" said Brigitte, resuming the offensive. "That's a pretty thing! what

"In the discharge of my duties," said Minard, stiffly, provoked at this reception of his news, "I have seen

The wily Provencal was not the man to lose an occasion that fell to him readymade.

"Tiens! so you know her, too," said Brigitte; "and you let us consort with such vermin?"

"No," said la Peyrade, "on the contrary. Without scandal, without saying a word to any one, I removed her

from your house. You remember how suddenly the woman left it? It was I who compelled her to do so;

having discovered what she was, I gave her two days to leave the premises; threatening her, in case she

"My dear Theodose," said Thuillier, pressing his hand, "you acted with as much prudence as decision. This is

"You see, mademoiselle," said la Peyrade, addressing Celeste, "the strange protectress whom a friend of

"Ah ca! papa Minard, we'll keep quiet about all this; silence is the word. Will you take a cup of tea?"

"Celeste," said the old maid, "ring for Henri, and tell him to put the large kettle on the fire."

Though the visit to the notary was not to be made till two in the afternoon, Brigitte began early in the

morning of the next day what Thuillier called her RAMPAGE, a popular term which expresses that turbulent,

nagging, irritating activity which La Fontaine has described so well in his fable of "The Old Woman and her

Servants." Brigitte declared that if you didn't take time by the forelock no one would be ready. She prevented

Thuillier from going to his office, insisting that if he once got off she never should see him again; she

plagued Josephine, the cook, about hurrying the breakfast, and in spite of what had happened the day before

she scarcely restrained herself from nagging at Madame Thuillier, who did not enter, as she thought she

Presently down she went to the Collevilles' to make the same disturbance; and there she put her veto on the

costume, far too elegant, which Flavie meditated wearing, and told Celeste the hat and gown she wished her

to appear in. As for Colleville, who could not, he declared, stay away all the morning from his official duties,

she compelled him to put on his dresssuit before he went out, made him set his watch by hers, and warned

The amusing part of it was that Brigitte herself, after driving every one at the point of the bayonet, came very

near being late herself. Under pretext of aiding others, independently of minding her own business, which, for

worlds, she would never have spared herself, she had put her fingers and eyes into so many things that they

ended by overwhelming her. However, she ascribed the delay in which she was almost caught to the

hairdresser, whom she had sent for to make, on this extraordinary occasion, what she called her "part." That

artist having, unadvisedly, dressed her hair in the fashion, he was compelled, after she had looked at herself

in the glass, to do his work over again, and conform to the usual style of his client, which consisted chiefly in

never being "done" at all, a method that gave her head a general air of what is vulgarly called "a cross cat."

About halfpast one o'clock la Peyrade, Thuillier, Colleville, Madame Thuillier, and Celeste were assembled

in the salon. Flavie joined them soon after, fastening her bracelets as she came along to avoid a rebuff, and

having the satisfaction of knowing that she was ready before Brigitte. As for the latter, already furious at

finding herself late, she had another cause for exasperation. The event of the day seemed to require a corset, a

refinement which she usually discarded. The unfortunate maid, whose duty it was to lace her and to discover

the exact point to which she was willing to be drawn in, alone knew the terrors and storms of a corset day.

"I'd rather," said the girl, "lace the obelisk; I know it would lend itself to being laced better than she does;

While the party in the salon were amusing themselves, under their breaths, at the "flagrante delicto" of

unpunctuality in which Queen Elizabeth was caught, the porter entered, and gave to Thuillier a sealed

package, addressed to "Monsieur Thuillier, director of the 'Echo de la Bievre.' IN HASTE."

Thuillier opened the envelope, and found within a copy of a ministerial journal which had hitherto shown

itself discourteous to the new paper by refusing the EXCHANGE which all periodicals usually make very

Puzzled by the fact of this missive being sent to his own house and not to the office of the "Echo," Thuillier

hastily opened the sheet, and read, with what emotion the reader may conceive, the following article,

An obscure organ was about to expire in its native shade when an ambitious person of recent date bethought

himself of galvanizing it. His object was to make it a foothold by which to climb from municipal functions to

the coveted position of deputy. Happily this object, having come to the surface, will end in failure. Electors

will certainly not be inveigled by so wily a manner of advancing selfinterests; and when the proper time

arrives, if ridicule has not already done justice on this absurd candidacy, we shall ourselves prove to the

pretender that to aspire to the distinguished honor of representing the nation something more is required than

the money to buy a paper and pay an underling to put into good French the horrible diction of his articles and

pamphlets. We confine ourselves today to this limited notice, but our readers may be sure that we shall keep

them informed about this electoral comedy, if indeed the parties concerned have the melancholy courage to

Thuillier read twice over this sudden declaration of war, which was far from leaving him calm and

"What do I find so serious?" repeated Thuillier. "I don't think anything could be more insulting to me."

"You can't doubt," said la Peyrade, "that the virtuous Cerizet is at the bottom of it; he has thrown this

"Cerizet, or anybody else who wrote that diatribe is an insolent fellow," cried Thuillier, getting angry, "and

"For my part," said la Peyrade, "I advise you to make no reply. You are not named; though, of course, the

attack is aimed at you. But you ought to let our adversary commit himself farther; when the right moment

"The devil!" said the barrister; "what a sensitive epidermis! Do reflect, my dear fellow, that you have made

yourself a candidate and a journalist, and therefore you really must harden yourself better than that."

"My good friend, it is a principle of mine not to let anybody step on my toes. Besides, they say themselves

they are going on with this thing. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to cut short such impertinence."

"But do consider," said la Peyrade. "Certainly in journalism, as in candidacy, a hot temper has its uses; a man

"Just so," said Thuillier, "'principiis obsta.' Not today, because we haven't the time, but tomorrow I shall

"Into court!" echoed la Peyrade; "you surely wouldn't go to law in such a matter as this? In the first place,

there is nothing to proceed upon; you are not named nor the paper either, and, besides, it is a pitiable

business, going to law; you'll look like a boy who has been fighting, and got the worst of it, and runs to

complain to his mamma. Now if you had said that you meant to make Fleury intervene in the matter, I could

understand thatthough the affair is rather personal to you, and it might be difficult to make it seem"

"Ah ca!" said Thuillier, "do you suppose I am going to commit myself with a Cerizet or any other newspaper

bully? I pique myself, my dear fellow, on possessing civic courage, which does not give in to prejudices, and

which, instead of taking justice into its own hands, has recourse to the means of defence that are provided by

law. Besides, with the legal authority the Court of Cassation now has over duelling, I have no desire to put

myself in the way of being expatriated, or spending two or three years in prison."

"Well," said la Peyrade, "we'll talk it over later; here's your sister, and she would think everything lost if this

When Brigitte appeared Colleville shouted "Full!" and proceeded to sing the chorus of "La Parisienne."

"Heavens! Colleville, how vulgar you are!" cried the tardy one, hastening to cast a stone in the other's garden

to avoid the throwing of one into hers. "Well, are you all ready?" she added, arranging her mantle before a

mirror. "What o'clock is it? it won't do to get there before the time, like provincials."

"Well, then we are just right," said Brigitte; "it will take about that time to get to the rue Caumartin.

Josephine," she cried, going to the door of the salon, "we'll dine at six, therefore be sure you put the turkey to

roast at the right time, and mind you don't burn it, as you did the other day. Bless me! who's that?" and with a

hasty motion she shut the door, which she had been holding open. "What a nuisance! I hope Henri will have

Not at all; Henri came in to say that an old gentleman, with a very genteel air, had asked to be received on

"That's what I should have done if mademoiselle had not opened the door of the salon so that the gentleman

"Say," replied Thuillier, "that I am very sorry not to be able to receive him, but I am expected at a notary's

"I have told him all that," said Henri, "and he answered that that contract was precisely what he had come

"You had better go and see him, Thuillier, and get rid of him in doublequick," said Brigitte; "that's shorter

If la Peyrade had been consulted he might not have joined in that advice, for he had had more than one

specimen of the spokes some occult influence was putting into the wheels of his marriage, and the present

"Show him into my study," said Thuillier, following his sister's advice; and, opening the door which led from

"Goodness!" she exclaimed, "there's my imbecile of a Thuillier offering him a chair! and away in a corner,

La Peyrade was walking about the room with an inward agitation covered by an appearance of great

indifference. He even went up to the three women, and made a few loverlike speeches to Celeste, who

received them with a smiling, happy air in keeping with the role she was playing. As for Colleville, he was

killing the time by composing an anagram on the six words of "le journal 'l'Echo de la Bievre,'" for which he

had found the following version, little reassuring (as far as it went) for the prospects of that newspaper: "O

d'Echo, jarni! la bevue reell"but as the final "e" was lacking to complete the last word, the work was not

"He's taking snuff!" said Brigitte, her eye still glued to the keyhole; "his gold snuffbox beats

Minard'sthough, perhaps, it is only silvergilt," she added, reflectively. "He's doing the talking, and

Thuillier is sitting there listening to him like a buzzard. I shall go in and tell them they can't keep ladies

But just as she put her hand on the lock she heard Thuillier's visitor raise his voice, and that made her look

But a moment later she saw she had made a mistake; the little old man had only left his chair to walk up and

"My gracious! I shall certainly go in," she said, "and tell Thuillier we are going without him, and he can

So saying, the old maid gave two little sharp and very imperious raps on the door, after which she resolutely

La Peyrade, goaded by anxiety, had the bad taste to look through the keyhole himself at what was happening.

Instantly he thought he recognized the small old man he had seen under the name of "the commander" on that

memorable morning when he had waited for Madame de Godollo. Then he saw Thuillier addressing his sister

with impatience and with gestures of authority altogether out of his usual habits of deference and submission.

"It seems," said Brigitte, reentering the salon, "that Thuillier finds some great interest in that creature's talk,

for he ordered me bluntly to leave them, though the little old fellow did say, rather civilly, that they would

soon be through. But Jerome added: 'MIND, you are to wait for me.' Really, since he has taken to making

newspapers I don't know him; he has set up an air as if he were leading the world with his wand."

"I am very much afraid he is being entangled by some adventurer," said la Peyrade. "I am pretty sure I saw

that old man at Madame de Godollo's the day I went to warn her off the premises; he must be of the same

"Why didn't you tell me?" cried Brigitte. "I'd have asked him for news of the countess, and let him see we

Just then the sound of moving chairs was heard, and Brigitte darted back to the keyhole.

"Yes," she said, "he is really going, and Thuillier is bowing him out respectfully!"

As Thuillier did not immediately return, Colleville had time to go to the window and exclaim at seeing the

little old gentleman driving away in an elegant coupe, of which the reader has already heard.

"The deuce!" cried Colleville; "what an ornate livery! If he is an adventurer he is a number one."

At last Thuillier reentered the room, his face full of care, his manner extremely grave.

"My dear la Peyrade," he said, "you did not tell us that another proposal of marriage had been seriously

"Yes, I did; I told you that a very rich heiress had been offered to me, but that my inclinations were here, and

that I had not given any encouragement to the affair; consequently, of course, there was no serious

"What! do you mean to say, in presence of these ladies, that you blame me for remaining faithful to my first

"My friend, the conversation that I have just had has been a most instructive one to me; and when you know

what I know, with other details personal to yourself, which will be confided to you, I think that you will enter

into my ideas. One thing is certain; we shall not go to the notary today; and as for you, the best thing that

"Yes; go at once; he is awaiting you. It is an indispensable preliminary before we can go any farther. When

you have seen that excellent man and heard what he has to say to youwell, THEN if you persist in

claiming Celeste's hand, we might perhaps carry out our plans. Until then we shall take no steps in the

"But, my poor Thuillier," said Brigitte, "you have let yourself be gammoned by a rascal; that man belongs to

"Madame de Godollo," replied Thuillier, "is not at all what you suppose her to be, and the best thing this

house can do is never to say one word about her, either good or evil. As for la Peyrade, as this is not the first

time he has been requested to go and see Monsieur du Portail, I am surprised that he hesitates to do so."

"I tell you that that little old man is all that he appears to be. He wears seven crosses, he drives in a splendid

equipage, and he has told me things that have overwhelmed me with astonishment."

"Well, perhaps he's a fortuneteller like Madame Fontaine, who managed once upon a time to upset me when

"Well, if he is not a sorcerer he certainly has a very long arm," said Thuillier, "and I think a man would suffer

for it if he didn't respect his advice. As for you, Brigitte, he saw you only for a minute, but he told me your

"The fact is," said Brigitte, licking her chops at this compliment, like a cat drinking cream, "he has a very

wellbred air, that little old fellow. You take my advice, my dear," she said, turning to la Peyrade; "if such a

very bigwig as that wants you to do so, go and see this du Portail, whoever he is. That, it seems to me, won't

"You are right, Brigitte," said Colleville; "as for me, I'd follow up all the Portails, or PortERS, or PortENTS

The scene was beginning to resemble that in the "Barber of Seville," where everybody tells Basil to go to bed,

for he certainly has a fever. La Peyrade, thus prodded, picked up his hat in some illhumor, and went where

On reaching the rue HonoreChevalier la Peyrade felt a doubt; the dilapidated appearance of the house to

which he was summoned made him think he had mistaken the number. It seemed to him that a person of

Monsieur du Portail's evident importance could not inhabit such a place. It was therefore with some hesitation

that he accosted Sieur Perrache, the porter. But no sooner had he entered the antechamber of the apartment

pointed out to him than the excellent deportment of Bruneau, the old valet, and the extremely comfortable

appearance of the furniture and other appointments made him see that he was probably in the right place.

Introduced at once, as soon as he had given his name, into the study of the master of the house, his surprise

was great when he found himself in presence of the commander, so called, the friend of Madame de Godollo,

"At last!" said du Portail, rising, and offering la Peyrade a chair, "at last we meet, my refractory friend; it has

"May I know, monsieur," said la Peyrade, haughtily, not taking the chair which was offered to him, "what

interest you have in meddling with my affairs? I do not know you, and I may add that the place where I once

saw you did not create an unconquerable desire in me to make your acquaintance."

"Where monsieur, consequently, went himself," said the little old man, "and for a purpose much less

"I have not come here," said la Peyrade, "to bandy words with any one. I have the right, monsieur, to a full

explanation as to the meaning of your proceedings towards me. I therefore request you not to delay them by a

"Then, my dear fellow," said du Portail, "sit down, for I am not in the humor to twist my neck by talking up

The words were reasonable, and they were said in a tone that showed the old gentleman was not likely to be

frightened by grand airs. La Peyrade therefore deferred to the wishes of his host, but he took care to do so

"Monsieur Cerizet," said du Portail, "a man of excellent standing in the world, and who has the honor to be

"I have nothing to do with that man now," said la Peyrade, sharply, understanding the malicious meaning of

"Well, the time has been," said du Portail, "when you saw him, at least, occasionally: for instance, when you

paid for his dinner at the Rocher de Cancale. As I was saying, I charged the virtuous Monsieur Cerizet to

"Which I refused," interrupted la Peyrade, "and which I now refuse again, more vehemently than ever."

"That's the question," said the old man. "I think, on the contrary, that you will accept it; and it is to talk over

"But this crazy girl that you are flinging at my head," said la Peyrade, "what is she to you? She can't be your

"This young girl," replied du Portail, "is the daughter of one of my friends who died about ten years ago; at

his death I took her to live with me, and have given her all the care her sad condition needed. Her fortune,

which I have greatly increased, added to my own, which I intend to leave to her, will make her a very rich

heiress. I know that you are no enemy to handsome 'dots,' for you have sought them in various

places,Thuillier's house, for instance, or, to use your own expression, that of a strumpet whom you

scarcely knew. I have therefore supposed you would accept at my hands a very rich young woman, especially

as her infirmity is declared by the best physicians to be curable; whereas you can never cure Monsieur and

Mademoiselle Thuillier, the one of being a fool, the other of being a fury, any more than you could cure

"It may suit me," replied la Peyrade, "to marry the daughter of a fool and a fury if I choose her, or I might

become the husband of a clever coquette, if passion seized me, but the Queen of Sheba herself, if imposed

upon me, neither you, monsieur, nor the ablest and most powerful man living could force me to accept."

"Precisely; therefore it is to your own good sense and intelligence that I now address myself; but we have to

come face to face with people in order to speak to them, you know. Now, then, let us look into your present

situation, and don't get angry if, like a surgeon who wants to cure his patient, I lay my hand mercilessly on

wounds which have long tormented and harassed you. The first point to state is that the Celeste Colleville

"Because I have just seen Thuillier and terrified him with the history of the misfortunes he has incurred, and

those he will incur if he persists in the idea of giving you his goddaughter in marriage. He knows now that it

was I who paralyzed Madame du Bruel's kind offices in the matter of the cross; that I had his pamphlet

seized; that I sent that Hungarian woman into his house to handle you all, as she did; and that my hand is

opening fire in the ministerial journals, which will only increase from bad to worse,not to speak of other

machinations which will be directed against his candidacy. Therefore you see, my good friend, that not only

have you no longer the credit in Thuillier's eyes of being his great helper to that election, but that you actually

block the way to his ambition. That is enough to prove to you that the side by which you have imposed

yourself on that familywho have never sincerely liked or desired youis now completely battered down

"But to have done all that which you claim with such pretension, who are you?" demanded la Peyrade.

"I shall not say that you are very inquisitive, for I intend to answer your question later; but for the present let

us continue, if you please, the autopsy of your existence, dead today, but which I propose to resuscitate

gloriously. You are twentyeight years old, and you have begun a career in which I shall not allow you to

make another step. A few days hence the Council of the order of barristers will assemble and will censure,

more or less severely, your conduct in the matter of the property you placed with such candor in Thuillier's

hands. Do not deceive yourself; censure from that quarter (and I mention only your least danger) is as fatal to

"And it is to your kind offices, no doubt," said la Peyrade, "that I shall owe that precious result?"

"Yes, I may boast of it," replied du Portail, "for, in order to tow you into port it has been necessary to strip

you of your rigging; unless that were done, you would always have tried to navigate under your own sails the

Seeing that he, undoubtedly, had to do with a strong hand, la Peyrade thought best to modify his tone; and so,

"You will allow me, monsieur, to reserve my acknowledgments until I receive some fuller explanation."

"Here you are, then," continued du Portail, "at twentyeight years of age, without a penny, virtually without a

profession; with antecedents that are verymiddling; with associates like Monsieur Dutocq and the

courageous Cerizet; owing to Mademoiselle Thuillier ten thousand francs, and to Madame Lambert

twentyfive thousand, which you are no doubt extremely desirous to return to her; and finally, this marriage,

your last hope, your sheetanchor, has just become an utter impossibility. Between ourselves, if I have

something reasonable to propose to you, do you not think that you had much better place yourself at my

"I have time enough to prove that your opinion is mistaken," returned la Peyrade; "and I shall not form any

resolutions so long as the designs you choose to have upon me are not more fully explained."

"You were spoken to, at my instigation, about a marriage," resumed du Portail. "This marriage, as I think, is

closely connected with a past existence from which a certain hereditary or family duty has devolved upon

you. Do you know what that uncle of yours, to whom you applied in 1829, was doing in Paris? In your family

he was thought to be a millionaire; and, dying suddenly, you remember, before you got to him, he did not

"If that is so," said la Peyrade, hastily, "a sum of two thousand francs, which I received on my arrival in Paris

"Came from me," replied du Portail. "Unfortunately, engaged at the time in a rush of important affairs, which

you shall hear of later, I could not immediately follow up the benevolent interest I felt in you for your uncle's

sake; this explains why I left you in the straw of a garret, where you came, like a medlar, to that maturity of

"I am none the less grateful to you, monsieur," said la Peyrade; "and if I had known you were that generous

protector, whom I was never able to discover, I should have been the first to seek occasion to meet you and to

"A truce to compliments," said du Portail; "and, to come at once to the serious side of our present conference,

what should you say if I told you that this uncle, whose protection and assistance you came to Paris to obtain,

was an agent of that occult power which has always been the theme of feeble ridicule and the object of silly

"I do not seize your meaning," said la Peyrade, with uneasy curiosity; "may I ask you to be more precise?"

"For example, I will suppose," continued du Portail, "that your uncle, if still living, were to say to you

today: 'You are seeking fortune and influence, my good nephew; you want to rise above the crowd and to

play your part in all the great events of your time; you want employment for a keen, active mind, full of

resources, and slightly inclined to intrigue; in short, you long to exert in some upper and elegant sphere that

force of will and subtlety which at present you are wasting in the silly and useless manipulation of the most

barren and toughskinned animal on earth, to wit: a bourgeois. Well, then, lower your head, my fine nephew;

enter with me through the little door which I will open to you; it gives admittance to a great house, often

maligned, but better far than its reputation. That threshold once crossed, you can rise to the height of your

natural genius, whatever its spark may be. Statesmen, kings even, will admit you to their most secret

thoughts; you will be their occult collaborator, and none of the joys which money and the highest powers can

"But, monsieur," objected la Peyrade, "without venturing to understand you, I must remark that my uncle

"Your uncle," replied du Portail, "was a man of rare talent, but he had a certain weak side in his nature which

compromised his career. He was eager for pleasure, a spendthrift, thoughtless for the future; he wanted also

to taste those joys that are meant for the common run of men, but which for great, exceptional vocations are

the worst of snares and impediments: I mean the joys of family. He had a daughter whom he madly loved,

and it was through her that his terrible enemies opened a breach in his life, and prepared the horrible

"Is that an encouragement to enter this shady path, where, you say, he might have asked me to follow him?"

"But if I myself," said du Portail, "should offer to guide you in it, what then?"

"Yes, II who was your uncle's pupil at first, and later his protector and providence; I, whose influence the

last halfcentury has daily increased; I, who am wealthy; I, to whom all governments, as they fall one on top

of the others like houses of cards, come to ask for safety and for the power to rebuild their future; I, who am

the manager of a great theatre of puppets (where I have Columbines in the style of Madame de Godollo); I,

who tomorrow, if it were necessary to the success of one of my vaudevilles or one of my dramas, might

present myself to your eyes as the wearer of the grand cordon of the Legion of honor, of the Order of the

Black Eagle, or that of the Golden Fleece. Do you wish to know why neither you nor I will die a violent death

like your uncle, and also why, more fortunate than contemporaneous kings, I can transmit my sceptre to the

successor whom I myself may choose? Because, like you, my young friend, in spite of your Southern

appearance, I was cold, profoundly calculating, never tempted to lose my time on trifles at the outskirts;

because heat, when I was led by force of circumstances to employ it, never went below the surface. It is more

than probable that you have heard of me; well, for you I will open a window in my cloud; look at me, observe

me well; have I a cloven hoof, or a tail at the end of my spine? On the contrary, am I not a model of the most

inoffensive of householders in the SaintSulpice quarter? In that quarter, where I have enjoyed, I may say it,

universal esteem for the last twentyfive years, I am called du Portail; but to you, if you will allow me, I shall

"Yes, monsieur; and you see that in telling you that secret I lay my hand upon you, and enlist you. Corentin!

'the greatest man of the police in modern times,' as the author of an article in the 'Biographies of Living Men'

has said of meas to whom I ought in justice to remark that he doesn't know a thing about my life."

"Monsieur," said la Peyrade, "I can assure you that I shall keep that secret; but the place which you offer me

"That frightens you, or, at least, it makes you uneasy," said Corentin, quickly. "Before you have even

considered the thing the word scares you, does it? The police! POLICE! you are afraid to encounter the

"Certainly," said la Peyrade, "it is a necessary institution; but I do not think that it is always calumniated. If

the business of those who manage it is honorable why do they conceal themselves so carefully?"

"Because all that threatens society, which it is the mission of the police to repress," replied Corentin, "is

plotted and prepared in hiding. Do thieves and conspirators put upon their hats, 'I am Guillot, the shepherd of

this flock'? And when we are after them must we ring a bell to let them know we are coming?"

"Monsieur," said la Peyrade, "when a sentiment is universal it ceases to be a prejudice, it becomes an

opinion; and this opinion ought to be a law to every man who desires to keep his own esteem and that of

"And when you robbed that notary to enrich the Thuilliers for your own advantage," said Corentin, "did you

keep your own esteem and that of the Council of barristers? And who knows, monsieur, if in your life there

are not still blacker actions than that? I am a more honorable man than you, because, outside of my functions,

I have not one doubtful act upon my conscience; and when the opportunity for GOOD has been presented to

me I have done italways and everywhere. Do you think that the guardianship of that poor insane girl in my

home has been all roses? But she was the daughter of my old friend, your uncle, and when, feeling the years

creep on me, I propose to you, between sacks of money, to fit yourself to take my place"

"Yes; the girl I wish you to marry is the daughter of your uncle Peyrade,for he democratized his

name,or, if you like it better, she was the daughter of Pere Canquoelle, a name he took from the little estate

on which your father lived and starved with eleven children. You see, in spite of the secrecy your uncle

always kept about his family, that I know all about it. Do you suppose that before selecting you as your

cousin's husband I had not obtained every possible information about you? And what I have learned need not

make you quite so supercilious to the police. Besides, as the vulgar saying is, the best of your nose is made of

it. Your uncle belonged to the police, and, thanks to that, he became the confidant, I might almost say the

friend, of Louis XVIII., who took the greatest pleasure in his companionship. And you, by nature and by

mind, also by the foolish position into which you have got yourself, in short, by your whole being, have

gravitated steadily to the conclusion I propose to you, namely, that of succeeding me,of succeeding

Corentin. That is the question between us, Monsieur. Do you really believe now that I have not a grasp or a

'seizin,' as you call it, upon you, and that you can manage to escape me for any foolish considerations of

La Peyrade could not have been at heart so violently opposed to this proposal as he seemed, for the vigorous

language of the great master of the police and the species of appropriation which he made of his person

Corentin had risen, and was walking up and down the room, speaking, apparently, to himself.

"The police!" he cried; "one may say of it, as Basile said of calumny to Batholo, 'The police, monsieur! you

don't know what you despise!' And, after all," he continued, after a pause, "who are they who despise it?

Imbeciles, who don't know any better than to insult their protectors. Suppress the police, and you destroy

civilization. Do the police ask for the respect of such people? No, they want to inspire them with one

sentiment only: fear, that great lever with which to govern mankind,an impure race whose odious instincts

Stopping short before la Peyrade, and looking at him with a disdainful smile, he continued:

"So you are one of those ninnies who see in the police nothing more than a horde of spies and informers?

Have you never suspected the statesmen, the diplomats, the Richelieus it produces? Mercury,

monsieur,Mercury, the cleverest of the gods of paganism,what was he but the police incarnate? It is true

that he was also the god of thieves. We are better than he, for we don't allow that junction of forces."

"And yet," said la Peyrade, "Vautrin, or, I should say, Jacques Collin, the famous chief of the detective

"Yes, yes! but that's in the lower ranks," replied Corentin, resuming his walk; "there's always a muddy place

somewhere. Still, don't be mistaken even in that. Vautrin is a man of genius, but his passions, like those of

your uncle, dragged him down. But go up higher (for there lies the whole question, namely, the rung of the

ladder on which a man has wits enough to perch). Take the prefect, for instance, that honored minister,

flattered and respected, is he a spy? Well, I, monsieur, am the prefect of the secret police of diplomacyof

the highest statesmanship. And you hesitate to mount that throne!to seem small and do great things; to live

in a cave comfortably arranged like this, and command the light; to have at your orders an invisible army,

always ready, always devoted, always submissive; to know the OTHER SIDE of everything; to be duped by

no intrigue because you hold the threads of all within your fingers; to see through all partitions; to penetrate

all secrets, search all hearts, all consciences,these are the things you fear! And yet you were not afraid to

go and wallow in a Thuillier bog; you, a thoroughbred, allowed yourself to be harnessed to a hackneycoach,

"Here's a very remarkable thing," pursued Corentin, replying to his own thought; "the French language, more

just than public opinion, has given us our right place, for it has made the word police the synonym of

civilization and the antipodes of savage life, when it said and wrote: 'l'Etat police,' from the Greek words state

and city. So, I can assure you, we care little for the prejudice that tries to brand us; none know men as we do;

and to know them brings contempt for their contempt as well as for their esteem."

"There is certainly much truth in what you say with such warmth," said la Peyrade, finally.

"Much truth!" exclaimed Corentin, going back to his chair, "say, rather, that it is all true, and nothing but the

truth; yet it is not the whole truth. But enough for today, monsieur. To succeed me in my functions, and to

marry your cousin with a 'dot' that will not be less than five hundred thousand francs, that is my offer. I do

not ask you for an answer now. I should have no confidence in a determination not seriously reflected upon.

Tomorrow, I shall be at home all the morning. I trust that my conviction may then have formed yours."

Dismissing his visitor with a curt little bow, he added: "I do not bid you adieu, but au revoir, Monsieur de la

Whereupon Corentin went to a sidetable, where he found all that he needed to prepare a glass of "eau

sucree," which he had certainly earned, and, without looking at la Peyrade, who left the room rather stunned,

Was it, indeed, necessary that the morning after this meeting with Corentin a visit from Madame Lambert,

now become an exacting and importunate creditor, should come to bear its weight on la Peyrade's

determination? As the great chief had pointed out to him the night before, was there not in his nature, in his

mind, in his aspirations, in the mistakes and imprudences of his past life, a sort of irresistible incline which

drew him down toward the strange solution of existence thus suddenly offered to him?

Fatality, if we may so call it, was lavish of the inducements to which he was destined to succumb. This day

was the 31st of October; the vacation of the Palais was just over. The 2nd of November was the day on which

the courts reopened, and as Madame Lambert left his room he received a summons to appear on that day

To Madame Lambert, who pressed him sharply to repay her, under pretence that she was about to leave

Monsieur Picot and return to her native place, he replied: "Come here the day after tomorrow, at the same

To the summons to give account of his actions to his peers he replied that he did not recognize the right of the

Council to question him on the facts of his private life. That was an answer of one sort, certainly. Inevitably it

would result in his being stricken from the roll of the barristers of the Royal courts; but, at least, it had an air

Finally, he wrote a letter to Thuillier, in which he said that his visit to du Portail had resulted in his being

obliged to accept another marriage. He therefore returned to Thuillier his promise, and took back his own. All

this was curtly said, without the slightest expression of regret for the marriage he renounced. In a postscript

he added: "We shall be obliged to discuss my position on the newspaper," indicating that it might enter

He was careful to make a copy of this letter, and an hour later, when, in Corentin's study, he was questioned

as to the result of his night's reflections, he gave that great general, for all answer, the matrimonial resignation

"That will do," said Corentin. "But as for your position on the newspaper, you may perhaps have to keep it

for a time. The candidacy of that fool interferes with the plans of the government, and we must manage in

some way to trip up the heels of the municipal councillor. In your position as editorinchief you may find a

"No, indeed!" said la Peyrade, "the thought of the humiliations to which I have been so long subjected will

"Take care!" said Corentin; "you are young, and you must watch against those revengeful emotions. In our

austere profession we love nothing and we hate nothing. Men are to us mere pawns of wood or ivory,

according to their qualitywith which we play our game. We are like the blade that cuts what is given it to

cut, but, careful only to be delicately sharpened, wishes neither harm nor good to any one. Now let us speak

La Peyrade was not obliged to pretend to eagerness, that which he felt was genuine.

"Lydie de la Peyrade," said Corentin, "is nearly thirty, but her innocence, joined to a gentle form of insanity,

has kept her apart from all those passions, ideas, and impressions which use up life, and has, if I may say so,

embalmed her in a sort of eternal youth. You would not think her more than twenty. She is fair and slender;

her face, which is very delicate, is especially remarkable for an expression of angelic sweetness. Deprived of

her full reason by a terrible catastrophe, her monomania has something touching about it. She always carries

in her arms or keeps beside her a bundle of linen which she nurses and cares for as though it were a sick

child; and, excepting Bruneau and myself, whom she recognizes, she thinks all other men are doctors, whom

she consults about the child, and to whom she listens as oracles. A crisis which lately happened in her malady

has convinced Horace Bianchon, that prince of science, that if the reality could be substituted for this long

delusion of motherhood, her reason would assert itself. It is surely a worthy task to bring back light to a soul

in which it is scarcely veiled; and the existing bond of relationship has seemed to me to point you out as

specially designated to effect this cure, the success of which Bianchon and two other eminent doctors who

have consulted with him declare to be beyond a doubt. Now, I will take you to Lydie's presence; remember to

play the part of doctor; for the only thing that makes her lose her customary serenity is not to enter into her

After crossing several rooms Corentin was on the point of taking la Peyrade into that usually occupied by

Lydie when employed in cradling or dandling her imaginary child, when suddenly they were stopped by the

sound of two or three chords struck by the hand of a master on a piano of the finest sonority.

"That is Lydie," replied Corentin, with what might be called an expression of paternal pride; "she is an

admirable musician, and though she no longer writes down, as in the days when her mind was clear, her

delightful melodies, she often improvises them in a way that moves me to the soulthe soul of Corentin!"

added the old man, smiling. "Is not that the finest praise I can bestow upon her? But suppose we sit down

here and listen to her. If we go in, the concert will cease and the medical consultation begin."

La Peyrade was amazed as he listened to an improvisation in which the rare union of inspiration and science

opened to his impressionable nature a source of emotions as deep as they were unexpected. Corentin watched

the surprise which from moment to moment the Provencal expressed by admiring exclamations.

To a very quick "scherzo" the performer now added the first notes of an "adagio."

After a few opening bars in "arpeggio" a vibrant voice resounded, the tones of which appeared to stir the

"How the music moves you!" said Corentin; "you were undoubtedly made for each other."

"I don't knowI think not," answered la Peyrade, in a stammering voice; "in any case, it was long agoBut

Sitting with her back to the door, and prevented by the sound of the piano from hearing what happened

La Peyrade advanced a step, and no sooner had he caught a glimpse of the girl's profile than he threw up his

Hearing his cry, Lydie turned round, and fixing her attention on Corentin, she said:

"How naughty and troublesome you are to come and disturb me; you know very well I don't like to be

listened to. Ah! but" she added, catching sight of la Peyrade's black coat, "you have brought the doctor;

that is very kind of you; I was just going to ask you to send for him. The baby has done nothing but cry since

And she ran to fetch what she called her child from a corner of the room, where with two chairs laid on their

As she went towards la Peyrade, carrying her precious bundle with one hand, with the other she was

arranging the imaginary cap of her "little darling," having no eyes except for the sad creation of her

disordered brain. Step by step, as she advanced, la Peyrade, pale, trembling, and with staring eyes, retreated

backwards, until he struck against a seat, into which, losing his equilibrium, he fell.

A man of Corentin's power and experience, and who, moreover, knew to its slightest detail the horrible drama

in which Lydie had lost her reason, had already, of course, taken in the situation, but it suited his purpose and

"Look, doctor," said Lydie, unfastening the bundle, and putting the pins in her mouth as she did so, "don't you

La Peyrade could not answer; he kept his handkerchief over his face, and his breath came so fast from his

Then, with one of those gestures of feverish impatience, to which her mental state predisposed her, she

"But look at her doctor, look!" taking his arm violently and forcing him to show his features. "My God!" she

Letting fall the linen bundle in her arms, she threw herself hastily backwards, and her eyes grew haggard.

Passing her white hands rapidly over her forehead and through her hair, tossing it into disorder, she seemed to

be making an effort to obtain from her memory some dormant recollection. Then, like a frightened mare,

which comes to smell an object that has given it a momentary terror, she approached la Peyrade slowly,

stooping to look into his face, which he kept lowered, while, in the midst of a silence inexpressible, she

examined him steadily for several seconds. Suddenly a terrible cry escaped her breast; she ran for refuge into

the arms of Corentin, and pressing herself against him with all her force, she exclaimed:

And, with her finger pointed at la Peyrade, she seemed to nail the miserable object of her terror to his place.

After this explosion, she muttered a few disconnected words, and her eyes closed; Corentin felt the relaxing

of all the muscles by which she had held him as in a vice the moment before, and he took her in his arms and

"Do not stay here, monsieur," said Corentin. "Go into my study; I will come to you presently."

A few minutes later, after giving Lydie into the care of Katte and Bruneau, and despatching Perrache for

"You see now, monsieur," he said with solemnity, "that in pursuing with a sort of passion the idea of this

"Useless," said Corentin; "you can tell me nothing that I do not know; I, on the contrary, have much to tell

you. Old Peyrade, your uncle, in the hope of earning a POT for this daughter whom he idolized, entered into

a dangerous private enterprise, the nature of which I need not explain. In it he made enemies; enemies who

stopped at nothing, murder, poison, rape. To paralyze your uncle's action by attacking him in his dearest

spot, Lydie was, not abducted, but enticed from her home and taken to a house apparently respectable, where

for ten days she was kept concealed. She was not much alarmed by this detention, being told that it was done

at her father's wish, and she spent her time with her musicyou remember, monsieur, how she sang?"

"I told you yesterday that you might perhaps have more upon your conscience than the Thuillier house. But

you were young; you had just come from your province, with that brutality, that frenzy of Southern blood in

your veins which flings itself upon such an occasion. Besides, your relationship became known to those who

were preparing the ruin of this new Clarissa Harlowe, and I am willing to believe than an abler and better

man than you might not have escaped the entanglement into which you fell. Happily, Providence has granted

that there is nothing absolutely irreparable in this horrible history. The same poison, according to the use that

"But, monsieur," said la Peyrade, "shall I not always be to her an object of horror?"

"Very calm," replied Katte. "Just now, when we put her to bed,though she did not want to go, saying she

felt well,I took her the bundle of linen, but she told me to take it away, and asked what I meant her to do

"You see," said Corentin, grasping the Provencal's hand, "you are the lance of Achilles."

Left alone, Theodose was a prey to thoughts which may perhaps be imagined. After a while the door opened,

and Bruneau, the old valet, ushered in Cerizet. Seeing la Peyrade, the latter exclaimed:

"Ha! ha! I knew it! I knew you would end by seeing du Portail. And the marriage,how does that come on?"

"Something that concerns you; or rather, something that we must do together. Du Portail, who is too busy to

attend to business just now, has sent me in here to see you, and consult as to the best means of putting a

spoke in Thuillier's election; it seems that the government is determined to prevent his winning it. Have you

"No," replied la Peyrade; "and I don't feel in the mood just now to be imaginative."

"Well, here's the situation," said Cerizet. "The government has another candidate, which it doesn't yet

produce, because the ministerial negotiations with him have been rather difficult. During this time Thuillier's

chances have been making headway. Minard, on whom they counted to create a diversion, sits, the stupid

fool, in his corner; the seizure of that pamphlet has given your blockhead of a protege a certain perfume of

popularity. In short, the ministry are afraid he'll be elected, and nothing could be more disagreeable to them.

Pompous imbeciles, like Thuillier, are horribly embarrassing in the Opposition; they are pitchers without

"Monsieur Cerizet," said la Peyrade, beginning to assume a protecting tone, and wishing to discover his late

associate's place in Corentin's confidence, "you seem to know a good deal about the secret intentions of the

"Ah ca!" said la Peyrade, lowering his voice, "who IS du Portail? You seem to have known him for some

time. A man of your force ought to have discovered the real character of a man who seems to me to be rather

"My friend," replied Cerizet, "du Portail is a pretty strong man. He's an old slyboots, who has had some post,

I fancy, in the administration of the national domain, or something of that kind, under government; in which,

I think, he must have been employed in the departments suppressed under the Empire."

"That's where I think he made his money," continued Cerizet; "and being a shrewd old fellow, and having a

natural daughter to marry, he has concocted this philanthropic tale of her being the daughter of an old friend

named Peyrade; and your name being the same may have given him the idea of fastening upon youfor,

"Yes, that's all very well; but his close relations with the government, and the interest he takes in elections,

"Naturally enough," replied Cerizet. "Du Portail is a man who loves money, and likes to handle it; he has

done Rastignac, that great manipulator of elections, who is, I think, his compatriot, several signal services as

an amateur; Rastignac, in return, gives him information, obtained through Nucingen, which enables him to

"What do you take me for?" returned Cerizet. "With that worthy old fellow, from whom I have already

wormed a promise of thirty thousand francs, I play the ninny; I flatten myself to nothing. But I've made

Bruneau talk, that old valet of his. You can safely ally yourself to his family, my dear fellow; du Portail is

powerfully rich; he'll get you made subprefect somewhere; and thence to a prefecture and a fortune is but

"Thanks for the information," said la Peyrade; "at least, I shall know on which foot to hop. But you yourself,

"Oh! that's quite a history; by my help he was able to get back a lot of diamonds which had been stolen from

"All is well," he said to la Peyrade. "There are signs of returning reason. Bianchon, to whom I have told all,

wishes to confer with you; therefore, my dear Monsieur Cerizet, we will postpone until this evening, if you

"Well, so here you have him, at last!" said Cerizet, slapping la Peyrade's shoulder.

The day after that evening, when Corentin, la Peyrade, and Cerizet were to have had their consultation in

reference to the attack on Thuillier's candidacy, the latter was discussing with his sister Brigitte the letter in

which Theodose declined the hand of Celeste, and his mind seemed particularly to dwell on the postscript

where it was intimated that la Peyrade might not continue the editor of the "Echo de la Bievre." At this

moment Henri, the "male domestic," entered the room to ask if his master would receive Monsieur Cerizet.

Thuillier's first impulse was to deny himself to that unwelcome visitor. Then, thinking better of it, he

reflected that if la Peyrade suddenly left him in the lurch, Cerizet might possibly prove a precious resource.

Consequently, he ordered Henri to show him in. His manner, however, was extremely cold, and in some sort

expectant. As for Cerizet, he presented himself without the slightest embarrassment and with the air of a man

"Well, my dear monsieur," he began, "I suppose by this time you have been posted as to the Sieur la

"Well, the man," replied Cerizet, "who, after intriguing to marry your goddaughter, breaks off the marriage

abruptlyas he will, before long, break that lion'sshare contract he made you sign about his

editorshipcan't be, I should suppose, the object of the same blind confidence you formerly reposed in him."

"Ah!" said Thuillier, hastily, "then do you know anything about la Peyrade's intention of leaving the

"No," said the other; "on the terms I now am with him, you can readily believe we don't see each other; still

less should I receive his confidences. But I draw the induction from the wellknown character of the person,

and you may be sure that when he finds it for his interest to leave you, he'll throw you away like an old

"Then you must have had some difficulties with him before you joined my paper?" said Thuillier,

"Parbleu!" replied Cerizet; "the affair of this house which he helped you to buy was mine; I started that hare.

He was to put me in relation with you, and make me the principal tenant of the house. But the unfortunate

affair of that biddingin gave him a chance to knock me out of everything and get all the profits for himself."

"Profits!" exclaimed Thuillier. "I don't see that he got anything out of that transaction, except the marriage

"But," interrupted Cerizet, "there's the ten thousand francs he got out of you on pretence of the cross which

you never received, and the twentyfive thousand he owes to Madame Lambert, for which you went security,

"What's this I hear?" cried Brigitte, up in arms; "twentyfive thousand francs for which you have given

"Yes, mademoiselle," interposed Cerizet; "behind that sum which this woman had lent him there was a

mystery, and if I had not laid my hand on the true explanation, there would certainly have been a very dirty

ending to it. La Peyrade was clever enough not only to whitewash himself in Monsieur Thuillier's eyes, but to

"But," said Thuillier, "how do you know that I did give security for that debt, if you have not seen him since

"I know it from the woman herself, who tells the whole story now she is certain of being paid."

"Mademoiselle," said Cerizet, "I only meant to warn Monsieur Thuillier a little. I think myself that you are

sure to be paid. Without knowing the exact particulars of this new marriage, I am certain the family would

never allow him to owe you to such mortifying debts; if necessary, I should be very glad to intervene."

"Monsieur," said Thuillier, stiffly, "thanking you for your officious intervention, permit me to say that it

surprises me a little, for the manner in which we parted would not have allowed me to hope it."

"Ah ca!" said Cerizet; "you don't think I was angry with you for that, do you? I pitied you, that was all. I saw

you under the spell, and I said to myself: 'Leave him to learn la Peyrade by experience.' I knew very well that

the day of justice would dawn for me, and before long, too. La Peyrade is a man who doesn't make you wait

"Allow me to say," remarked Thuillier, "that I do not consider the rupture of the marriage we had proposed a

questionable proceeding. The matter was arranged, I may say, by mutual consent."

"And the trick he is going to play you by leaving the paper in the lurch, and the debt he has saddled you with,

"Monsieur Cerizet," continued Thuillier, still holding himself on the reserve, "as I have said more than once

to la Peyrade, no man is indispensable; and if the editorship of my paper becomes vacant, I feel confident that

"Is it for me you say that?" asked Cerizet. "Well, you haven't hit the nail; if you did me the honor to want my

services it would be impossible for me to grant them. I have long been disgusted with journalism. I let la

Peyrade, I hardly know why, persuade me to make this campaign with you; it didn't turn out happily, and I

have vowed to myself to have no more to do with newspapers. It was about another matter altogether than I

"Yes," continued Cerizet, "remembering the businesslike manner in which you managed the affair of this

house in which you do me the honor to receive me, I thought I could not do better than to call your attention

to a matter of the same kind which I have just now in hand. But I shall not do as la Peyrade did,make a

bargain for the hand of your goddaughter, and profess great friendship and devotion to you personally. This is

purely business, and I expect to make my profit out of it. Now, as I still desire to become the principal tenant

of this house,the letting of which must be a care and a disappointment to mademoiselle, for I saw as I came

along that the shops were still unrented,I think that this lease to me, if you will make it, might be reckoned

in to my share of the profits. You see, monsieur, that the object of my visit has nothing to do with the

"It relates to a farm in Beauce, which has just been sold for a song, and it is placed in my hands to resell, at an

advance, but a small one; you could really buy it, as the saying is, for a bit of bread."

And Cerizet went on to explain the whole mechanism of the affair, which we need not relate here, as no one

but Brigitte would take any interest in it. The statement was clear and precise, and it took close hold on the

old maid's mind. Even Thuillier himself, in spite of his inward distrust, was obliged to own that the affair had

This, the reader will remember, was her answer to la Peyrade when he first proposed the purchase of the

"Nothing is easier than that," said Cerizet. "I myself want to see it, and I have been intending to make a little

excursion there. If you like, I'll be at your door this afternoon with a postchaise, and tomorrow morning,

very early, we can examine the farm, breakfast at some inn near by, and be back in time for dinner."

"A postchaise!" said Brigitte, "that's very lordly; why not take the diligence?"

"Diligences are so uncertain," replied Cerizet; "you never know at what time they will get to a place. But you

need not think about the expense, for I should otherwise go alone, and I am only too happy to offer you two

To misers, small gains are often determining causes in great matters; after a little resistance "pro forma,"

Brigitte ended by accepting the proposal, and three hours later the trio were on the road to Chartres, Cerizet

having advised Thuillier not to let la Peyrade know of his absence, lest he might take some unfair advantage

The next day, by five o'clock, the party had returned, and the brother and sister, who kept their opinions to

themselves in presence of Cerizet, were both agreed that the purchase was a good one. They had found the

soil of the best quality, the buildings in perfect repair, the cattle looked sound and healthy; in short, this idea

of becoming the mistress of rural property seemed to Brigitte the final consecration of opulence.

"Minard," she remarked, "has only a townhouse and invested capital, whereas we shall have all that and a

Thuillier was not sufficiently under the charm of that dreamthe realization of which was, in any case, quite

distantto forget, even for a moment, the "Echo de la Bievre" and his candidacy. No sooner had he reached

"That's a fine distribution, when even the owner of the paper is not served!" cried Thuillier, discontentedly.

Although it was nearly dinnertime, and after his journey he would much rather have taken a bath than rush

to the rue SaintDominique, Thuillier ordered a cab and drove at once to the office of the "Echo."

There a fresh disappointment met him. The paper "was made," as they say, and all the employees had

departed, even la Peyrade. As for Coffinet, who was not to be found at his post of officeboy, nor yet at his

other post of porter, he had gone "of an errand," his wife said, taking the key of the closet in which the

remaining copies of the paper were locked up. Impossible, therefore, to procure the number which the

To describe Thuillier's indignation would be impossible. He marched up and down the room, talking aloud to

"I'll turn them all out!" he cried. And we are forced to omit the rest of the furious objurgation.

"Come in!" said Thuillier, in a tone that depicted his wrath and his frantic impatience.

"My good, my excellent friend!" cried the mayor of the eleventh arrondissement, concluding his embrace

"Why! what is it?" said Thuillier, unable to comprehend the warmth of this demonstration.

"Ah! my dear friend," continued Minard, "such an admirable proceeding! really chivalrous! most

disinterested! The effect, I assure you, is quite stupendous in the arrondissement."

"But what article? what action?" said the proprietor of the "Echo," getting quite beside himself.

"Ah ca! did you write it when you were asleep; or, like Monsieur Jourdain doing prose, do you do heroism

"I! I haven't written any article!" cried Thuillier. "I have been away from Paris for a day, and I don't even

know what is in this morning's paper; and the officeboy is not here to give me a copy."

"I have one," said Minard, pulling the much desired paper from his pocket. "If the article is not years you

Thuillier hurriedly unfolded the sheet Minard had given him, and devoured rather than read the following

Long enough has the proprietor of this regenerated journal submitted without complaint and without reply to

the cowardly insinuations with which a venal press insults all citizens who, strong in their convictions, refuse

to pass beneath the Caudine Forks of power. Long enough has a man, who has already given proofs of

devotion and abnegation in the important functions of the aedility of Paris, allowed these sheets to call him

ambitious and selfseeking. Monsieur Jerome Thuillier, strong in his dignity, has suffered such coarse attacks

to pass him with contempt. Encouraged by this disdainful silence, the stipendiaries of the press have dared to

write that this journal, a work of conviction and of the most disinterested patriotism, was but the

steppingstone of a man, the speculation of a seeker for election. Monsieur Jerome Thuillier has held himself

impassible before these shameful imputations because justice and truth are patient, and he bided his time to

"That deuce of a Peyrade!" said Thuillier, stopping short; "how he does touch it off!"

Every one, friends and enemies alike, can bear witness that Monsieur Jerome Thuillier has done nothing to

But, since his sentiments are so odiously misrepresented, and his intentions so falsely travestied, Monsieur

Jerome Thuillier owes it to himself, and above all to the great national party of which he is the humblest

"It is fine, the way la Peyrade poses me!" said Thuillier, pausing once more in his reading. "I see now why he

didn't send me the paper; he wanted to enjoy my surprise'confound the vile sycophants of power!' how fine

Monsieur Thuillier was so far from founding this journal of dynastic opposition to support and promote his

election that, at the very moment when the prospects of that election seem most favorable to himself and most

disastrous to his rivals, he here declares publicly, and in the most formal, absolute, and irrevocable manner

"What?" cried Thuillier, thinking he had read wrong, or had misunderstood what he read.

Then, as Thuillier, with a bewildered air, seemed not disposed to continue his reading, Minard took the paper

from his hands and read the rest of the article himself, beginning where the other had left off:

Renounces his candidacy; and he strongly urges the electors to transfer to Monsieur Minard, mayor of the

eleventh arrondissement and his friend and colleague in his municipal functions, all the votes with which they

"But this is infamous!" cried Thuillier, recovering his speech; "you have bought that Jesuit la Peyrade."

"So," said Minard, stupefied by Thuillier's attitude, "the article was not agreed upon between you?"

"The wretch has profited by my absence to slip it into the paper; I understand now why he prevented a copy

"My dear friend," said Minard, "what you tell me will seem incredible to the public."

"I tell you it is treachery; it is an abominable trap. Renounce my candidacy!why should I?"

"You understand, my dear friend," said Minard, "that I am truly sorry if your confidence has been abused, but

I have just issued my circular manifesto; the die is cast, and luck to the lucky now."

"Monsieur Thuillier," said Minard, in a threatening voice, "I advise you not to repeat those words, unless you

Happily for Thuillier, who, we may remember, had made his profession of faith as to civic courage some time

before, he was relieved from answering by Coffinet, who now opened the door of the editorial sanctum, and

The arrondissement was represented on this occasion by five persons. An apothecary, chairman of the

"We have come, monsieur, after taking cognizance of an article inserted this morning in the 'Echo de la

Bievre,' to inquire of you what may be precisely the origin and bearing of that article; thinking it incredible

that, having solicited our suffrages, you should, on the eve of this election, and from a most mistaken

puritanism, have cast disorder and disunion into our ranks, and probably have caused the triumph of the

ministerial candidate. A candidate does not belong to himself; he belongs to the electors who have promised

to honor him with their votes. But," continued the orator, casting his eye at Minard, "the presence in these

precincts of the candidate whom you have gone out of your way to recommend to us, indicates that between

you and him there is connivance; and I have no need to ask who is being here deceived."

"No, messieurs, no," said Thuillier; "I have not renounced my candidacy. That article was written and printed

without my knowledge or consent. Tomorrow you will see the denial of it in the same paper, and you will

also learn that the infamous person who has betrayed my confidence is no longer the editor of this journal."

"Then," said the orator of the deputation, "in spite of your declaration to the contrary, you do continue to be

"Yes, messieurs, until death; and I beg you to use your utmost influence in the quarter to neutralize the effect

of this deliberate falsehood until I am able to officially present the most formal disavowal."

"And, as for the presence of Monsieur Minard, my competitor, in these precincts, I have not invited it; and at

the moment when you entered this room, I was engaged in a very sharp and decided explanation with him."

Then, after cordially shaking the hand of the apothecary, Thuillier conducted the deputation to the outer door

"My dear Minard, I withdraw the words which wounded you; but you can see now what justification I had for

The arrondissement was represented this time by seven persons. A linendraper, chairman of the delegation,

"Monsieur, it is with sincere admiration that we have learned this morning from the columns of your paper,

the great civic act by which you have touched all hearts. You have shown, in thus retiring, a most unusual

"Excuse me," said Thuillier, interrupting him, "I cannot allow you to continue; the article about which you

"What!" said the linendraper; "then do you not retire? Can you suppose that in opposition to the candidacy

of Monsieur Minard (whose presence in these precincts seems to me rather singular) you have the slightest

"Monsieur," said Thuillier, "have the goodness to request the electors of your arrondissement to await the

issue of tomorrow's paper, in which I shall furnish categorical explanations of the most distinct character.

"It will be a sad pity, monsieur," said the linendraper, "if you lose this occasion to place yourself in the eyes

of your fellowcitizens beside the Washingtons and other great men of antiquity."

"I say again, TOMORROW, messieurs," said Thuillier. "I am none the less sensible to the honor you do me,

and I trust that when you know the whole truth, I shall not suffer in your esteem."

"Messieurs, messieurs!" cried the chairman, putting a stop to the outbreak; "tomorrowwe will wait until

It is not likely that Thuillier would have accompanied them beyond the door of the sanctum, but in any case

"I have just come from your house, my dear fellow," said the Provencal; "they told me I should find you

"You have come, doubtless, for the purpose of explaining to me the strange article you allowed yourself to

"Precisely," said la Peyrade. "The remarkable man whom you know, and whose powerful influence you have

already felt, confided to me yesterday, in your interests, the plans of the government, and I saw at once that

your defeat was inevitable. I wished therefore to secure to you an honorable and dignified retreat. There was

"Very good, monsieur," said Thuillier; "but you will take notice that from the present moment you are no

"Messieurs," said Minard, "I see that this is a business interview; I shall therefore take leave of you."

"Here are ten thousand francs," he said, "which I will beg you to remit to Mademoiselle Brigitte; and here,

also, is the bond by which you secured the payment of twentyfive thousand francs to Madame Lambert; that

The blow struck at Thuillier's candidacy was mortal, but Minard did not profit by it. While the pair were

contending for votes, a government man, an aidedecamp to the king, arrived with his hands full of tobacco

licenses and other electoral small change, and, like the third thief, he slipped between the two who were

It is needless to say that Brigitte did not get her farm in Beauce. That was only a mirage, by help of which

Thuillier was enticed out of Paris long enough for la Peyrade to deal his blow,a service rendered to the

government on the one hand, but also a precious vengeance for the many humiliations he had undergone.

Thuillier had certainly some suspicions as to the complicity of Cerizet, but that worthy managed to justify

himself; and by manoeuvring the sale of the "Echo de la Bievre," now become a nightmare to the luckless

The paper was secretly bought up by Corentin, and the late opposition sheet became a "canard" sold on

About two months after the scene in which la Peyrade had been convinced that through a crime of his past

life his future was irrevocably settled, he (being now married to his victim, who was beginning to have lucid

intervals, though the full return of her reason would not take place until the occasion indicated by the doctors)

was sitting one morning with the head of the police in the latter's office. Taking part in the work of the

department, the young man was serving an apprenticeship under that great master in the difficult and delicate

functions to which he was henceforth riveted. But Corentin found that his pupil did not bring to this initiation

all the ardor and amiability that he desired. It was plain that in la Peyrade's soul there was a sense of

forfeiture and degradation; time would get the better of that impression, but the callus was not yet formed.

Opening a number of sealed envelopes enclosing the reports of his various agents, Corentin glanced over

these documents, seldom as useful as the public suppose, casting them one after another contemptuously into

a basket, whence they issued in a mass for a burning. But to one of them the great man evidently gave some

particular attention; as he read it a smile flickered on his lips, and when he had finished, instead of adding it

"Here," he said, "here's something that concerns you; it shows that in our profession, which just now seems to

you unpleasantly serious, we do occasionally meet with comedies. Read it aloud; it will cheer me up."

"I ought to tell you that the report is from a man called Henri, whom Madame Komorn introduced as

"So!" said la Peyrade, "servants placed in families! is that one of your methods?"

"Sometimes," replied Corentin; "in order to know all, we must use all means. But a great many lies are told

about us on that subject. It is not true that the police, making a system of it, has, at certain periods, by a

general enrolment of lacqueys and lady'smaids, established a vast network in private families. Nothing is

fixed and absolute in our manner of proceeding; we act in accordance with the time and circumstances. I

wanted an ear and an influence in the Thuillier household; accordingly, I let loose the Godollo upon it, and

she, in turn, partly to assist herself, installed there one of our men, an intelligent fellow, as you will see for

yourself. But for all that, if, at another time, a servant came and offered to sell me the secrets of his master, I

should have him arrested, and let a warning reach the ears of the family to distrust the other servants. Now go

I did not stay long with the little baron; he is a man wholly occupied in frivolous pleasures; and there was

nothing to be gathered there that was worthy of a report to you. I have found another place, where I have

already witnessed several thing which fit into the mission that Madame de Godollo gave me, and therefore,

thinking them likely to interest you, I hasten to bring them to your knowledge. The household in which I am

now employed is that of an old savant, named Monsieur Picot, who lives on a first floor, Place de la

Madeleine, in the house and apartment formerly occupied by my late masters, the Thuilliers

"What!" cried la Peyrade, interrupting his reading, "Pere Picot, that ruined old lunatic, occupying such an

"Go on, go on!" said Corentin; "life is full of many strange things. You'll find the explanation farther along;

for our correspondentit is the defect of those fellows to waste themselves on detailsis only too fond of

The Thuilliers left this apartment some weeks ago to return to their Latin quarter. Mademoiselle Brigitte

never really liked our sphere; her total want of education made her ill at ease. Just because I speak correctly,

she was always calling me 'the orator,' and she could not endure Monsieur Pascal, her porter, because, being

beadle in the church of the Madeleine, he had manners; she even found something to say against the dealers

in the great market behind the church, where, of course, she bought her provisions; she complained that they

gave themselves CAPABLE airs, merely because they are not so coarsetongued as those of the Halle, and

only laughed at her when she tried to beat them down. She has leased the whole house to a certain Monsieur

Cerizet (a very ugly man, with a nose all eaten away) for an annual rent of fiftyfive thousand francs. This

tenant seems to know what he is about. He has lately married an actress at one of the minor theatres,

Mademoiselle Olympe Cardinal, and he was just about to occupy himself the firstfloor apartment, where he

proposed to establish his present business, namely, insurance for the "dots" of children, when Monsieur Picot,

arriving from England with his wife, a very rich Englishwoman, saw the apartment and offered such a good

price that Monsieur Cerizet felt constrained to take it. That was the time when, by the help of M. Pascal, the

porter, with whom I have been careful to maintain good relations, I entered the household of Monsieur Picot.

"Monsieur Picot married to a rich Englishwoman!" exclaimed la Peyrade, interrupting himself again; "but it

is quite a history; and I speak of it to Monsieur le directeur because another person in whom Madame de

Godollo was interested has his marriage closely mixed up in it. That other person is Monsieur Felix Phellion,

the inventor of a star, who, in despair at not being able to marry that demoiselle whom they wanted to give to

"Scoundrel!" said the Provencal, in a parenthesis. "Is that how he speaks of me? He doesn't know who I am."

who, in despair at not being able to marry that demoiselle . . . went to England in order to embark for a

journey round the world a lover's notion! Learning of this departure, Monsieur Picot, his former professor,

who took great interest in his pupil, went after him to prevent that nonsense, which turned out not to be

difficult. The English are naturally very jealous of discoveries, and when they saw Monsieur Phellion coming

to embark at the heels of their own savants they asked him for his permit from the Admiralty; which, not

having been provided, he could not produce; so then they laughed in his face and would not let him embark at

"He is a fine hand at the 'entente cordiale,' your Monsieur Henri," said la Peyrade, gaily.

"Yes," replied Corentin; "you will be struck, in the reports of nearly all our agents, with this general and

perpetual inclination to calumniate. But what's to be done? For the trade of spies we can't have angels."

Telemachus and his mentor thought best to return to France, and were about to do so when Monsieur Picot

received a letter such as none but an Englishwoman could write. It told him that the writer had read his

"Theory of Perpetual Motion," and had also heard of his magnificent discovery of a star; that she regarded

him as a genius only second to Newton, and that if the hand of her who addressed him, joined to eighty

thousand pounds sterlingthat is, two millionsof "dot," was agreeable to him it was at his disposal. The

first thought of the good man was to make his pupil marry her, but finding that impossible, he told her, before

accepting on his own account, that he was old and threequarters blind, and had never discovered a star, and

did not own a penny. The Englishwoman replied that Milton was not young either, and was altogether blind;

that Monsieur Picot seemed to her to have nothing worse than a cataract, for she knew all about it, being the

daughter of a great oculist, and she would have him operated upon; that as for the star, she did not care so

very much about that; it was the author of the "Theory of Perpetual Motion" who was the man of her dreams,

and to whom she again offered her hand with eighty thousand pounds sterling (two millions) of "dot."

Monsieur Picot replied that if his sight were restored and she would consent to live in Paris, for he hated

England, he would let himself be married. The operation was performed and was successful, and, at the end

of three weeks the newly married pair arrived in the capital. These details I obtained from the lady's maid,

The above is therefore hearsay, but what remains to be told to Monsieur le directeur are facts of which I can

speak "de visu," and to which I am, consequently, in a position to certify. As soon as Monsieur and Madame

Picot had installed themselves, which was done in the most sumptuous and comfortable manner, my master

gave me a number of invitations to dinner to carry to the Thuillier family, the Colleville family, the Minard

family, the Abbe Gondrin, vicar of the Madeleine, and nearly all the guests who were present at another

dinner a few months earlier, when he had an encounter with Mademoiselle Thuillier, and behaved, I must say,

in a rather singular manner. All the persons who received these invitations were so astonished to learn that the

old man Picot had married a rich wife and was living in the Thuilliers' old apartment that most of them came

to inquire of Monsieur Pascal, the porter, to see if they were hoaxed. The information they obtained being

honest and honorable, the whole society arrived punctually on time; but Monsieur Picot did not appear. The

guests were received by Madame Picot, who does not speak French and could only say, "My husband is

coming soon"; after which, not being able to make further conversation, the company were dull and ill at

ease. At last Monsieur Picot arrived, and all present were stupefied on seeing, instead of an old blind man,

shabbily dressed, a handsome young elderly man, bearing his years jauntily, like Monsieur Ferville of the

"I beg your pardon, mesdames, for not being here at the moment of your arrival; but I was at the Academy of

Sciences, awaiting the result of an election,that of Monsieur Felix Phellion, who has been elected

This news seemed to have a great effect upon the company. So then Monsieur Picot resumed:

"I must also, mesdames, ask your pardon for the rather improper manner in which I behaved a short time ago

in the house where we are now assembled. My excuse must be my late infirmity, the annoyances of a family

lawsuit, and of an old housekeeper who robbed me and tormented me in a thousand ways, from whom I am

happily delivered. Today you see me another man, rejuvenated and rich with the blessings bestowed upon

me by the amiable woman who has given me her hand; and I should be in the happiest frame of mind to

receive you if the recollection of my young friend, whose eminence as a man of science has just been

consecrated by the Academy, did not cast upon my mind a veil of sadness. All here present," continued

Monsieur Picot, raising his voice, which is rather loud, "are guilty towards him: I, for ingratitude when he

gave me the glory of his discovery and the reward of his immortal labors; that young lady, whom I see over

there with tears in her eyes, for having foolishly accused him of atheism; that other lady, with the stern face,

for having harshly replied to the proposals of his noble father, whose white hairs she ought rather to have

honored; Monsieur Thuillier, for having sacrificed him to ambition; Monsieur Colleville, for not performing

his part of father and choosing for his daughter the worthiest and most honorable man; Monsieur Minard, for

having tried to foist his son into his place. There are but two persons in the room at this moment who have

done him full justice,Madame Thuillier and Monsieur l'Abbe Gondrin. Well, I shall now ask that man of

God whether we can help doubting the divine justice when this generous young man, the victim of all of us,

is, at the present hour, at the mercy of waves and tempests, to which for three long years he is consigned."

"Providence is very powerful, monsieur," replied the Abbe Gondrin. "God will protect Monsieur Felix

Phellion wherever he may be, and I have the firmest hope that three years hence he will be among his friends

"But three years!" said Monsieur Picot. "Will it still be time? Will Mademoiselle Colleville have waited for

"Yes, I swear it!" cried the young girl, carried away by an impulse she could not control.

"And you, Mademoiselle Thuillier, and you, Madame Colleville, will you permit this young lady to reserve

"Yes! Yes!" cried everybody; for Monsieur Picot's voice, which is very full and sonorous, seemed to have

And rushing suddenly to the door, where my ear was glued to the keyhole, he very nearly caught me.

"Announce," he said to me, in a very loud tone of voice, "Monsieur Felix Phellion and his family."

And thereupon the door of a side room opened, and five or six persons came out, who were led by Monsieur

At the sight of her LOVER, Mademoiselle Colleville was taken ill, but the faint lasted only a minute; seeing

Monsieur Felix at her feet she threw herself into Madame Thuillier's arms, crying out:

Mademoiselle Thuillier, who, in spite of her harsh nature and want of education, I have always myself

thought a remarkable woman, now had a fine impulse. As the company were about to go into the

"Monsieur and old friend! I ask you for the hand of Monsieur Felix Phellion for our adopted daughter,

"My God!" said Monsieur Phellion, with tears in his eyes; "what have I done to deserve such happiness?"

"You have been an honest man and a Christian without knowing it," replied the Abbe Gondrin.

"You did not finish it," said Corentin, taking back the paper. "However, there's not much more. Monsieur

Henri confesses to me that the scene had MOVED HIM; he also says that, knowing the interest I had

formerly taken in the marriage, he thought he ought to inform me of its conclusion; ending with a slightly

veiled suggestion of a fee. No, stay," resumed Corentin, "here is a detail of some importance:"

The English woman seems to have made it known during dinner that, having no heirs, her fortune, after the

lives of herself and her husband, will go to Felix. That will make him powerfully rich one of these days.

"That is not true," said the great detective. "I think you envy the happiness of that young man. My dear

fellow, permit me to tell you that if such a conclusion were to your taste, you should have acted as he has

done. When I sent you two thousand francs on which to study law, I did not intend you to succeed me; I

expected you to row your galley laboriously, to have the needful courage for obscure and painful toil; your

"I mean hasten it, reap it before it ripened. You flung yourself into journalism; then into business,

questionable business; you made acquaintance with Messieurs Dutocq and Cerizet. Frankly, I think you

fortunate to have entered the port which harbors you today. In any case, you are not sufficiently simple of

heart to have really valued the joys reserved for Felix Phellion. These bourgeois"

"These bourgeois," said la Peyrade, quickly,"I know them now. They have great absurdities, great vices

even, but they have virtues, or, at the least, estimable qualities; in them lies the vital force of our corrupt

"YOUR society!" said Corentin, smiling; "you speak as if you were still in the ranks. You have another

sphere, my dear fellow; and you must learn to be more content with your lot. Governments pass, societies

Note.This volume ("Les Petits Bourgeois") was not published until 1854, more than three years after

Balzac's death; although he says of it in March, 1844: "I must tell you that my work entitled 'Les Petits

Bourgeois,' owing to difficulties of execution, requires still a month's labor, although the book is entirely

written." And again, in October, 1846, he says: "It is to such scruples" (care in perfecting his work) "that

delays which have injured several of my works are due; for instance, 'Les Paysans,' which has long been

nearly finished, and 'Les Petits Bourgeois,' which has been in type at the printing office for the last eighteen

Barbet A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Man of Business The Seamy Side of History The Middle

Beaumesnil, Mademoiselle The Middle Classes Scenes from a Courtesan's Life A Second Home

Bianchon, Horace Father Goriot The Atheist's Mass Cesar Birotteau The Commission in Lunacy Lost

Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Bachelor's Establishment The Secrets of a Princess The

Government Clerks Pierrette A Study of Woman Scenes from a Courtesan's Life Honorine The Seamy Side

of History The Magic Skin A Second Home A Prince of Bohemia Letters of Two Brides The Muse of the

Department The Imaginary Mistress The Middle Classes Cousin Betty The Country Parson In addition, M.

Bousquier, Du (or Du Croisier or Du Bourguier) Jealousies of a Country Town The Middle Classes

Bruel, Jean Francois du A Bachelor's Establishment The Government Clerks A Start in Life A Prince of

Bohemia The Middle Classes A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Daughter of Eve

Bruel, Claudine Chaffaroux, Madame du A Bachelor's Establishment A Prince of Bohemia A Distinguished

Cardot (Parisian notary) The Muse of the Department A Man of Business Jealousies of a Country Town

Cerizet Lost Illusions A Man of Business Scenes from a Courtesan's Life The Middle Classes

Claparon, Charles A Bachelor's Establishment Cesar Birotteau Melmoth Reconciled The Firm of Nucingen A

Cochin, EmileLouisLucienEmmanuel Cesar Birotteau The Government Clerks The Firm of Nucingen

Colleville, Flavie Minoret, Madame The Government Clerks Cousin Betty The Middle Classes

Corentin The Chouans The Gondreville Mystery Scenes from a Courtesan's Life The Middle Classes

Desroches (son) A Bachelor's Establishment Colonel Chabert A Start in Life A Woman of Thirty The

Commission in Lunacy The Government Clerks A Distinguished Provincial at Paris Scenes from a

Galathionne, Prince and Princess (both not in each story) The Secrets of a Princess The Middle Classes

Godeschal, FrancoisClaudeMarie Colonel Chabert A Bachelor's Establishment A Start in Life The

Grassou, Pierre Pierre Grassou A Bachelor's Establishment Cousin Betty The Middle Classes Cousin Pons

Grindot Cesar Birotteau Lost Illusions A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Start in Life Scenes from a

La Peyrade, CharlesMarieTheodose de Scenes from a Courtesan's Life The Middle Classes

La RocheHugon, Martial de Domestic Peace The Peasantry A Daughter of Eve The Member for Arcis The

Lousteau, Etienne A Distinguished Provincial at Paris A Bachelor's Establishment Scenes from a Courtesan's

Life A Daughter of Eve Beatrix The Muse of the Department Cousin Betty A Prince of Bohemia A Man of

Minard, AugusteJeanFrancois The Government Clerks The Firm of Nucingen The Middle Classes

Poiret, the elder The Government Clerks Father Goriot A Start in Life Scenes from a Courtesan's Life The

Poiret, Madame (nee ChristineMichelle Michonneau) Father Goriot Scenes from a Courtesan's Life The

Popinot, JeanJules Cesar Birotteau Honorine The Commission in Lunacy The Seamy Side of History The

Rabourdin, Xavier The Government Clerks At the Sign of the Cat and Racket Cesar Birotteau The Middle

Tillet, Ferdinand du Cesar Birotteau The Firm of Nucingen The Middle Classes A Bachelor's Establishment

Pierrette Melmoth Reconciled A Distinguished Provincial at Paris The Secrets of a Princess A Daughter of