LIBRARY 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 Mr - H. H. Kil iani
 
 H. DE BALZAC 
 
 THE COMEDIE HUMAINE
 
 HE WALKED ROUND HIS GARDEN, HE LOOKED AT THE 
 WEATHER
 
 H. DE BALZAC 
 THE 
 
 DEPUTY FOR ARCIS 
 
 PART I 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 CLARA BELL 
 
 WITH A PREFACE BY 
 
 GEORGE SAINTSBURY 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 THE GEBBIE PUBLISHING Co., Ltd. 
 1899
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PREFACE fo 
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS 
 
 I. THE ELECTION .... I 
 
 II. EDIFYING LETTERS ...... 114 
 
 III. THE COMTE DE SALLENAUVE 350
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 HE WALKED ROUND HIS GARDEN, HE LOOKED AT THE WEATHER 
 
 (p. 59) Frontispiece. 
 
 PAGE 
 THIS TIME HE WAS WOUNDED 126 
 
 BEAUVISAGE STANDING ON THE BRIDGE, HAPPENED TO RE- 
 MARK THE DAMSEL 237 
 
 LUCAS OPENED THE DOOR TO SHOW IN "MONSIEUR PHILIPPE" 328 
 
 " GOOD-EVENING, LADIES " 374 
 
 Dra"jun by J. Ayton Symington.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 "LE DEPUTE D'ARCIS," like the still less generally known 
 "Les Petits Bourgeois," stands on a rather different footing 
 from the rest of Balzac's work. Both were posthumous, and 
 both, having been left unfinished, were completed by the 
 author's friend, Charles Rabou. Rabou is not much known 
 nowadays as a man of letters ; he must not be confused with 
 the writer Hippolyte Babou, the friend of Baudelaire, the 
 reputed inventor of the title " Fleurs du Mai," and the 
 author of some very acute articles in the great collection of 
 Crepet's " Poetes Francais." But he figures pretty frequently 
 in association of one kind or another with Balzac, and would 
 appear to have been thoroughly imbued with the scheme and 
 spirit of the Comedie. At the same time, it does not appear 
 that even the indefatigable and most competent M. de Loven- 
 joul is perfectly certain where Balzac's labors end and those 
 of Rabou begin. 
 
 It would seem, however (and certainly internal evidence 
 has nothing to say on the other side), that the severance, or 
 rather the junction, must have taken place somewhere about 
 the point where, after the introduction of Maxime de Trailles, 
 the interest suddenly shifts altogether from the folk of Arcis 
 and the conduct of their election to the hitherto unknown 
 Comte de Sallenauve. It would, no doubt, be possible, and 
 even easy, to discover in Balzac's undoubted work for in- 
 stance, in "Le Cure de Village" and "Illusions Perdues " 
 instances of shiftings of interest nearly as abrupt and of 
 changes in the main centre of the story nearly as decided. 
 Nor is it possible, considering the weakness of constructive 
 finish which always marked Balzac, to rule out offhand the 
 substitution, after an unusually lively and business-like begin- 
 
 (ix)
 
 x PREFACE. 
 
 ning, of the nearly always frigid scheme of letters, topped up 
 with a conclusion in which, with very doubtful art, as many 
 personages of the Comedie, and even direct references to as 
 many of its books as possible, are dragged in. But it is as 
 nearly as possible certain that he would never have left things 
 in such a condition, and I do not even think that he would 
 ever have arranged them in quite the same state, even as an 
 experiment. 
 
 The book belongs to the Champenois or Arcis-sur-Aube 
 series, which is so brilliantly followed by "Une Tenebreuse 
 Affaire." It is curious and worth notice, as showing the con- 
 scientious fashion in which Balzac always set about his mature 
 work, that though his provincial stories are taken from parts 
 of France widely distant from one another, the selection is 
 by no means haphazard, and arranges itself with ease into 
 groups corresponding to certain haunts or sojourns of the 
 author. There is the Loire group, furnished by his youthful 
 remembrances of Tours and Saumur, and by later ones down 
 to the Breton coast. There is the group of which Alencon 
 and the Breton-Norman frontiers are the field, and the scenery 
 of which was furnished by early visits of which we know little, 
 but the fact of the existence of which is of the first impor- 
 tance, as having given birth to the " Chouans," and so to the 
 whole Comedie in a way. There is the Angoumois-Limousin 
 group, for which he informed himself during his frequent 
 visits to the Carraud family. And lastly, there is one of 
 rather wider extent, and not connected with so definite a 
 centre, but including the Morvan, Upper Burgundy, and 
 part of Champagne, which seems to have been commended 
 to him -by his stay at Sache and other places. This was his 
 latest set of studies, and to this "Le Depute d'Arcis" of 
 course belongs. To round off the subject, it is noteworthy 
 that no part of the coast except a little in the north, with the 
 remarkable exceptions of the scenes of "La Recherche de 
 1'Absolu " and one or two others ; nothing in the greater part
 
 PREFACE. ri 
 
 of Brittany and Normandy; nothing in Guienne, Gascony, 
 Languedoc, Provence, or Dauphine, seems to have attracted 
 him. Yet some of these scenes and with some of them he 
 had meddled in the Days of Ignorance are the most tempt- 
 ing of any in France to the romancer, and his abstention from 
 them is one of the clearest proofs of his resolve to speak only 
 of that he did know. 
 
 The certainly genuine part of the present book is, as cer- 
 tainly, not below anything save his very best work. It be- 
 longs, indeed, to the more minute and "meticulous" part of 
 that work, not to the bolder and more ambitious side. There 
 is no Goriot, no Eugenie Grandet, not even any Corentin or 
 Vautrin, hardly so much as a Rastignac about it. But the 
 good little people of Arcis-sur-Aube are represented " in their 
 natural," as Balzac's great compatriot would have said, with 
 extraordinary felicity and force. The electoral meeting in 
 Madame Marions' house is certainly one of the best things in 
 the whole Comedie for completeness within its own limits, 
 and none of the personages, official or other, can be said to 
 suffer from that touch of exaggeration which, to some tastes, 
 interferes with the more celebrated and perhaps more generally 
 attractive delineations of Parisian journalism in "Illusions 
 Perdues " and similar books. In fact, in what he wrote of 
 "Le Depute d'Arcis," Balzac seems to have had personal 
 knowledge to go upon, without any personal grievances to 
 revenge or any personal crazes to enforce. The latter, it is 
 true, often prompted his sublimest work ; but the former 
 frequently helped to produce his least successful. In "Le 
 Depute d'Arcis" he is at the happy mean. It is not neces- 
 sary to give an elaborate bibliography of it ; for, as has been 
 said, only the "Election" part is certainly Balzac's. This 
 appeared in a newspaper, "L'Union Monarchique," for April 
 and May 1847. 
 
 G. S.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE ELECTION. 
 
 BEFORE entering on a study of a country election, I need 
 hardly say that the town of Arcis-sur-Aube was not the scene 
 of the events to be related. The district of Arcis votes at 
 Bar-sur-Aube, which is fifteen leagues away from Arcis; so 
 there is no member for Arcis in the Chamber of Deputies. 
 The amenities demanded by the history of contemporary 
 manners require this precaution. It is perhaps an ingenious 
 notion to describe one town as the setting for a drama played 
 out in another ; indeed, the plan has been already adopted in 
 the course of this Human Comedy, in spite of the drawback 
 that it often makes the frame as elaborate as the picture. 
 
 Toward the end of April, 1839, at about ten in the morning, 
 a strange appearance was presented by Madame Marion's 
 drawing-room the lady was the widow of a revenue collector 
 in the department of the Aube. Nothing remained in it of 
 all the furniture but the window-curtains, the chimney hang- 
 ings and ornaments, the chandelier, and the tea-table. The 
 Aubusson carpet, taken up a fortnight sooner than was neces- 
 sary, encumbered the balcony steps, and the parquet had been 
 energetically rubbed without looking any the brighter. 
 
 This was a sort of domestic forecast of the coming elections, 
 for which preparations were being made over the whole face of 
 the country. Things are sometimes as humorous as men. This 
 is an argument in favor of the occult sciences. 
 
 An old manservant, attached to Colonel Giguet, Madame 
 
 (1)
 
 2 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Marion's brother, had just finished sweeping away the dust 
 that had lodged between the boards in the course of the 
 winter. The housemaid and cook, with a nimble zeal that 
 showed as much enthusiasm as devotion, were bringing down 
 all the chairs in the house and piling them in the garden. It 
 must be explained that the trees already displayed large 
 leaves, between which the sky smiled cloudless. Spring 
 breezes and May sunshine allowed of the glass doors and 
 windows being thrown open from the drawing-room, a room 
 longer than it was wide. 
 
 The old lady, giving her orders to the two women, desired 
 them to place the chairs in four rows with a space of about 
 three feet between. In a few minutes there were ten chairs 
 across the rows, a medley of various patterns ; a line of chairs 
 was placed along the wall in front of the windows. At the 
 end of the room opposite the forty chairs Madame Marion 
 placed three armchairs behind the tea-table, which she covered 
 with a green cloth, and on it placed a bell. 
 
 Old Colonel Giguet appeared on the scene of the fray just 
 as it had occurred to his sister that she might fill up the recess 
 on each side of the chimney-place by bringing in two benches 
 from the anteroom, in spite of the baldness of the velvet, which 
 had seen four-and-twenty years' service. 
 
 " We can seat seventy persons," said she, with exultation. 
 
 " God send us seventy friends ! " replied the colonel. 
 
 "If, after receiving all the society of Arcis-sur-Aube every 
 evening for twenty-four years, even one of our usual visitors 
 should fail us well ! " said the old lady in a threatening 
 tone. 
 
 "Come," said the colonel with a shrug, as he interrupted 
 his sister, " I can name ten who cannot who ought not to 
 come. To begin with," said he, counting on his fingers: 
 " Antonin Goulard, the sub-prefect, for one ; the public pros- 
 ecutor, Frederic Marest,* for another ; Monsieur Olivier Vinet, 
 * See "A Start in Life."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 3 
 
 his deputy, three; Monsieur Martener, the examining judge, 
 four; the justice of the peace " 
 
 "But I am not so silly," the old lady interrupted in her 
 turn, " as to expect that men who hold appointments should 
 attend a meeting of which the purpose is to return one more 
 deputy to the Opposition. At the same time, Antonin Gou- 
 lard, Simon's playfellow and schoolmate, would be very glad 
 to see him in the Chamber, for " 
 
 " Now, my good sister, leave us men to manage our own 
 business. Where is Simon?" 
 
 " He is dressing. He was very wise not to come to break- 
 fast, for he is very nervous ; and though our young lawyer is 
 in the habit of speaking in court, he dreads this meeting as 
 much as if he had to face his enemies." 
 
 " My word ! Yes. I have often stood the fire of a battery 
 and my soul never quaked my body I say nothing about ; 
 but if I had to stand up here," said the old soldier, placing 
 himself behind the table, "opposite the forty good people 
 who will sit there, open-mouthed, their eyes fixed on mine, 
 and expecting a set speech in sounding periods my shirt 
 would be soaking before I could find a word." 
 
 "And yet, my dear father, you must make that effort on 
 my behalf," said Simon Giguet, coming in from the little 
 drawing-room ; " for if there is a man in the department 
 whose word is powerful, it is certainly you. In 1815 " 
 
 " In 1815," said the particularly well-preserved little man, 
 " I had not to speak ^ I merely drew up a little proclamation 
 which raised two thousand men in twenty-four hours. And 
 there is a great difference between putting one's name at the 
 bottom of a broadsheet and addressing a meeting. Napoleon 
 himself would have lost at that game. On the i8th Brumaire* 
 he talked sheer nonsense to the Five Hundred." 
 
 "But, my dear father, my whole life is at stake, my pros- 
 pects, my happiness Just look at one person only, and 
 
 * The date of the overthrow of the Directory by Bonaparte.
 
 4 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 fancy you are speaking to him alone you will get through it 
 all right." 
 
 "Mercy on us ! I am only an old woman," said Madame 
 Marion ; " but in such a case, and if I knew what it was all 
 about why, I could be eloquent ! " 
 
 "Too eloquent, perhaps," said the colonel. "And to 
 shoot beyond the mark is not to hit it. But what is in the 
 wind?" he added, addressing his son. "For the last two 
 days you have connected this nomination with some no- 
 tion If my son is not elected, so much the worse for 
 
 Arcis, that's all." 
 
 These words, worthy of a father, were quite in harmony 
 with the whole life of the speaker. 
 
 Colonel Giguet, one of the most respected officers in the 
 Grande Armee, was one of those admirable characters which 
 to a foundation of perfect rectitude add great delicacy of 
 feeling. He never thrust himself forward ; honors came to 
 seek him out ; hence for eleven years he had remained a 
 captain in the Artillery of the Guards, rising to command a 
 battalion in 1813, and promoted major in 1814. His almost 
 fanatical attachment to Napoleon prohibited his serving the 
 Bourbons after the Emperor's first abdication. And in 1815 
 his devotion was so conspicuous that he would have been 
 banished but for the Comte de Gondreville, who had his name 
 erased from the list, and succeeded in getting him a retiring 
 pension and the rank of colonel. 
 
 Madame Marion, nee Giguet, had had another brother who 
 was colonel of the Gendarmes at Troyes, and with whom she 
 had formerly lived. There she had married Monsieur Marion, 
 receiver-general of the revenues of the department. 
 
 A brother of the late lamented Marion was presiding judge 
 of one of the Imperial courts. While still a pleader at Arcis 
 this lawyer had, during the "Terror," lent his name to the 
 famous Malin (deputy for the Aube), a representative of the 
 people, to enable him to purchase the estate of Gondreville.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 5 
 
 Marion, the receiver-general, had inherited the property of 
 his brother the judge ; Madame Marion came in for that of 
 her brother, Colonel Giguet of the Gendarmes. In 1814 
 Monsieur Marion suffered some reverses ; he died at about 
 the same time as theJEmpire, and his widow was able to make 
 up fifteen thousand francs a year from the wreck of these fag- 
 ends of fortunes. Giguet of the Gendarmes had left all his 
 little wealth to his sister on hearing of his brother's marriage, 
 in 1806, to one of the daughters of a rich Hamburg banker. 
 The admiration of all Europe for Napoleon's magnificent 
 troopers is well known. 
 
 In 1814 Madame Marion, in very narrow circumstances, 
 came to live at Arcis, her native town, where she bought a 
 house in the Grande Place, one of the handsomest residences 
 in the town, on a site suggesting that it had formerly been 
 dependent on the castle. Being used to entertain a great 
 deal at Troyes, where the revenue-collector was a person of 
 importance, her drawing-room was open to the prominent 
 members of the Liberal circle at Arcis. A woman who is 
 used to the position of queen of a country salon does not 
 readily forego it. Of all habits, those of vanity are the most 
 enduring. 
 
 Colonel Giguet, a Liberal, after being a Bonapartist for, 
 by a singular metamorphosis, Napoleon's soldiers almost all 
 fell in love with the constitutional system naturally became, 
 under the Restoration, the president of the Town Council of 
 Arcis, which included Grevin, the notary, and Beauvisage, 
 his son-in-law ; Varlet's son, the leading physician in the town 
 and Grevin's brother-in-law, with sundry other Liberals of 
 importance. 
 
 "If our dear boy is not elected," said Madame Marion, 
 after looking into the anteroom and the garden to make sure 
 that nobody was listening, " he will not win Mademoiselle 
 Beauvisage ; for what he looks for in the event of his success 
 is marrying Cecile."
 
 6 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "Cecile?" said the old man, opening his eyes wide to 
 gaze at his sister in amazement. 
 
 " No one but you in all the department, brother, is likely 
 to forget the fortune and the expectations of Mademoiselle 
 Beauvisage." 
 
 "She is the wealthiest heiress in the department of the 
 Aube," said Simon Giguet. 
 
 " But it seems to me that my son is not to be sneezed at ! " 
 said the old colonel. " He is your heir; he has his mother's 
 money ; and I hope to leave him something better than my 
 bare name." 
 
 "All that put together will not give him more than thirty 
 thousand francs a year, and men have already come forward 
 with as much as that to say nothing of position " 
 
 "And ? " asked the colonel. 
 
 "And have been refused." 
 
 "What on earth do the Beauvisages want, then?" said 
 Giguet, looking from his sister to his son. 
 
 It may seem strange that Colonel Giguet, Madame Marion's 
 brother in whose house the society of Arcis had been meeting 
 every evening for the last four-and-twenty years, whose salon 
 rang with the echo of every rumor, every slander, every piece 
 of gossip of the countryside where perhaps they were even 
 manufactured should be ignorant of such facts and events. 
 But his ignorance is accounted for when it is pointed out that 
 this noble survivor of the Imperial phalanx went to bed and 
 rose with the chickens, as old men do who want to live all 
 the days of their life. Hence he was never present at confi- 
 dential "talks." 
 
 For the past nine years, since his political party had come 
 to the top, the colonel lived almost out of the world. He 
 always rose with the sun, and devoted himself to horticulture ; 
 he was devoted to flowers ; but of all flowers, he only cherished 
 his roses. He had the stained hands of a true gardener. He 
 himself tended his beds his squares he called them. His
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 7 
 
 squares ! The word reminded him of the gaudy array of 
 men drawn up on the field of battle. He was always holding 
 council with his man, and, especially for the last two years, 
 seldom mingled with the company, rarely seeing any visitors. 
 He took one meal only with the family his dinner ; for he 
 _was up too early to breakfast with his sister and his son. It 
 is to the colonel's skill that the world owes the Giguet rose, 
 famous among amateurs. 
 
 This old man, a sort of domestic fetish, was brought out, 
 of course, on great occasions ; some families have a demi- 
 god of this kind, and make a display of him as they would of 
 a title. 
 
 " I have a suspicion that since the Revolution of July Ma- 
 dame Beauvisage has a hankering after living in Paris," said 
 Madame Marion. "Being compelled to remain here till her 
 father dies, she has transferred her ambition and placed her 
 hopes in her future son-in-law; the fair matron dreams of the 
 splendors of a political position." 
 
 "And could you love Cecile?" asked the colonel of his 
 son. 
 
 "Yes, father." 
 
 " Does she take to you ? " 
 
 "I think so. But the important point is that her mother 
 and her grandfather should fancy me. Although old Grevin 
 is pleased to oppose my election, success would bring Madame 
 Beauvisage to accept me, for she will hope to govern me to 
 her mind, and be minister under my name." 
 
 "A good joke!" cried Madame Marion. "And what 
 does she take us for?" 
 
 "Whom has she refused then?" asked the colonel of his 
 sister. 
 
 " Well, within the last three months they say that Antonin 
 Goulard and Monsieur Frederic Marest, the public prose- 
 cutor, got very equivocal replies, meaning anything excepting 
 YES."
 
 8 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "Good heavens!" exclaimed the old man, throwing up 
 his arms, " what times we live in ! Why, C6cile is a hosier's 
 daughter, a farmer's grandchild. Does Madame Beauvisage 
 look for a Comte de Cinq-Cygne for a son-in-law ? " 
 
 " Nay, brother, do not make fun of the Beauvisages. Cecile 
 is rich enough to choose a husband wherever she pleases even 
 of the rank of the Cygnes. But I hear the bell announcing 
 the arrival of some elector ; I must go, and am only sorry that 
 I cannot listen to what is said." 
 
 The district of Arcis-sur-Aube was at this time in a strange 
 position, believing itself free to elect a deputy. From 1816 
 till 1836 it had always returned one of the most ponderous 
 orators of the Left, one of those seventeen whom the Liberal 
 party loved to designate as " great citizens " no less a man, 
 in short, than Francois Keller, of the firm of Keller Brothers, 
 son-in-law to the Comte de Gondreville. 
 
 Gondreville, one of the finest estates in France, is not 
 more than a quarter of a league from Arcis. The banker, 
 lately created count and peer of France, proposed, no doubt, 
 to hand on to his son, now thirty years of age, his position as 
 deputy, so as to fit him in due time to sit among the peers. 
 
 Chailes Keller, already a major holding a staff appointment, 
 and now a viscount, as one of the prince royal's favorites, 
 was attached to the party of the Citizen King. A splendid 
 future seemed to lie before a young man of immense wealth, 
 high courage, and noteworthy devotion to the new dynasty 
 grandson to the Comte de Gondreville, and nephew of the 
 Marechale de Carigliano. But this election, indispensable to 
 his future plans, presented very great difficulties. 
 
 Ever since the advancement to power of the citizen class, 
 Arcis had felt a vague yearning for independence. The last 
 few elections, at which Francois Keller had been returned, 
 had been disturbed by certain Republicans whose red caps and 
 wagging beards had not proved alarming to the good folk of 
 Arcis. By working up the feeling of the country, the Radical
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 9 
 
 candidate had secured thirty or forty votes. Some of the 
 residents, humiliated by seeing their town a rotten borough 
 of the Opposition, then joined these democrats, but not to 
 support democracy. 
 
 When Simon Giguet sounded Grevin the notary, the count's 
 faithful ally, on trft- subject of the candidature, the old man 
 replied that, without knowing anything of the Comte de 
 Gondreville's intentions, Charles Keller was the man for him, 
 and that he should do his utmost to secure his return. 
 
 As soon as Grevin's announcement was made known in 
 Arcis there was a strong feeling against him. Although this 
 Aristides of Champagne had, during thirty years of practice, 
 commanded the fullest confidence of the citizens ; although 
 he had been mayor of the town from 1804 till 1814, and 
 again during the Hundred Days ; although the Opposition 
 had recognized him as their leader till the days of triumph in 
 1830, when he had refused the honor of the mayoralty in 
 consideration of his advanced age ; finally, although the 
 town, in proof of its attachment, had then elected his son-in- 
 law, Monsieur Beauvisage, they now all turned against him, 
 and some of the younger spirit accused him of being in his 
 dotage. 
 
 Monsieur le Maire, questioned only the day before on the 
 market-place, had declared that he would sooner vote for the 
 first name on the list of eligible citizens of Arcis than for 
 Charles Keller, for whom he had, however, the highest es- 
 teem. 
 
 "Arcis shall no longer be a rotten borough ! " cried he. 
 "Or I go to live in Paris." 
 
 Flatter the passions of the day, and you become a hero at 
 once, even at Arcis-sur-Aube. 
 
 " Monsieur le Maire has given crowning proof of his firm- 
 ness of temper," they said. 
 
 Nothing gathers faster than a legalized rebellion. In the 
 course of the evening Madame Marion and her friends had
 
 10 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 organized for the morrow a meeting of " Independent Elec- 
 tors " in favor of Simon Giguet, the colonel's son. And now 
 that morrow was to-day, and she had turned the whole house 
 topsy-turvy for the reception of the friends on whose inde- 
 pendence they relied. 
 
 Simon Giguet, the home-made candidate of a little town 
 that was jealously eager to return one of its sons, had, as has 
 been seen, at once taken advantage of this little stir to make 
 himself the representative of the wants and interests of South- 
 western Champagne. At the same time, the position and 
 fortune of the Giguet family were wholly due to the Comte 
 de Gondreville. But when an election is in the case, can 
 feelings be considered ? 
 
 This drama is written for the enlightenment of lands so un- 
 happy as to be ignorant of the benefits of national representa- 
 tion, and unaware, therefore, of the intestinal struggles and 
 the Brutus-like sacrifices a little town has to suffer in giving 
 birth to a deputy a natural and majestic spectacle which can 
 only be compared to childbirth there are the same efforts, 
 the same defilement, the same travail, the same triumph. 
 
 During his wife's lifetime, from 1806 to 1813, the colonel 
 had had three children, of whom Simon, the eldest, survived 
 the other two. The mother died in 1814, one of the children 
 in 1818, the other in 1825. Until he remained the sole sur- 
 vivor, Simon had, of course, been brought up with a view to 
 making his own living by some lucrative profession. Then, 
 when he was an only son, Simon's prospects underwent a 
 reverse. Madame Marion's hopes for her nephew had been 
 largely founded on his inheriting considerable wealth from fcis 
 grandfather, the Hamburg banker ; but the German, dying in 
 1826, left his grandson, Giguet, no more than two thousand 
 francs a year. The financier, endowed with great powers of 
 procreation, had counteracted the monotony of commercial 
 life by indulging in the joys of fatherhood ; hence he favored 
 the families of the eleven other children who clung to him, as
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 11 
 
 it were, and made him believe what, indeed, seemed not 
 unlikely that Simon would be a rich man. 
 
 The colonel was bent on putting his son into an independent 
 profession ; and this was why : the Giguets could not hope for 
 any favor from Government under the Restoration. Even if 
 Simon had not had "an ardent Bonapartist for his father, he 
 belonged to a family all of whom had justly incurred the dis- 
 approbation of the Cinq-Cygne family, in consequence of the 
 part taken by Giguet, the colonel of Gendarmes, and all the 
 Marions Madame Marion included as witnesses for the 
 prosecution in the famous trial of the Simeuses. These 
 brothers were unjustly sentenced, in 1805, as guilty of carry- 
 ing off and detaining the Comte de Gondreville (at that time 
 a senator, after having been the people's representative), who 
 had despoiled their family of its fortune. 
 
 Grevin had been not only one of the most important wit- 
 nesses, but also an ardent promoter of the proceedings. At 
 this time this trial still divided the district of Arcis into two 
 factions one believing in the innocence of the condemned 
 parties and upholding the family of Cinq-Cygne, the other 
 supporting the Comte de Gondreville and his adherents. 
 Though, after the Restoration, the Comtesse de Cinq-Cygne 
 made use of the influence she acquired by the return of the 
 Bourbons to settle everything to her mind in the department, 
 the Comte de Gondreville found means to counterbalance the 
 supremacy of the Cinq-Cygnes by the secret authority he held 
 over the Liberals by means of Gr6vin and Colonel Giguet. 
 He also had the support of his son-in-law, Keller, who was 
 unfailingly elected deputy in spite of the Cinq-Cygnes, and 
 considerable influence in the State Council so long as King 
 Louis XVIII. lived. 
 
 It was by the Comte de Gondreville's advice that Colonel 
 Giguet had made a lawyer of his son. Simon had all the 
 better chance of shining in the Arcis district, because he was 
 the only pleader there ; as a rule, in these small towns, the
 
 12 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 attorneys plead in their own cases. Simon had had some 
 little success at the assizes of the department ; but he was not 
 the less the butt of many pleasantries from Frederic Marest, 
 the public prosecutor; from Olivier Vinet, his deputy; and 
 Michu, the presiding judge the three wits of the court. 
 Simon Giguet, it must be owned, like all men who are laughed 
 at, laid himself open to the cruel power of ridicule. He 
 listened to his own voice, he was ready to talk on any pre- 
 tense, he spun out endless reels of cut-and-dried phrases, 
 which were accepted as eloquence among the superior citizens 
 of Arcis. The poor fellow was one of the class of bores who 
 have an explanation for everything, even for the simplest 
 matters. He would explain the rain ; the causes of the Revo- 
 lution of July; he would also explain things that were inex- 
 plicable he would explain Louis-Philippe, Monsieur Odilon 
 Barrot, Monsieur Thiers ; he explained the Eastern Question ; 
 the state of the province of Champagne; he explained 1789, 
 the custom-house tariff, the views of humanitarians, mag- 
 netism, and the distribution of the civil list. 
 
 This young man, who was lean and bilious-looking, and 
 tall enough to account for his sonorous emptiness for a tall 
 man is rarely remarkable for distinguished gifts caricatured 
 the puritanism of the Extreme Left, whose members are all so 
 precise, after the fashion of a prude who has some intrigue to 
 conceal. 
 
 The first sound of the door-bell, announcing the advent of 
 the more important electors, made the ambitious youth's heart 
 beat with vague alarms. Simon did not deceive him^f as to 
 the cleverness or the vast resources at the command of old 
 Grvin, nor as to the effect of the heroic measures that would 
 be taken by the Ministry to support the interests of the brave 
 young officer at that time in Africa on the staff of the prince 
 who was the son of one of the great citizen-lords of France, 
 and the nephew of a marechale. 
 
 " I really think I have the colic," said he to his father. " I
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 13 
 
 have a sickly burning just over the pit of my stomach, which 
 I do not at all like " 
 
 "The oldest soldiers," replied the colonel, "felt just the 
 same when the guns opened fire at the beginning of a bat- 
 tle." 
 
 " What will it be, then, in the Chamber ! " exclaimed the 
 
 lawyer. 
 
 "The Comte de Gondreville has told us," the old soldier 
 went on, "that more than one speaker is liable to the little 
 discomforts which we old leather-breeches were used to feel 
 at the beginning of a fight. And all for a few empty words ! 
 But, dear me, you want to be a deputy," added the old man, 
 with a shrug. " Be a deputy ! " 
 
 " The triumph, father, will be Cecile ! Cecile is enor- 
 mously rich, and in these days money is power." 
 
 " Well, well, times have changed ! In the Emperor's time 
 it was bravery that was needed." 
 
 " Every age may be summed up in a word ! " said Simon, 
 repeating a remark of the old Comte de Gondreville's, which 
 was thoroughly characteristic of the man. "Under the Em- 
 pire to ruin a man you said : ' He is a coward ! ' Nowadays 
 we say : ' He is a swindler.' ' 
 
 "Unhappy France, what have you come to!" cried the 
 colonel. " I will go back to my roses." 
 
 "No, no, stay here, father. You are the keystone of the 
 arch ! " 
 
 The first to appear was the mayor, Monsieur Phileas Beau- 
 visage, and with him came his father-in-law's successor, the 
 busiest notary in the town, Achille Pigoult, the grandson of 
 an old man who had been justice of the peace at Arcis all 
 through the Revolution, the Empire, and the early days of 
 the Restoration. Achille Pigoult, a man of about two-and- 
 thirty, had been old Grevin's clerk for eighteen years, with- 
 out a hope of getting an office as notary. His father, the old
 
 14 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 justice's son, had failed badly in business, and died of an 
 apoplexy so called. Then the Comte de Gondreville, on 
 whom old Pigoult had some claims outstanding from 1793, 
 had lent the necessary security, and so enabled the grandson 
 to purchase Grevin's office ; the old justice of the peace had, 
 in fact, conducted the preliminary inquiry in the Simeuse 
 case. So Achille had established himself in a house in the 
 Church Square belonging to the count, and let at so low a 
 rent that it was easy to perceive how anxious the wily poli- 
 tician was to keep a hold over the chief notary of the town. 
 
 This young Pigoult, a lean little man, with eyes that seemed 
 to pierce the green spectacles which did not mitigate their 
 cunning expression, and fully informed of everybody's con- 
 cerns in the district, had acquired a certain readiness of speech 
 from the habit of talking on business, and was supposed to 
 be a great wag, simply because he spoke out with rather more 
 wit than the natives had at their command. He was still a 
 bachelor, looking forward to making some good match by the 
 intervention of his two patrons Gr6vin and the Comte de 
 Gondreville. And Lawyer Giguet could not repress a start of 
 surprise when he saw Achille as a satellite to Monsieur Phileas 
 Beauvisage. 
 
 The man's entire self-satisfaction passed, however, for benev- 
 olence and friendliness, all the more readily because he had a 
 style of speech of his own, marked by the most extravagant 
 use of polite phraseology. He always " had the honor " to in- 
 quire after the health of a friend, he invariably added the 
 adjectives dear, good, excellent ; and he was prodigal of compli- 
 mentary phrases on every occasion of the minor grievances or 
 pleasures of life. Thus, under a deluge of commonplace, he 
 concealed his utter incapacity, his lack of education, and a 
 vacillating nature which can only find adequate description in 
 the old-fashioned word weathercock. But then this weather- 
 cock had for its pinion handsome Madame Beauvisage, Sever- 
 ine Gr6vin, the notable lady of the district.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 15 
 
 When Severine had heard of what she was pleased to call 
 her husband's freak a propos to the election, she had said to 
 him that very morning : 
 
 "You did not do badly by asserting your independence; 
 but you must not go to the meeting at the Giguets' without 
 taking Achille Pigoult ; I have sent to tell him to call for 
 you." 
 
 Now sending Achille Pigoult to keep an eye on Beauvisage 
 was tantamount to sending a spy from the Gondreville faction 
 to attend the Giguets' meeting. So it is easy to imagine what 
 a grimace twisted Simon's puritanical features when he found 
 himself extending a civil welcome to a regular visitor in his 
 aunt's drawing-room, and an influential elector, in whom he 
 scented an enemy. 
 
 " Ah ! " thought he to himself, " I was a fool when I re- 
 fused the security money he asked me to lend him ! Old 
 Gondreville was sharper than I. Good-day, Achille," he said 
 aloud, with an air of ease. "You will give me a tough job 
 or two." 
 
 " Your meeting is not a conspiracy against the independence 
 of our votes, I suppose," replied the notary with a smile. 
 " We are playing aboveboard ? " 
 
 " Aboveboard ! " repeated Beauvisage. 
 
 And the mayor laughed that meaningless laugh with which 
 some men end every sentence, and which might be called the 
 burden of their song. Then Monsieur le Maire assumed what 
 we may call his third position, fullface, and very upright, 
 with his hands behind his back. He was in a whole suit of 
 black, with a highly decorated white vest, open so as to show 
 a glimpse of two diamond studs worth several thousand francs. 
 
 "We will fight it out, and be none the worse friends," 
 Phileas went on. "That is the essential feature of constitu- 
 tional institutions. Hah, ha, ha! That is my notion of the 
 alliance between the monarchy and liberty. He, he, he ! " 
 
 Thereupon the mayor took Simon by the hand, saying
 
 16 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC1S. 
 
 "And how are you, my dear friend? Your dear aunt and 
 the worthy colonel are, no doubt, as well to-day as they were 
 yesterday at least we may presume that they are. Eh, eh ! 
 A little put out, perhaps, by the ceremony we are preparing 
 for, perhaps. So, so! Young man" (yongmaan, he said), 
 "we are starting in our political career? Ah, ha, ha! This 
 is our first step! We must never draw back it is a strong 
 measure ! Ay, and I would rather you than I should rush 
 into the tempests of the Chamber. He, he ! pleasing as it 
 may be to find the sovereign power of France embodied in 
 one's own person he, he ! one four-hundred-and-fifty-third 
 part of it he, he ! " 
 
 There was a pleasant fullness in Phileas Beauvisage's voice 
 that corresponded admirably with the gourd-like rotundity of 
 his face and its hue as of a pale buff pumpkin, his round 
 back, and broad protuberant person. His voice, as deep and 
 mellow as a 'cello, had the velvety quality of a baritone, and 
 the laugh with which he ended every sentence had a silvery 
 ring. 
 
 " I admire the devotion of men who can throw themselves 
 into the storms of political life," he went on. "He, he, he ! 
 You need a nerve that I cannot boast of. Who would have 
 said in 1812 in 1813 even that this was what we were 
 coming to? For my part, I am prepared for anything, now 
 that asphalt and india-rubber, railways and steam, are meta- 
 morphosing the ground under our feet, our greatcoats, and 
 the length of distances. Ha, ha ! " 
 
 It is, no doubt, superfluous to add that Phileas was regarded 
 at Arcis as an agreeable and charming man. 
 
 "I will endeavor," said Simon Giguet, "to be a worthy 
 representative ' ' 
 
 "Of the sheep of Champagne," said Achille Pigoult 
 quickly, interrupting his friend. 
 
 The aspirant took the irony without replying, for he had to 
 go forward and receive two more electors. One was the
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 17 
 
 owner of the Mulct, the best inn of the town, situated in the 
 market square, at the corner of the Rue de Brienne. This 
 worthy innkeeper, whose name was Poupart, had married the 
 sister of a man in the Comtesse de Cinq-Cygne's service, the 
 notorious Gothard, who had figured at the great trial. Now 
 Gothard had been acquitted. Poupart, though he was of all the 
 townsfolk one of the most devoted to the Cinq-Cygnes, had, 
 two days since, been so diligently and so cleverly wheedled by 
 Colonel Giguet's servant, that he fancied he would be doing 
 their enemy an ill turn by bringing all his influence to bear 
 on the election of Simon Giguet ; and he had just been talk- 
 ing to this effect to a chemist named Fromaget, who, as he 
 was not employed by the Gondreville family, was very ready 
 to plot against the Kellers. These two men, important among 
 the lower middle-class, could control a certain number of 
 doubtful votes, for they were the advisers of several electors 
 to whom the political opinions of the candidates were a matter 
 of indifference. 
 
 Simon, therefore, took Poupart in hand, leaving Fromaget 
 to his father, who had just come in, and was greeting those 
 who had arrived. 
 
 The deputy inspector of public works of the district, the 
 secretary to the mairie, four bailiffs, three attorneys, the clerk 
 of assize, and the justice's clerk, the revenue collector, and the 
 registrar, two doctors old Varlet's rivals, Grevin's brother- 
 in-law a miller named Laurent Coussard, leader of the Re- 
 publican party at Arcis the mayor's two deputies, the book- 
 seller and printer of the place, and a dozen or so of townsfolk 
 came in by degrees, and then walked about the garden in 
 groups while waiting till the company should be numerous 
 enough to hold the meeting. 
 
 Finally, by twelve o'clock, about fifty men in their Sunday 
 
 attire, most of them having come out of curiosity to see the 
 
 fine rooms of which so much had been said in the district, 
 
 were seated in the chairs arranged for them by Madame 
 
 2
 
 18 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Marion. The windows were left open, and the silence was 
 presently so complete that the rustle of a silk dress could be 
 heard ; for Madame Marion could not resist the temptation 
 to go out into the garden and sit where she could hear what 
 was going on. The cook, the housemaid, and the manservant 
 remained in the dining-room, fully sharing their masters' feel- 
 ings. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said Simon Giguet, "some of you wish to 
 do my father the honor of placing him in the chair as president 
 of this meeting, but Colonel Giguet desires me to express his 
 acknowledgments and decline it, while deeply grateful to you 
 for the proposal, which he takes as a recompense for his ser- 
 vices to his country. We are under my father's roof, and he 
 feels that he must beg to be excused ; he proposes a merchant 
 of the highest respectability a gentleman on whom your 
 suffrages conferred the mayoralty of this town Monsieur 
 Phildas Beauvisage." 
 
 "Hear, hear!" 
 
 "We are, I believe, agreed that in this meeting purely 
 friendly, and perfectly free, without prejudice in any way to 
 the great preliminary meeting, when it will be your business 
 to question your candidates and weigh their merits we are 
 agreed, I say, to follow the forms the constitutional forms 
 of the elective Chamber! " 
 
 " Yes, yes ! " unanimously. 
 
 "Therefore," said Simon, "I have the honor, speaking in 
 the name of all present, to request Monsieur the Mayor to 
 take the president's chair." 
 
 Phil6as rose and crossed the room, feeling himself turn as 
 red as a cherry. When he found himself behind the tea-table, 
 he saw not a hundred eyes, but a hundred thousand lights. 
 The sunshine seemed to put the room in a blaze, and, to use 
 his own words, his throat was full of salt. 
 
 " Return thanks ! " murmured Simon in his ear. 
 
 "Gentlemen "
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 19 
 
 The silence was so alarming that Phileas felt his heart in his 
 mouth. 
 
 " What am I to say, Simon ? " he whispered. 
 
 " Well? " said Achille Pigoult.* 
 
 "Gentlemen," said Simon, prompted by the little notary's 
 spiteful interjection, "the honor you have done the mayor 
 may have startled without surprising him." 
 
 "It is so," said Beauvisage. " I am too much overpowered 
 by this compliment from my fellow-citizens not to be exces- 
 sively flattered." 
 
 " Hear, hear ! " cried the notary only. 
 
 "The devil may take me," said Beauvisage to himself, " if 
 I am ever caught again to make speeches ! " 
 
 " Will Monsieur Fromaget and Monsieur Marcelin accept 
 the functions of tellers ? " asked Simon. 
 
 " It would be more in order," said Achille Pigoult, rising, 
 " if the meeting were to elect the two members who support 
 the chair in imitation of the Chamber." 
 
 "It would be far better," observed Monsieur Mollot, an 
 enormous man, clerk of the assizes, " otherwise the whole 
 business will be a farce, and we shall not be really free. 
 There would be no just cause why the whole of the proceed- 
 ings should not be regulated as Monsieur Simon might dic- 
 tate." 
 
 Simon muttered a few words to Beauvisage, who rose, and 
 was presently delivered of the word, "Gentlemen ! " which 
 might be described as of thrilling interest. 
 
 "Allow me, Mr. President," said Achille Pigoult; "it is 
 your part to preside, not to discuss." 
 
 "Gentlemen," said Beauvisage again, prompted by Simon, 
 " if we are to to conform to to parliamentary usage I 
 would beg the Honorable Monsieur Pigoult to to come and 
 speak from the table this table." 
 
 Pigoult started forward and stood by the tea-table, his fin- 
 * Grandson of Pigoult, in "A Historical Mystery."
 
 20 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 gers lightly resting on the edge, and showed his sublime 
 courage by speaking most fluently almost like the great 
 Monsieur Thiers. 
 
 "Gentlemen, it was not I who proposed that we should 
 imitate the Chamber ; till now it has always appeared to me 
 that the Chambers are truly inimitable. At the same time, it 
 was self-evident that a meeting of sixty-odd notables of Cham- 
 pagne must select a president, for no sheep can move without 
 a shepherd. If we had voted by ballot, I am quite sure our 
 esteemed mayor would have been unanimously elected. His 
 antagonism to the candidate put forward by his relations 
 shows that he possesses civic courage in no ordinary degree, 
 since he can shake off the strongest ties those of family con- 
 nection. 
 
 " To set public interest above family feeling is so great an 
 effort, that, to achieve it, we are always obliged to remind 
 ourselves that Brutus, from his tribune, has looked down on 
 us for two thousand five hundred odd years. It seemed quite 
 natural to Maitre Giguet who was so clever as to divine our 
 wishes with regard to the choice of a chairman to guide us 
 in our selection of the tellers ; but, in response to my remark, 
 you thought that once was enough, and you were right. Our 
 common friend, Simon Giguet, who is, in fact, to appear as a 
 candidate, would appear too much as the master of the situa- 
 tion, and would then lose that high place in our opinion 
 which his venerable father has secured by his diffidence. 
 
 " Now, what is our worthy chairman doing by accepting 
 the presidency on the lines suggested to him by the candi- 
 date? Why, he is robbing us of our liberty. And, I ask 
 you, is it seemly that the chairman of our choice should call 
 upon us to vote, by rising and sitting, for the two tellers ? 
 Gentlemen, that would be a choice already made. Should we 
 be free to choose? Can a man sit still when his neighbor 
 stands? If I were proposed, every one would rise, I believe, 
 out of politeness ; and so, as all would rise for each one in
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 21 
 
 turn, there would be simply no choice when every one had 
 voted for every one else." 
 
 " Very true ! " said the sixty listeners. 
 
 " Well, then, let each of us write two names on a voting- 
 paper, and then those who take their seats on each side of the 
 chairman may regard -themselves as ornaments to the meeting. 
 They will be qualified, conjointly with the chairman, to decide 
 on the majority when we vote by rising and sitting on any 
 resolution to be passed. 
 
 " We have met, I believe, to promise the candidate such 
 support as we can command at the preliminary meeting, at 
 which every elector in the district will be present. This I 
 pronounce to be a solemn occasion. Are we not voting for 
 the four-hundredth part of the governing power, as Monsieur 
 le Maire told us just now with the appropriate and character- 
 istic wit that we so highly appreciate ? " 
 
 During this address Colonel Giguet had been cutting a 
 sheet of paper into strips, and Simon sent for an inkstand and 
 pens. There was a pause. 
 
 This introductory discussion had greatly disturbed Simon 
 and aroused the attention of the sixty worthies in convocation. 
 In a few minutes they were all busy writing the names, and 
 the cunning Pigoult gave it out that the votes were in favor of 
 Monsieur Mollot, clerk of assize, and Monsieur Godivet, the 
 registrar. These two nominations naturally displeased Fro- 
 maget the druggist and Marcelin the attorney. 
 
 "You have been of service," said Achille Pigoult, "by 
 enabling us to assert our independence ; you may be prouder 
 of being rejected than you could have been of being chosen." 
 
 Everybody laughed. Simon Giguet restored silence by 
 asking leave of the chairman to speak. Beauvisage was 
 already damp with perspiration, but he summoned all his 
 courage to say 
 
 "Monsieur Simon Giguet will address the meeting." 
 
 "Gentlemen," said the candidate, " allow me first to thank
 
 22 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Monsieur Achille Pigoult, who, although our meeting is a 
 strictly friendly one " 
 
 "Is preparatory to the great preliminary meeting," Mar- 
 celin put in. 
 
 "I was about to say so," Simon went on. "In the first 
 place, I beg to thank Monsieur Achille Pigoult for having 
 proceeded on strictly parliamentary lines. To-day, for the 
 first time, the district of Arcis will make free use " 
 
 "Free use ! " said Pigoult, interrupting the orator. 
 
 " Free use ! " cried the assembly. 
 
 "Free use," repeated Simon, "of the right of voting in the 
 great contest of the general election of a deputy to be re- 
 turned to Parliament ; and as, in a few days, we shall have a 
 meeting, to which every elector is invited, to form an opinion 
 of the candidates, we may think ourselves fortunate to acquire 
 here, on a small scale, some practice in the customs of such 
 meetings. We shall be all the forwarder as to a decision on 
 the political prospects of the town of Arcis ; for what we have 
 to do to-day is to consider the town instead of a family, the 
 country instead of a man." 
 
 He went on to sketch the history of the elections for the 
 past twenty years. While approving of the repeated election 
 of Francois Keller, he said that now the time had come for 
 shaking off the yoke of the Gondrevilles. Arcis could not be 
 a fief of the Liberals any more than it could be a fief of the 
 Cinq-Cygnes. Advanced opinions were making their way in 
 France, and Charles Keller did not represent them. Charles 
 Keller, now a viscount, was a courtier ; he could never be truly 
 independent, since, in proposing him as a candidate for elec- 
 tion, it was done more with a view to fitting him to succeed 
 his father as a peer than as a deputy to the Lower Chamber 
 and so forth, and so forth. Finally, Simon begged to offer 
 himself as a candidate for their suffrages, pledging himself to 
 sit under the wing of the illustrious Odilon Barrot, and never 
 to desert the glorious standard of Progress. Progress ! a
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR AKCIS. 23 
 
 word behind which, at that time, more insincere ambitions 
 took shelter than definite ideas; for, after 1830, it could only 
 stand for the pretensions of certain hungry democrats. 
 
 Still, the word had much effect in Arcis, and lent importance 
 to any man who wrote it on his flag. A man who announced 
 himself as a partisan "<?f Progress was a philosopher in all ques- 
 tions, and politically a Puritan. He was in favor of railways, 
 macintoshes, penitentiaries, negro emancipation, savings- 
 banks, seamless shoes, gas-lighting, asphalt pavements, uni- 
 versal suffrage, and the reduction of the civil list. It was 
 also a pronouncement of opposition to the treaties of 1815, to 
 the Elder Branch (the Bourbons), to the Giant of the North, 
 "perfidious Albion," and to every undertaking, good or bad, 
 inaugurated by the Government. As may be seen, the word 
 Progress can stand equally well for black or white. It was a 
 furbishing up of the word Liberalism, a new rallying-cry for 
 new ambitions. 
 
 " If I rightly understand what we are here for," said Jean 
 Violette, a stocking-weaver, who had, two years since, bought 
 the Beauvisage business, " we are to bind ourselves to secure, 
 by every means in our power, the return of Monsieur Simon 
 Giguet at the election as deputy for Arcis in the place of 
 the Count Francois Keller. And if we are all agreed to com- 
 bine to that end, we have only to say YES or No to that ques- 
 tion." 
 
 " That is going much too fast. Political matters are not 
 managed in that way, or they would cease to be politics ! " 
 cried Pigoult, as his grandfather, a man of eighty-six, came 
 into the room. " The last speaker pronounces a decision on 
 what is, in my humble opinion, the very subject under discus- 
 sion. I beg to speak." 
 
 " Monsieur Achilla Pigoult will address the meeting," said 
 Beauvisage, who could now get through this sentence with due 
 municipal and constitutional dignity. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said the little notary, "if there be in all
 
 24 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Arcis a house where no opposition ought to be made to the 
 influence of the Comte de Gondreville and the Keller family, 
 is it not this ? The worthy colonel Colonel Giguet is the 
 only member of this household who has not experienced the 
 benefits of senatorial influence, since he never asked anything 
 of the Comte de Gondreville, who, however, had his name 
 erased from the list of exiles in 1815, and secured him the 
 pension he enjoys, without any steps on the part of the colonel, 
 who is the pride of our town " 
 
 A murmur, flattering to the old man, ran through the 
 crowd. 
 
 " But," the orator went on, " the Marion family are loaded 
 with the count's favors. But for his patronage the late Col- 
 onel Giguet never would have had the command of the Gen- 
 darmes of this department. The late Monsieur Marion would 
 not have been presiding judge of the Imperial Court here but 
 for the count to whom I, for my part, am eternally indebted. 
 You will therefore understand how natural it is that I should 
 take his part in this room. And, in fact, there are few per- 
 sons in this district who have not received some kindness from 
 that family." 
 
 There was a stir among the audience. 
 
 "A candidate comes forward," Achille went on with some 
 vehemence, " and I have a right to inquire into his past before 
 I intrust him with power to act for me. Now, I will not 
 accept ingratitude in my delegate, for ingratitude is like mis- 
 fortune it leads from bad to worse. We have been a stepping- 
 stone for the Kellers, you will say ; well, what I have just lis- 
 tened to makes me fear that we may become a stepping-stone 
 for the Giguets. We live in an age of facts, do we not? 
 Well, then, let us inquire what will be the results for the 
 electors of Arcis if we return Simon Giguet? 
 
 "Independence is your cry? Well, Simon, whom I am 
 scouting as a candidate, is my friend as he is the friend of 
 all who hear me and personally I should be delighted to see
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 26 
 
 him as an orator of the Left, between Gamier-Pages and Laf- 
 fitte ; but what will be the result for the district represented? 
 It will have lost the countenance of the Comte de Gondreville 
 and the Kellers, and in the course of five years we shall all 
 feel the want of one or the other. If we want to get leave for 
 a poor fellow who -is drawn for the conscription, we apply to 
 the Marechale de Carigliano. We rely on the Kellers' interest 
 in many matters of business which their good word settles at 
 once. We have always found the old Comte de Gondreville 
 kind and helpful ; if you belong to Arcis, you are shown in 
 without being kept waiting. Those three families know every 
 family in the place. But where is the Maison Giguet's bank, 
 and what influence has it on the ministry ? What credit does 
 it command in the Paris markets ? If we want to have a good 
 stone bridge in the place of our wretched timber one, will the 
 Giguets extract the necessary funds from the department and 
 the State? 
 
 " If we return Charles Keller, we shall perpetuate a bond of 
 alliance and friendship which till now has been entirely to 
 our advantage. By electing my good, my excellent friend 
 and schoolfellow Simon Giguet, we shall be constantly the 
 worse till he is in office ! And I know his modesty too well 
 to think that he will contradict me when I express a doubt as 
 to his rapid advancement to the ministry ! {Laughter.') 
 
 "I came to this meeting to oppose a resolution which, I 
 think, would be fatal to our district. ' Charles Keller is a 
 courtier,' I am told. So much the better. We shall not 
 have to pay for his political apprenticeship ; he knows all the 
 business of the place and the requirements of parliamentary 
 etiquette; he is more nearly a statesman than my friend 
 Simon, who does not pretend, indeed, that he has trained 
 himself to be a Pitt or a Talleyrand in our little town of 
 Arcis-sur-Aube ' ' 
 
 " Danton was a native of Arcis ! " cried Colonel Giguet, 
 furious at this harangue, which was only too truthful.
 
 26 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "Hear, hear /" The word was shouted, and sixty listeners 
 clapped the speaker. 
 
 " My father is very ready," said Simon in an undertone to 
 Beauvisage. 
 
 " I cannot understand why, in discussing an election matter, 
 there should be so much exaggeration of any ties between us 
 and the Comte de Gondreville," the old colonel went on, 
 starting to his feet, while the blood mounted to his face. 
 "My son inherits his fortune from his mother: he never 
 asked the Comte de Gondreville for anything. If the count 
 had never existed, my son would have been just what he is 
 the son of an artillery colonel who owes his promotion to his 
 services a lawyer who has always held the same opinions. I 
 would say to the Comte de Gondreville himself: 'We have 
 elected your son-in-law for twenty years. Now we wish to 
 prove that when we did so it was of our own free-will, and we 
 are returning an Arcis man to show that the old spirit of 1793 
 to which you owed your fortune still lives on the native 
 soil of Danton, Malin, Grevin, Pigoult, Marion And 
 
 The old man sat down. 
 
 There was a great commotion. Achille opened his mouth 
 to speak. Beauvisage, who would not have felt himself pre- 
 siding if he had not rung his bell, added to the racket by 
 ringing for silence. It was by this time two o'clock. 
 
 "I must be permitted to point out to the honored colonel, 
 whose feelings we can all understand, that he spoke without 
 authority from the chair, which is contrary to parliamentary 
 usage," said Achille Pigoult. 
 
 "I see no necessity for calling the colonel to order," said 
 Beauvisage. "As a father " 
 
 Silence was restored. 
 
 "We did not come here," said Fromaget, " to say Amen 
 to everything put forward by the Giguets, father and son, 
 and "
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 27 
 
 "No, no ! " cried the audience. 
 
 " This looks badly ! " said Madame Marion to the cook. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said Achille, "I will confine myself to ask- 
 ing my friend Simon Giguet to set forth categorically what he 
 proposes to do to further our interests." 
 
 "Yes, yes!" 
 
 "And when, may I ask," said Simon Giguet, "did good 
 citizens like the men of Arcis first begin to make the sacred 
 mission of a deputy a matter of bargaining and business ?'* 
 
 It is impossible to overestimate the effect of fine sentiment 
 on a crowd. Noble maxims are always applauded, and the 
 humiliation of the country voted for all the same ; just as a 
 jail-bird, who yearns for the punishment of Robert Macaire 
 when he sees the play, will nevertheless murder the first Mon- 
 sieur Germeuil who comes in his way. 
 
 " Hear, hear ! " cried some thorough-going partisans. 
 
 " If you send me to the Chamber, it will be to represent 
 your principles the principles of 1789 to be a cipher, if 
 you will, of the Opposition ; but to vote with it, to enlighten 
 the Government, to make war against abuses, and insist on 
 progress in all particulars " 
 
 " But what do you call progress ? Our notion of progress 
 would be to bring all this part of the country under cultiva- 
 tion," said Fromaget. 
 
 "Progress? I will explain to you what I mean by prog- 
 ress," cried Giguet, provoked by the interruption. 
 
 " It is the Rhine-frontier for France," said Colonel Giguet, 
 "and the treaties of 1815 torn across." 
 
 "It is keeping up the price of wheat and keeping down the 
 price of bread ! " said Pigoult mockingly, and uttering in 
 jest one of the nonsensical cries which France believes in. 
 
 " It is the happiness of the multitude achieved by the 
 triumph of humanitarian doctrines." 
 
 "What did I tell you?" the wily notary muttered to his 
 neighbors.
 
 28 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " Hush, silence we want to hear ! " said some. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said Mollot, with a fat smile, " the debate 
 is noisy ; give your attention to the speaker ; allow him to 
 explain " 
 
 " Ba-a-a, ba-a-aa," bleated a friend of Achille's, who was 
 gifted with a power of ventriloquism that was invaluable at 
 elections. 
 
 A roar of laughter burst from the audience, who were essen- 
 tially men of their province. Simon Giguet folded his arms 
 and waited till the storm of merriment should be over. 
 
 " If that was intended as a reproof," he said, " a hint that 
 I was marching with the flock of those noble defenders of the 
 rights of man, who cry out, who write book after book of 
 the immortal priest who pleads for murdered Poland of the 
 bold pamphleteers of those who keep an eye on the civil 
 list of the philosophers who cry out for honesty in the action 
 of our institutions if so, I thank my unknown friend. To 
 me progress means the realization of all that was promised us 
 at the Revolution of July ; electoral reform and " 
 
 " Then you are a democrat," interrupted Achille Pigoult. 
 
 "No," replied the candidate. " Am I a democrat because 
 I aim at a regular and legal development of our institutions? 
 To me progress is fraternity among all the members of the 
 great French family, and we cannot deny that much suffer- 
 ing " 
 
 At three o'clock Simon Giguet was still explaining the 
 meaning of progress, and some of the audience were emitting 
 steady snores expressive of deep slumbers. 
 
 Achille Pigoult had artfully persuaded them to listen in re- 
 ligious silence to the speaker, who was sinking, drowning, in 
 his endless phrases and parentheses. 
 
 At that hour several groups of citizens, electors, and non- 
 electors were standing about in front of the Chateau d'Arcis. 
 The gate opens on to the place at a right angle to that of
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 29 
 
 Madame Marion's house. Several streets turn out of this 
 square, and in the middle of it stands a covered market. 
 Opposite the castle, on the farther side of the square, which 
 is neither paved nor macadamized, so that the rain runs off in 
 little gullies, there is a fine avenue known as the Avenue des 
 Soupirs (of Sighs), is. this to the honor or the discredit of the 
 women of the town ? The ambiguity is, no doubt, a local 
 witticism. 
 
 While the discussion was at its height, to which Achille 
 Pigoult had given a dramatic turn, with a coolness and dex- 
 terity worthy of a member of the real Parliament, four men 
 were pacing one of the lime-walks of the Avenue des Soupirs. 
 When they came to the square they stopped with one accord 
 to watch the townsfolk, who were buzzing round the castle 
 like bees going into a hive at dusk. These four were the 
 whole Ministerial party of Arcis: the sub-prefect, the public 
 prosecutor, his deputy, and Monsieur Martener, the examin- 
 ing judge. 
 
 " Well, I cannot understand what the Government is 
 about," the sub- prefect declared, pointing to the growing 
 crowd. " The position is serious, and I am left without any 
 instructions." 
 
 " In that you are like many other people," said Olivier 
 Vinet, smiling. 
 
 "What complaint have you against the Government?" 
 asked the public prosecutor. 
 
 "The ministry is in a difficulty," said young Martener. 
 "It is well known that this borough belongs, so to speak, to 
 the Kellers, and it has no wish to annoy them. Some con- 
 sideration must be shown to the only man who can at all 
 compare with Monsieur de Talleyrand. It is to the Comte 
 de Gondreville that the police should go for instructions, not 
 to the prefect." 
 
 "And meanwhile," said Frederic Marest, " the Opposition 
 is making a stir, and you see that Colonel Giguet's influence
 
 SO THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 is strong. The mayor, Monsieur Beauvisage, is in the chair 
 at this preliminary meeting." 
 
 "After all," said Olivier Vinet slily to the sub-prefect, 
 "Simon Giguet is a friend of yours, a schoolfellow. Even 
 if he were a supporter of Monsieur Thiers, you would lose 
 nothing by his being elected." 
 
 "The present ministry might turn me out before its fall. 
 We may know when we are likely to be kicked out, but we 
 can never tell when we may get in again," said Antonin 
 Goulard. 
 
 " There goes Collinet the grocer. He is the sixty-seventh 
 qualified elector who has gone into Colonel Giguet's house," 
 said Monsieur Martener, fulfilling his functions as examining 
 judge by counting the electors. 
 
 " If Charles Keller is the Ministerial candidate, I ought 
 to have been informed," said Goulard. "Time ought not 
 to have been given for Simon Giguet to get hold of the 
 voters." 
 
 The four gentlemen walked on slowly to where the avenues 
 end at the market-place. 
 
 "There comes Monsieur Groslier ! " said the judge, seeing 
 a man on horseback. 
 
 The horseman was the superintendent of the police. He 
 saw the governing body of Arcis assembled on the highway, 
 and rode up to the four functionaries. 
 
 "Well, Monsieur Groslier?" questioned the sub-prefect, 
 meeting him at a few paces from the other three. 
 
 "Monsieur," said the police-officer in a low voice, "Mon- 
 sieur le Prefet sent me to tell you some very sad news the 
 Vicomte Charles Keller is dead. The news reached Paris by 
 telegraph the day before yesterday ; and the two Messieurs 
 Keller, the Comte de Gondreville, the Marechale de Carig- 
 liano, in fact, all the family, came yesterday to Gondreville. 
 Abd-el-Kader has reopened the fighting in Africa, and there 
 has been some every hot work. The poor young man was
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 31 
 
 one of the first victims to the war. You will receive con- 
 fidental instructions, I was told to say, with regard to the 
 election." 
 
 " Through whom ? " asked Goulard. 
 
 "If I knew, it would cease to be confidential," replied 
 the other. " Monsiaur le Prefet himself did not know. 'It 
 would be,' he said, 'a private communication to you from the 
 minister.' " 
 
 And he went on his way, while the proud and happy 
 official laid a finger to his lips to impress on him to be 
 secret. 
 
 " What news from the prefecture ? " asked the public prose- 
 cutor when Goulard returned to join the other three func- 
 tionaries. 
 
 "Nothing more satisfactory," replied Antonin, hurrying 
 on as if to be rid of his companions. 
 
 As they made their way toward the middle of the square, 
 saying little, for the three officials were somewhat nettled by 
 the hasty pace assumed by the sub-prefect, Monsieur Martener 
 saw old Madame Beauvisage, Phileas' mother, surrounded by 
 almost all the people who had gathered there, and apparently 
 telling them some long story. An attorney named Sinot, 
 whose clients were the royalists of the town and district, and 
 who had not gone to the Giguet meeting, stepped out of the 
 crowd, and, hurrying up to Madame Marion's house, rang the 
 bell violently. 
 
 "What is the matter?" asked Frederic Marest, dropping 
 his eyeglass, and informing the other two of this proceeding. 
 
 "The matter, gentlemen," replied Antonin Goulard, see- 
 ing no occasion for keeping a secret which would at once be 
 told by others, " is that Charles Keller has been killed in 
 Africa, an event which gives Simon Giguet every chance ! 
 You know Arcis ; there could be no Ministerial candidate 
 other than Charles Keller. Parochial patriotism would rise 
 in arms against any other "
 
 32 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "And will such a simpleton be elected?" asked Olivier 
 Vinet,* laughing. 
 
 The judge's deputy, a young fellow of three-and-twenty, 
 the eldest son of a very famous public prosecutor, whose pro- 
 motion dated from the Revolution of July, had, of course, 
 been helped by his father's interest to get into the upper ranks 
 of his profession. That father, still a public prosecutor, and 
 returned as deputy by the town of Provins, is one of the but- 
 tresses of the Centre. 
 
 The free-and-easy air, and the sort of judicial conceit as- 
 sumed by this little personage on the strength of his certainty 
 of "getting on," annoyed Frederic Marest, and all the more 
 because a very biting wit effectually supported his young 
 subaltern's undisciplined freedom. The public prosecutor 
 himself, a man of forty, who had waited six years under the 
 Restoration to rise to the post of first deputy judge, and whom 
 the Revolution of July had left stranded at Arcis, though he 
 had eighteen thousand francs a year of his own, was always 
 torn between his anxiety to win the good graces of the elder 
 Vinet, who had every chance of becoming keeper of the 
 seals an office commonly conferred on a lawyer who sits in 
 Parliament and the necessity for preserving his own dignity. 
 Olivier Vinet, a thin stripling, with fair hair and a colorless 
 face, accentuated by a pair of mischievous greenish eyes, was 
 one of those mocking spirits, fond of pleasure, who can at any 
 moment assume the precise, pedantic, and rather abrupt man- 
 ner which a magistrate puts on when in court. 
 
 The burly public prosecutor, very stout and solemn, had, 
 for a short time past, adopted a method by which, as he 
 hoped, to get the upper hand of this distracting youth ; he 
 treated him as a father treats a spoilt child. 
 
 " Olivier," said he to his deputy, patting him on the 
 shoulder, "a man as clear-sighted as you are must see that 
 Maitre Giguet is likely enough to be elected. You might 
 * Fraisier's rival in " Cousin Pons."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 33 
 
 have blurted out that speech before the townsfolk instead of 
 among friends." 
 
 "But there is one thing against Giguet," remarked Mon- 
 sieur Martener. 
 
 This worthy young fellow, dull, but with very capable 
 brains, the son of a doctor at Provins, owed his position to 
 Vinet's father, who, during the long years when he had been 
 a pleader at Provins, had patronized the townsfolk there as 
 the Comte de Gondreville did those of Arcis. 
 
 " What? " asked Antonin. 
 
 "Parochial feeling is tremendously strong against a man 
 who is forced on the electors," replied the judge ; "but when, 
 in a place like Arcis, the alternative is the elevation of one of 
 their equals, jealousy and envy get the upper hand even of 
 local feeling." 
 
 "That seems simple enough," said the public prosecutor, 
 "but it is perfectly true. If you could secure only fifty Min- 
 isterial votes, you would not unlikely find the first favorite 
 here," and he glanced at Antonin Goulard. 
 
 " It will be enough to set up a candidate of the same calibre 
 to oppose Simon Giguet," said Olivier Vinet. 
 
 The sub-prefect's face betrayed such satisfaction as could 
 not escape the eye of either of his companions, with whom, 
 indeed, he was on excellent terms. Bachelors all, and all 
 well to do, they had without premeditation formed a defen- 
 sive alliance to defy the dullness of a country town. The 
 other three were already aware of Goulard's jealousy of Gignet, 
 which a few words here will suffice to account for. 
 
 Antonin Goulard, whose father had been a huntsman in the 
 service of the Simeuse family, enriched by investments in 
 nationalized land, was, like Simon Giguet, a native of Arcis. 
 Old Goulard left the Abbey of Valpreux a corruption of 
 Val-des-Preux to live in the town after his wife's death, and 
 sent his son Antonin to school at the Lycee Imperial, where 
 Colonel Giguet had placed his boy. 
 3
 
 34 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 In spite of his sufficiently evident personal advantages, and 
 the cross of the Legion of Honor,* which the count had ob- 
 tained for Goulard to compensate him for lack of promotion, 
 and which he displayed at his button-hole, the offer of his heart 
 and prospects had been civilly declined when, six months 
 before the day when this narrative opens, Antonin had se- 
 cretly called on Madame Beauvisage as her daughter's suitor. 
 
 As they walked just now, they both had guessed, and had 
 told each other, the secret of Simon Giguet's candidature, 
 for they had got wind, the night before, of Madame Marion's 
 ambitions. Animated alike by the spirit of the dog in the 
 manger, they were tacitly but heartily agreed in a determi- 
 nation to hinder the young lawyer from winning the wealthy 
 heiress who had been refused to them. 
 
 " Heaven grant that I may be able to control the election ! " 
 said the sub-prefect, " and the Comte de Gondreville may get 
 me appointed prefect, for I have no more wish to remain here 
 than you have, though I am a native born." 
 
 "You have a very good opportunity of being elected 
 deputy, sir," said Olivier Vinet to Marest. " Come and see 
 my father, who will, no doubt, arrive at Provins within a few 
 hours, and we will get him to have you nominated as the 
 Ministerial candidate." 
 
 " Stay where you are," said Goulard. " The ministry has 
 ideas of its own as to its candidate " 
 
 " Pooh ! Why, there are two ministries one that hopes 
 to control the election, and one that means to profit by it," 
 said Vinet. 
 
 " Do not complicate Antonin's difficulties," replied Fred- 
 eric Marest, with a knowing wink to his deputy. 
 
 The four officials, now far away from the Avenue des 
 Soupirs, crossed the market-place to the Mulct Inn on seeing 
 Poupart come out of Madame Marion's house. At that mo- 
 
 * The Legion of Honor has five ranks : knights, officers, commanders, 
 grand officers, grand-crosses.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 35 
 
 ment, in fact, the sixty-seven conspirators were pouring out 
 of the carriage gate. 
 
 "And you have been into that house?" asked Antonin 
 Goulard, pointing to the wall of the Marions' garden, backing 
 on the Brienne road opposite the stables of the Mulct. 
 
 "And I go there no -more, Monsieur le Sous-Prefet," re- 
 turned the innkeeper. " Monsieur Keller's son is dead ; I 
 have nothing more to do with it. God has made it His busi- 
 ness to clear the way " 
 
 "Well, Pigoult?" said Olivier Vinet, seeing the whole of 
 the Opposition coming out from the meeting. 
 
 "Well," echoed the notary, on whose brow the moisture 
 still testified to the energy of his efforts, " Sinot has just 
 brought us news which resulted in unanimity. With the ex- 
 ception of five dissidents Poupart, my grandfather, Mollot, 
 Sinot, and myself they have all sworn, as at a game of tennis, 
 to use every means in their power to secure the return of 
 Simon Giguet of whom I have made a mortal enemy. We 
 all got very heated ! At any rate, I got the Giguets to ful- 
 minate against the Gondrevilles, so the old count will side 
 with me. Not later than to-morrow he shall know what the 
 self-styled patriots of Arcis said about him, and his corruption, 
 and his infamous conduct, so as to shake off his protection, 
 or, as they say, his yoke." 
 
 " And they are unanimous ? " said Vinet, with a smile. 
 
 "To-day," replied Monsieur Martener. 
 
 "Oh ! " cried Pigoult, " the general feeling is in favor of 
 electing a man of the place. Whom can you find to set up 
 in opposition to Simon Giguet, who has spent two mortal 
 hours in preaching on the word Progress ! " 
 
 " We can find old Grevin ! " cried the sub-prefect. 
 
 " He has no ambition," said Pigoult. " But first and fore- 
 most we must consult the count. Just look," he went on, 
 " how attentively Simon is taking care of that old noodle 
 Beauvisage ! "
 
 36 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 And he pointed to the lawyer, who had the mayor by the 
 arm, and was talking in his ear. 
 
 Beauvisage bowed right and left to all the inhabitants, who 
 gazed at him with the deference of country towns-people for 
 the richest man in the place. 
 
 " He treats him as a father and mother ! " remarked Vinet. 
 
 "Oh ! he will do no good by buttering him up," replied 
 Pigoult, who caught the hint conveyed in Vinet's retort. 
 " Cecile's fate does not rest with either father or mother." 
 
 "With whom, then?" 
 
 " My old master. If Simon were the member for Arcis, 
 he would be no forwarder in that matter." 
 
 Though the sub-prefect and Marest pressed Pigoult hard, 
 they could get no explanation of this remark, which, as they 
 shrewdly surmised, was big with meaning, and revealed some 
 acquaintance with the intentions of the Beauvisage family. 
 
 All Arcis was in a pother, not only in consequence of the 
 distressing news that had stricken the Gondrevilles, but also 
 because of the great resolution voted at the Giguets' where, 
 at this moment, Madame Marion and the servants were hard 
 at work restoring order, that everything might be in readiness 
 for the company who would undoubtedly drop in as usual in 
 the evening in full force, attracted by curiosity. 
 
 Champagne looks, and is, but a poor country. Its aspect 
 is for the most part dreary, a dull plain. As you pass through 
 the villages, or even the towns, you see none but shabby 
 buildings of timber or concrete ; the handsomest are of brick. 
 Stone is scarcely used even for public buildings. At Arcis 
 the castle, the Palais de Justice, and the church are the only 
 edifices constructed of stone. Nevertheless, the province 
 or, at any rate, the departments of the Aube, the Marne, and 
 the Haute-Marne, rich in the vineyards which are famous 
 throughout the world also support many flourishing indus- 
 tries. To say nothing of the manufacturing centre at Reims*
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 37 
 
 almost all the hosiery of every kind produced in France, a 
 very considerable trade, is woven in and near Troyes. For 
 ten leagues round the country is inhabited by stocking- 
 weavers, whose frames may be seen through the open doors as 
 you pass through the Jiamlets. These workers deal through 
 factors with the master Speculator, who calls himself a manu- 
 facturer. The manufacturer sells to Paris houses, or, more 
 often, to retail hosiers, who stick up a sign proclaiming them- 
 selves manufacturing hosiers. 
 
 None of these middlemen ever made a stocking, or a night- 
 cap, or a sock. A large proportion of such gear comes from 
 Champagne not all, for there are weavers in Paris who com- 
 pete with the country workers. 
 
 These middlemen, coming between the producer and the 
 consumer, are a curse not peculiar to this trade. It exists in 
 most branches of commerce, and adds to the price of the 
 goods all the profit' taken by the intermediary. To do away 
 with these expensive go-betweens, who hinder the direct sale 
 of manufactured goods, would be a benevolent achievement, 
 and the magnitude of the results would raise it to the level of a 
 great political reform. Industry at large would be benefited, 
 for it would bring about such a reduction of prices to the 
 home-consumer as is needed to maintain the struggle against 
 foreign competition, a battle as murderous as that of hostile 
 armies. 
 
 But the overthrow of such an abuse as this would not secure 
 to our modern philanthropists such glory or such profit as are 
 to be obtained by fighting for the Dead Sea apples of negro 
 emancipation, or the penitentiary system ; hence this illicit 
 commerce of the middlemen, the producer's banker, will weigh 
 for a long time yet on the workers and consumers alike. In 
 France so clever as a nation it is always supposed that sim- 
 plification means destruction. We are still frightened by the 
 Revolution of 1789. 
 
 The industrial energy that always thrives in a land where
 
 38 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Nature is a grudging step-dame, sufficiently shows what progress 
 agriculture would make there if only wealth would join its 
 partnership with the land, which is not more barren in Cham- 
 pagne than in Scotland, where the outlay of capital has worked 
 miracles. And when agriculture shall have conquered the 
 unfertile tracts of that province, when industry shall have 
 scattered a little capital on the chalk-fields of Champagne, 
 prosperity will multiply threefold. The land is, in fact, 
 devoid of luxury and the dwelling-houses are bare ; but Eng- 
 lish comfort will find its way thither, money will acquire that 
 rapid circulation which is half of what makes wealth, and 
 which is now beginning in many of the torpid districts of 
 France. 
 
 Writers, officials, the church from its pulpits, the press in 
 its columns all to whom chance has given any kind of in- 
 fluence over the masses ought to proclaim it again and again : 
 "Hoarding is a social crime." The miserliness of the pro- 
 vinces stagnates the vitality of the industrial mass and im- 
 pairs the health of the nation. The little town of Arcis, for 
 instance, on the way to nowhere, and apparently sunk in 
 complete quiescence, is comparatively rich in the possession 
 of capital slowly amassed in the hosiery trade. 
 
 Monsieur Phileas Beauvisage was the Alexander or, if you 
 will, the Attila of his native town. This is how that respect- 
 able and hard-working man had conquered the dominion of 
 cotton. He was the only surviving child of the Beauvisages, 
 long settled on the fine farm of Bellache, part of the Gondre- 
 ville estate; and in 1811 his parents made a considerable 
 sacrifice to save him from the conscription by purchasing a 
 substitute. Then his mother, as a widow, had again, in 1813, 
 rescued her only son from being enlisted in the Guards by the 
 good offices of the Comte de Gondreville. 
 
 In 1813 Phileas, then twenty-one, had for three years past 
 been engaged in the pacific business of a hosier. The lease 
 of the farm of Bellache having run out, the farmer's widow
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 39 
 
 decided that she would not renew it. In fact, she foresaw 
 ample occupation for her old age in watching the investment 
 of her money. 
 
 That her later days might not be disturbed by anxiety, she 
 had a complete valuation made by Monsieur Grevin, the 
 notary, of all her husband's estate, though her son had made 
 no claims on her ; and his share was found to amount to 
 about a hundred and fifty thousand francs. The good woman 
 had not to sell her land, most of it purchased from Michu, . 
 the luckless steward of the Simeuse family. She paid her son 
 in cash, advising him to buy up his master's business. This 
 old Monsieur Pigoult was the son of the old justice of the 
 peace, and his affairs were already in such disorder that his 
 death, as has been hinted, was supposed to have been due to 
 his own act. 
 
 Phileas Beauvisage, a prudent youth, with a proper respect 
 for his mother, had soon concluded the bargain ; and as he 
 inherited from his parents the bump of acquisitiveness, as 
 phrenologists term it, his youthful zeal was thrown into the 
 business, which seemed to him immense, and which he pro- 
 posed to extend by speculation. 
 
 The Christian name Phileas, which may, perhaps, seem 
 extraordinary, was one of the many whimsical results of the 
 Revolution. The Beauvisages, as connected with the Simeuses, 
 and consequently good Catholics, had their infant baptized. 
 The cure of Cinq-Cygne, the Abbe Goujet, being consulted 
 by the farmers, advised them to take Phile'as as his patron 
 saint, his Greek name being likely to find favor in the eyes 
 of the municipality, for the boy was born at a time when chil- 
 dren were registered by the strange names in the Republican 
 kalendar. 
 
 In 1814, hosiery as a rule, a fairly regular trade was 
 liable to all the ups and downs of the cotton market. The 
 price of cotton depended on the Emperor's successes or 
 defeats ; his adversaries, the English generals in Spain, would
 
 40 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 say: "The town is ours; send up the bales." Pigoult, 
 Phil6as' retiring master, supplied his weavers in the country 
 with yarn. At the time when he sold his business to young 
 Beauvisage, he had in stock a large supply of cotton yarns, 
 purchased when they were at the dearest, while cotton was 
 now being brought in through Lisbon in vast quantities at six 
 sous the kilogramme, in virtue of the Emperor's famous 
 decree. The reaction in France, caused by the importation 
 of this cheap cotton, brought about Pigoult's death, and laid 
 the foundation of Beauvisage's fortune; for he, instead of 
 losing his head like his old master, bought up twice as much 
 cotton as his predecessor had in stock, and so struck a medium 
 average price. This simple transaction enabled Phileas to 
 triple his output of manufactured goods, while apparently a 
 benefactor to the workers ; and he could sell his produce in 
 Paris and the provinces at a profit when others were merely 
 recovering the cost price. By the beginning of 1814 his 
 manufactured stock was exhausted. 
 
 The prospect of war on French soil, which would be espe- 
 cially disastrous to Champagne, made him cautious. He 
 manufactured no more goods, and by realizing his capital in 
 solid gold, stood prepared for the event. At that time the 
 custom-houses were a dead letter. Napoleon had been obliged 
 to enlist his thirty thousand customs officials to defend the 
 country. Cotton, smuggled in through a thousand gaps in 
 the hedge, was flung into every market. It is impossible to 
 give an idea of the liveliness and cunning of cotton at that 
 date, or of the avidity with which the English clutched at a 
 country where cotton stockings were worth six francs a pair, 
 and cambric shirts were an article of luxury. 
 
 Manufacturers on a smaller scale and the master workmen, 
 counting on Napoleon's genius and luck, had invested in 
 cotton coming through Spain. This they were working up, 
 in the hope of presently dictating terms to the Paris retail 
 stores. All this Phileas noted. Then, when the province
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC1S. 41 
 
 was devastated by war, he stood between the army and Paris. 
 As each battle was lost he went to the weavers who had hidden 
 their goods in casks silos of hosiery and, cash in hand, this 
 Cossack of the trade, going from village to village, bought up, 
 below cost price, these barrels of stockings, which might fall 
 any day into the hantk of foes whose feet wanted covering as 
 badly as their throats wanted liquor. 
 
 At this period of disaster, Phileas displayed a degree of 
 energy that was almost a match for the Emperor's. This 
 captain of the hosiery trade fought the commercial campaign 
 of 18:4 with a courage that remains unrecognized. One 
 league behind, wherever the general was one league in advance, 
 he bought up cotton nightcaps and stockings as his trophies, 
 while the Emperor in his reverses plucked immortal palms. 
 The genius was equal in both, though exercised in widely 
 different spheres, since one was eager to cover as many heads 
 as the other hoped to fell. Compelled to create means of 
 transport to save his casks full of stockings, which he stored 
 in a Paris suburb, Phileas often requisitioned horses and 
 wagons, as though the safety of the Empire depended on him. 
 And was not the majesty of Trade as good as that of Napo- 
 leon? Had not the English merchants, after subsidizing 
 Europe, got the upper hand of the giant who threatened their 
 ships? 
 
 While the Emperor was abdicating at Fontainebleau, Phileas 
 was the triumphant master of the "article." As a result of 
 his clever manoeuvres, the price of cotton was kept down, and 
 he had doubled his fortune when many manufacturers thought 
 themselves lucky to get rid of their goods at a loss of fifty per 
 cent. He returned to Arcis with three hundred thousand 
 francs, half of which, invested in the Funds, brought him 
 fifteen thousand francs a year. One hundred thousand he 
 used to double the capital needed for his business ; and he 
 spent the remainder in building, decorating, and furnishing a 
 fine house in the Place du Pont, at Arcis.
 
 42 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 On his return in triumph, the hosier naturally confided his 
 story to Monsieur Grevin. The notary had a daughter to 
 marry, just twenty years of age. Grevin's father-in-law, who 
 for forty years had practiced as a doctor at Arcis, was at that 
 time still alive. Grevin was a widower ; he knew that old 
 Madame Beauvisage was rich ; he believed in the energy and 
 capacity of a young man who had thus boldly utilized the 
 campaign of 1814. Severine Grevin's fortune from her mother 
 was sixty thousand francs. What was old Dr. Varlet to leave 
 her ? As much again, at most ! Grevin was already fifty ; 
 he was very much afraid of dying ; he saw no chance, after 
 the Restoration, of marrying his daughter as he would wish - 
 for her he was ambitious. 
 
 Under these circumstances, he contrived to have it sug- 
 gested to Phil6as that he should propose for Severine. Made- 
 moiselle Grevin, well brought up and handsome, was regarded 
 as one of the good matches of the town. Also, the connec- 
 tion with the most intimate friend of the Comte de Gondre- 
 ville, who retained his dignity as a peer of France, was, of 
 course, an honor for the son of one of the Gondreville 
 farmers. The widow would, indeed, have made a sacrifice to 
 achieve it. But when she heard that her son's suit was suc- 
 cessful, she held her hand, and gave him nothing, an act of 
 prudence in which the notary followed suit. And thus the 
 marriage was brought about between the son of the farmer 
 who had been so faithful to the Simeuses, and the daughter of 
 one of their most determined enemies. This, perhaps, was 
 the only instance in which Louis XVIII. 's motto found 
 application " Union et oubli" (union and oblivion). 
 
 When the Bourbons returned for the second time, old Dr. 
 Varlet died, at the age of seventy-six, leaving in his cellar 
 two hundred thousand francs in gold, beside other property 
 valued at an equal sum. Thus, in 1816, Phileas and his wife 
 found themselves possessed of thirty thousand francs a year, 
 apart from the profits of the business ; for Grevin wished to
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 43 
 
 invest his daughter's money in land, and Beauvisage made no 
 objection. The interest on Severine Grevin's share of her 
 grandfather's money amounted to scarcely fifteen thousand 
 francs a year, in spite of the good opportunities for invest- 
 ment which Grevin kept a lookout for. 
 
 The two first years- of married life were enough to show 
 Grevin and his daughter how incapable Phileas really was. 
 The hawk's eye of commercial greed had seemed to be the 
 effect of superior capacity, and the old notary had mistaken 
 youthfulness for power, and luck for a talent for business. 
 But though Phileas could read and write, and do sums to 
 admiration, he had never read a book. Miserably ignorant, 
 conversation with him was out of the question ; he could re- 
 spond by a deluge of commonplace, expressed pleasantly 
 enough. But, as the son of a farmer, he was not wanting in 
 commercial acumen. 
 
 Other men must be plain with him, clear and explicit ; but 
 he never was the same to his adversary. 
 
 Tender and kind-hearted, Phileas wept at the least touch of 
 pathos. This made him reverent to his wife, whose superi- 
 ority filled him with unbounded admiration. Severine, a 
 woman of brains, knew everything according to Phileas. 
 And she was all the more accurate in her judgments because 
 she consulted her father on every point. Also, she had a very 
 firm temper, and this made her absolute mistress in her own 
 house. As soon as this point was gained, the old notary felt 
 less regret at seeing his daughter happy through a mastery 
 which is always gratifying to a wife of determined character. 
 Still, there was the woman ! 
 
 This, it was said, was what befell the woman. 
 
 At the time of the reaction of 1815. a certain Vicomte de 
 Chargeboeuf, of the poorer branch, was appointed sub-prefect 
 at Arcis by the influence of the Marquise de Cinq-Cygne, to 
 whom he was related. This young gentleman remained there 
 as sub-prefect for five years. Handsome Madame Beauvisage,
 
 44 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 it was said, had something to do with the long stay much 
 too long for his advantage made by the vicomte in this 
 small post. At the same time, it must at once be said that 
 these hints were never justified by the scandals which betray 
 such love affairs, so difficult to conceal from the Argus eyes of 
 a small country town. " If SeVerine loved the Vicomte de 
 Chargeboeuf, if he loved her, it was a blameless and honora- 
 ble attachment," said all the friends of the Grdvins and the 
 Marions. And these two sets imposed their opinion on the 
 immediate neighborhood. But the Grevins and the Marions 
 had no influence over the Royalists, and the Royalists de- 
 clared that the sub-prefect was a happy man. 
 
 As soon as the Marquise de Cinq-Cygne heard what was 
 rumored as to her young relation, she sent for him to Cinq- 
 Cygne ; and so great was her horror of all who were ever so 
 remotely connected with the actors in the judicial tragedy 
 that had been so fatal to her family, that she desired the vis- 
 count to live elsewhere. She got him appointed to Sancerre 
 as sub-prefect, promising to secure his promotion. Some 
 acute observers asserted that the viscount had pretended to be 
 in love, so as to be made prefect, knowing how deeply the 
 marquise hated the name of Grevin. Others, on the other 
 hand, remarked on the coincidence of the Vicomte de Charge- 
 boeuf's visits to Paris with those made by Madame Beauvisage 
 under the most trivial pretexts. An impartial historian would 
 find it very difficult to form an opinion as to facts thus en- 
 wrapped in the mystery of private life. 
 
 A single circumstance seemed to turn the scale in favor of 
 scandal. Cecile-Renee Beauvisage was born in 1820, when 
 Monsieur de Chargeboeuf was leaving Arcis, and one of the 
 sous-prefet's names was Rene. The name was given her by 
 the Comte de Gondreville, her godfather. If the mother had 
 raised any objection to her child's having that name, she 
 might possibly have confirmed these suspicions ; and as the 
 world must always be in the right, this was supposed to be a
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 46 
 
 little bit of mischief on the part of the old peer. Madame 
 Keller, the count's daughter, was the godmother, and her 
 name was Cecile. 
 
 As to Cecile-Renee Beauvisage's face, the likeness is strik- 
 ing ! not to her father or her mother ; as time goes on, she 
 has become the litfi.Hg image of the viscount, even to his 
 aristocratic manner. This likeness, moral and physical, has 
 however escaped the ken of the good folk of Arcis, for the 
 vicomte never returned there. 
 
 At any rate, Severine made Phileas happy in his own way. 
 He was fond of good living and the comforts of life; she 
 gave him the choicest wines, a table fit for a bishop, catered 
 for by the best cook in the department ; but she made no dis- 
 play of luxury, keeping house in the style required by the 
 plain citizens of Arcis. It was a saying at Arcis that you 
 should dine with Madame Beauvisage, and spend the evening 
 with Madame Marion. 
 
 The importance to which the House of Cinq-Cygne was at 
 once raised by the Restoration had naturally tightened the 
 bonds that held together all the families in the district who 
 had been in any way concerned in the trial as to the tem- 
 porary disappearance of Gondreville. The Marions, the 
 Grevins, and the Giguets held together all the more closely 
 because, to secure the triumph of their so-called constitutional 
 party at the coming elections, harmonious cooperation would 
 be necessary. 
 
 Severine, of aforethought, kept Beauvisage busy with his 
 hosiery trade, from which any other man might have retired, 
 sending him to Paris or about the country on business. In- 
 deed, till 1830, Phileas, who thus found work for his bump 
 of acquisitiveness, earned every year as much as he spent, be- 
 side the interest on his capital, while taking things easy and 
 doing his work "in slippers," as they say. Hence, the in- 
 terest and fortune of Monsieur and Madame Beauvisage, in- 
 vested for fifteen years past by the constant care of old Grevin,
 
 46 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 would amount, in 1830, to five hundred thousand francs. 
 This, in fact, was at that time Cecile's marriage-portion ; and 
 the old notary invested it in three and a half per cents, 
 bought at fifty, and so yielding thirty thousand francs a year. 
 So no one was mistaken when estimating the fortune of the 
 Beauvisages at a guess at eighty thousand francs a year. 
 
 In 1830 they sold the business to Jean Violette, one of 
 their agents, the grandson of one of the most important 
 witnesses for the prosecution in the Simeuse trial, and had 
 invested the purchase-money, estimated at three hundred 
 thousand francs. And Monsieur and Madame Beauvisage 
 had still in prospect the money that would come to them 
 from old Grevin and from the old farmer's widow, each sup- 
 posed to be worth fifteen to twenty thousand francs a year. 
 
 These great provincial fortunes are the product of time 
 multiplied by economy. Thirty years of old age are in them- 
 selves a capital. Even if they gave Cecile a portion of fifty 
 thousand francs a year, Monsieur and Madame Beauvisage 
 would still inherit two fortunes, beside keeping thirty thou- 
 sand francs a year and their house at Arcis. 
 
 As soon as the old Marquise de Cinq-Cygne should die, 
 Cecile would be an acceptable match for the young marquis ; 
 but that lady's health strong, and almost handsome still at 
 the age of sixty negatived any such hope, if, indeed, it had 
 ever entered into the mind of Grevin and his daughter, as 
 some persons asserted who were surprised at the rejection of 
 suitors so eligible as the sub-prefect and the public prosecutor. 
 
 The house built by Beauvisage, one of the handsomest in 
 Arcis, stands in the Place du Pont, in a line with the Rue 
 Vide-Bourse, and at the corner of the Rue du Pont, which 
 slopes up to the Church Square. Though, like many pro- 
 vincial town-houses, it has neither forecourt nor garden, it 
 has a rather good effect in spite of some bad taste in the 
 decorations. The house door a double door opens from the 
 gtreet, The windows pn the first floor overlook the Poste
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC1S. 47 
 
 Inn, on the street side, and on the side toward the square 
 have a view of the picturesque reaches of the Aube, which is 
 navigable below this bridge. On the other side of the bridge 
 is a corresponding place or square. Here stood Monsieur 
 Grevin's house, and here begins the road to Sezanne. 
 
 The Beauvisage hOJise, carefully painted white, might pass 
 for being built of stone. The height of the windows and the 
 enriched outside mouldings contribute to give the building 
 a certain style, enhanced, no doubt, by the poverty-stricken 
 appearance of most of the houses in the town, constructed as 
 they are of timber, and coated with stucco made to imitate 
 stone. Still, even these dwellings have a stamp of originality, 
 since each architect, or each owner, has exerted his ingenuity 
 to solve the problems of this mode of construction. 
 
 On each of the open spaces at either end of the bridge, an 
 example may be seen of this peculiar architecture. In the 
 middle of the row of houses in the square, to the left of the 
 Beauvisage house, may be seen the frail store the walls 
 painted plum-color, and the woodwork green occupied by 
 Jean Violette, grandson of the famous farmer of Grouage, one 
 of the chief witnesses in the case of the senator's disappear- 
 ance ;* to him, in 1830, Beauvisage had made over his con- 
 nection and his stock-in-trade, and, it was said, had lent him 
 capital. 
 
 The bridge of Arcis is of timber. At about a hundred 
 yards above this bridge the current is checked by another 
 bridge supporting the tall wooden buildings of a mill with 
 several wheels. The space between the road bridge and this 
 private dam forms a pool, on each side of which stand some 
 good houses. Through a gap, and over the roofs, the hill is 
 seen where stands the Chateau d'Arcis, with its gardens, its 
 paddock, its surrounding walls and trees, commanding the 
 upper river of the Aube and the poor meadows of the left 
 bank. 
 
 * These allusions are explained in "A Historical Mystery,"
 
 48 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 The character of the buildings is so various that the tourist 
 might find a specimen representative of every country. On 
 the North side of the pool, where ducks sport and gobble in 
 the water, there is, for instance, an almost Southern-looking 
 house with an incurved roof covered with pantiles, such as 
 are used in Italy ; on one side of it is a small garden plot on 
 the quay in which vines grow over a trellis, and two or three 
 trees. It recalls some corner of Rome, where, on the banks 
 of the Tiber, houses of this type may be seen. Opposite, on 
 the other shore, is a large dwelling with a pent-house roof 
 and balconies like those of a Swiss chalet ; to complete the 
 illusion, between it and the weir lies a wide meadow, planted 
 with poplars on each side of a narrow graveled path. And, 
 crowning the town, the buildings of the castle, looking all 
 the more imposing as it stands up amid such frail structures, 
 seem to represent the one-time grandeur of the old French 
 aristocracy. 
 
 Though the two squares at the ends of the bridge are inter- 
 sected by the Sezanne road, an abominable road too, and very 
 ill kept, and though they are the liveliest spots in the town 
 for the offices of the justice of the peace and of the mayor of 
 Arcis are both in the Rue Vide-Bourse a Parisian would 
 think the place strangely rustic and deserted. The landscape 
 is altogether artless ; standing on the square by the bridge, 
 opposite the Poste Inn, a farmyard pump is to be seen ; to be 
 sure, for nearly half a century a similar one commanded our 
 admiration in the grand courtyard of the Louvre. 
 
 Nothing can more aptly illustrate provincial life than the 
 utter silence that reigns in this little town, even in its busiest 
 quarter. It may easily be supposed how agitating is the pres- 
 ence of a stranger, even if he stays but half a day, and what 
 eager faces lean from every window to watch him ; and, then, 
 picture the chronic espionage exercised by the residents over 
 each other. Life becomes so nearly monastic that, excepting 
 on Sundays and fete-days, a visitor will not meet a creature
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 49 
 
 on the boulevards or in the Avenue des Soupirs nowhere, in 
 short, not even in the streets. 
 
 It will now be obvious why the front of Monsieur Beau- 
 visage's house was in a line with the street and the square : 
 the square served as a forecourt. As he sat at the window, 
 the retired hosier co'ukl get a raking view of the Church 
 Square, of those at the two ends of the bridge, and of the 
 Sezanne road. He could see the coaches and travelers arrive 
 at the Hotel de la Poste. And on days when the court was 
 sitting, he could see the stir in front of the justice-house and 
 the mairie. And, indeed, Beauvisage would not have ex- 
 changed his house for the castle in spite of its lordly appear- 
 ance, its stone masonry, and its commanding position. 
 
 On entering the house, you found yourself in a hall, and 
 facing a staircase beyond. On the right was a large drawing- 
 room, with two windows to the square, on the left a handsome 
 dining-room looking on to the street. The bedrooms were 
 on the second floor. 
 
 In spite of their wealth, the Beauvisage household consisted 
 of a cook and a housemaid, a peasant-woman who washed, 
 ironed, and cleaned, not often being required to wait on ma- 
 dame and mademoiselle, who waited on each other to fill up 
 their time. Since the hosiery business had been sold, the 
 horse and trap, formerly used by Phileas, and kept at the inn, 
 had also been disposed of. 
 
 Just as Phileas went in, his wife, who had been informed of 
 the resolution passed at the meeting, had put on her shoes 
 and her shawl to call on her father ; for she rightly guessed 
 that in the course of the evening Madame Marion would 
 throw out some hints preliminary to proposing Simon for 
 Cecile. 
 
 After telling her about Charles Keller's death, Phileas asked 
 her opinion with a simplicity that proved a habit of respecting 
 Severine's views on all subjects. 
 4
 
 50 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "What do you say to that, wife?" said he, and then sat 
 down to await her reply. 
 
 In 1839 Madame Beauvisage, though forty-four years of age, 
 still looked so young that she might have been the "double" 
 of Mademoiselle Mars. If the reader can remember the 
 most charming Celimene ever seen on the stage of the Fran- 
 c.ais, he may form an exact idea of Severine Beauvisage. 
 There were in both the same roundness of form, the same 
 beautiful features, the same finished outline ; but the hosier's 
 wife was too short, and thus missed the dignified grace, the 
 coquettish, the la Sevignc style, which dwell in the memory of 
 those who have lived through the Empire and the Restoration. 
 And then provincial habits, and the careless way of dressing 
 which Severine had allowed herself to drift into for ten years 
 past, gave a common look to that handsome profile and fine fea- 
 tures, and she had grown stout, which disfigured what for the 
 first twelve years of her married life had been really a magnifi- 
 cent person. Severine's imperfections were redeemed by a 
 queenly glance, full of pride and command, and by a turn of 
 the head that asserted her dignity. Her hair, still black, long, 
 and thick, crowning her head with a broad plait, gave her 
 a youthful look. Her shoulders and bosom were as white 
 as snow, but all too full and puffy, spoiling the lines of 
 the throat and making it too short. Her arms, too stout and 
 dimpled, ended in hands which, though pretty and small, were 
 too plump. She was so overfull of life and health that the 
 flesh, in spite of all her care, made a little roll above her shoe. 
 A pair of earrings, without pendants, each worth a thousand 
 crowns, adorned her ears. 
 
 She had on a lace cap with pink ribbons, a morning-gown 
 of delaine, striped in pink and gray, and trimmed with green, 
 opening over a petticoat with a narrow frill of Valenciennes 
 lace edging, and a green Indian shawl, of which the point 
 hung to the ground. Her feet did not seem comfortable in 
 their bronze kid shoes.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 51 
 
 " You cannot be so hungry," said she, looking at her hus- 
 band, " but that you can wait half an hour. My father will 
 have finished dinner, but I cannot eat mine in comfort till I 
 know what he thinks, and whether we ought to go out to 
 Gondreville " 
 
 " Yes, yes, go, my dc'ar ; I can wait," said the hosier. 
 
 " Bless me ! shall I never cure you of addressing me as 
 tu ? "* she exclaimed, with a meaning shrug. 
 
 "I have never done so in company by any chance since 
 1817," replied Phileas. 
 
 "But you constantly do so before your daughter and the 
 servants " 
 
 "As you please, Severine," said Beauvisage dejectedly. 
 
 "Above all things, do not say a word to Cecile about the 
 resolution of the electors," added Madame Beauvisage, who 
 was looking at herself in the glass while arranging her shawl. 
 
 " Shall I go with you to see your father? " asked Phileas. 
 
 " No ; stay with Cecile. Beside, Jean Violette is to call 
 to-day to pay the rest of the money he owes you. He will 
 bring you his twenty thousand francs. This is the third time 
 he has asked for three months' grace ; grant him no more 
 time, and if he cannot pay up, take his note of hand to Courtet 
 the bailiff; we must do things regularly, and apply to the 
 court. Achille Pigoult will tell you how to get the money. 
 That Violette is the worthy descendant of his grandfather ! I 
 believe him quite capable of making money out of a bank- 
 ruptcy. He has no sense of honor or justice." 
 
 " He is a very clever fellow," said Beauvisage. 
 
 "You handed over to him a connection and stock-in-trade 
 that were well worth fifty thousand francs for thirty thousand, 
 and in eight years he has only paid you ten thousand " 
 
 "I never had the law of any man," replied Beauvisage, 
 
 *Tu (thou) instead of vous (you) is used in domestic and familiar in- 
 tercourse. TRANSLATOR.
 
 52 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "and would rather lose my money than torment the poor 
 fellow " 
 
 "A poor fellow who is making a fool of you." 
 
 Beauvisage was silent. Finding nothing to say in reply to 
 this brutal remark, he stared at the drawing-room floor. 
 
 The gradual extinction of Beauvisage's intellect was perhaps 
 due to too much sleep. He was in bed every night by eight 
 o'clock, and remained there till eight next morning, and for 
 twenty years had slept for twelve hours on end without ever 
 waking ; or, if such a serious event should supervene, it was to 
 him the most extraordinary fact he would talk about it all 
 day. He then spent about an hour dressing, for his wife had 
 drilled him into never appearing in her presence at breakfast 
 till he was shaved, washed, and properly dressed. 
 
 When he was in business he went off after breakfast to attend 
 to it, and did not come in till dinner-time. Since 1832 he 
 would call on his father-in-law instead, and take a walk or 
 pay visits in the town. He always was seen in boots, blue 
 cloth trousers, a white vest, and a blue coat, the dress insisted 
 on by his wife. His linen was exquisitely fine and white, 
 Severine requiring him to have a clean shirt every day. This 
 care of his person, so unusual in the country, contributed to 
 the respect in which he was held, as in Paris we remark a man 
 of fashion. 
 
 Thus the outer man of this worthy and solemn nightcap- 
 seller denoted a person of worship ; and his wife was too 
 shrewd ever to have said a word that could let the public of 
 Arcis into the secret of her disappointment and of her hus- 
 band's ineptitude ; while he, by dint of smiles, obsequious 
 speeches, and airs of wealth, passed muster as a man of great 
 importance. It was reported that Severine was so jealous that 
 she would not allow him to go out in the evening, while 
 Phileas was expressing roses and lilies for his complexion 
 under the weight of blissful slumbers. 
 
 Beauvisage, whose life was quite to his mind, cared for by
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 53 
 
 his wife, well served by the two maids, and petted by his 
 daughter, declared himself and was the happiest man in 
 Arcis. Severine's feeling for her commonplace husband was 
 not without the hue of protective pity that a mother feels for 
 her children. She disguised the stern remarks she felt called 
 upon to make to him under a jesting tone. There was not a 
 more peaceful household ; and Phileas' dislike to company, 
 which sent him to sleep, as he could not play any games of 
 cards, had left Severine free to dispose of her evenings. 
 
 Cecile's entrance put an end to her father's embarrassment. 
 He looked up. 
 
 " How fine you are ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 Madame Beauvisage turned round sharply with a piercing 
 look at her daughter, who blushed under it. 
 
 "Why, Cecile! who told you to dress up in that style?" 
 asked the mother. 
 
 "Are we not going to Madame Marion's this evening? I 
 dressed to see how my gown fits." 
 
 "Cecile, Cecile!" said Severine, "why try to deceive 
 your mother ? It is not right ; I am not pleased with you. 
 You are trying to hide something " 
 
 " Why, what has she done ? " asked Beauvisage, enchanted 
 to see his daughter so fresh and smart. 
 
 "What has she done? I will tell her," said the mother, 
 threatening her only child with an ominous finger. 
 
 Cecile threw her arms round her mother's neck, hugged 
 and petted her, which, in an only child, is a sure way of win- 
 ning the day. 
 
 Cecile Beauvisage, a young lady of nineteen, had dressed 
 herself in a pale gray silk frock, trimmed with brandenburgs 
 of a darker shade to look in front like a coat. The body, 
 with its buttons and jockey tails, formed a point in front, and 
 laced up the back, like stays. This sort of corset fitted exactly 
 to the line of the back, hips and bust. The skirt, with three 
 rows of narrow fringe, hung in pretty folds, and the cut and
 
 54 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 style proclaimed the hand of a Paris dressmaker. A light 
 handkerchief trimmed with lace was worn over the body. 
 The heiress had knotted a pink kerchief round her throat, 
 and wore a straw hat with a moss rose in it. She had fine, 
 black netted mittens and bronze kid boots ; in short, but for 
 a certain "Sunday-best " effect, this turn-out, as of a figure 
 in a fashion-plate, could not fail to charm her father and 
 mother. And Cecile was a pretty girl, of medium height, 
 and well proportioned. Her chestnut hair was dressed in 
 the fashion of the day, in two thick plaits, forming loops on 
 each side of her face, and fastened up at the back of her head. 
 Her face, bright with health, had the aristocratic stamp which 
 she had not inherited from her father or her mother. Thus 
 her clear brown eyes had not a trace of the soft, calm, almost 
 melancholy look so common in young girls. Sprightly, quick, 
 and healthy, Cecile destroyed the romantic cast of her features 
 by a sort of practical homeliness and the freedom of manner 
 often seen in spoilt children. At the same time, a husband 
 who should be capable of recommencing her education and 
 effacing the traces of a provincial life might extract a charm- 
 ing woman from this rough-hewn marble. 
 
 In point of fact, Sdverine's pride of her daughter had coun- 
 teracted the effects of her love for her. Madame Beauvisage 
 had had firmness enough to bring her daughter up well ; she 
 had assumed a certain severity which exacted obedience and 
 eradicated the little evil that was indigenous in the child's 
 soul. The mother and daughter had never been separated ; 
 and Cecile was blessed with what is rarer among girls than is 
 commonly supposed perfect and unblemished purity of mind, 
 innocence of heart, and genuine guilelessness. 
 
 "Your dress is highly suggestive," said Madame Beau- 
 visage. "Did Simon Giguet say anything to you yesterday 
 which you did not confide to me?" 
 
 "Well, well!" said Phileas, "a man who is to be the 
 representative of his fellow-citizens
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 55 
 
 " My dear mamma," said Cecile in her mother's ear, " he 
 bores me to death but there is not another man in Arcis ! " 
 
 "Your opinion of him is quite correct. But wait till we 
 know what your grandfather thinks," said Madame Beau- 
 visage, embracing her daughter, whose reply betrayed great 
 good sense, though ifc-showed that her innocence had been 
 tarnished by a thought of marriage. 
 
 Monsieur Grevin's house, situated on the opposite bank of 
 the river, at the corner of the little square beyond the bridge, 
 was one of the oldest in the town. It was built of wood, the 
 interstices between the timbers being filled up with pebbles, 
 and it was covered with a smooth coating of cement painted 
 stone-color. In spite of this coquettish artifice, it looked, all 
 the same, like a house built of cards. 
 
 The garden, lying along the river bank, had a terrace wall 
 with vases for flower-pots. 
 
 This modest dwelling, with its stout wooden shutters painted 
 stone-color like the walls, was furnished with a simplicity to 
 correspond with the exterior. On entering you found your- 
 self in a small pebbled courtyard, divided from the garden by a 
 green trellis. On the first floor the old notary's office had 
 been turned into a drawing-room, with windows looking out 
 on the river and the square, furnished with very old and very 
 faded green Utrecht velvet. The lawyer's study was now his 
 dining-room. Everything bore the stamp of the owner, the 
 philosophical old man who led one of those lives that flow 
 like the waters of a country stream, the envy of political 
 harlequins when at last their eyes are opened to the vanity of 
 social distinctions, and when they are tired of a mad struggle 
 with the tide of human affairs. 
 
 While Severine is making her way across the bridge to see 
 if her father has finished his dinner, it may be well to give a 
 few minutes' study to the person, the life, and the opinions of 
 the old man whose friendship with the Comte Malin de 
 Gondreville secured him the respect of the whole neighbor-
 
 56 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 hood. This is a plain unvarnished tale of the notary who for 
 a long time had been, to all intents and purposes, the only 
 notary in Arcis. 
 
 In 1787 two youths set out from Arcis with letters of recom- 
 mendation to a member of the Council named Danton. This 
 famous revolutionary was a native of Arcis. His house is still 
 shown, and his family still lives there. This may perhaps 
 account for the influence of the Revolution being so strongly 
 felt in that part of the province. 
 
 Danton articled his young fellow-countrymen to a lawyer of 
 the Chatelet, who became famous for an action against the 
 Comte Morton de Chabrillant concerning his box at the 
 theatre on the occasion of the first performance of the 
 " Mariage de Figaro," when the " Parlement " took the 
 lawyer's side as considering itself insulted in the person of 
 its legal representative. 
 
 One of the young men was named Malin, and the other 
 Grevin ; each was an only son. Malin's father was at time 
 the owner of the house in which Grevin was now living. 
 They were mutually and faithfully attached. Malin, a shrewd 
 fellow, with good brains and high ambitions, had the gift of 
 eloquence. Grevin, honest and hard-working, made it his 
 business to admire Malin. 
 
 They returned to the country when the Revolution began ; 
 Malin as a pleader at Troyes, Grdvin to be a notary at Arcis. 
 Grevin, always Malin's humble servant, got him returned as 
 deputy to the Convention; Malin had Grevin appointed 
 prosecuting magistrate at Arcis. Until the pth Thermidor, 
 Malin remained unknown ; he always voted with the strong 
 to crush the weak; but Tallien showed him the necessity for 
 crushing Robespierre. Then in that terrific parliamentary 
 battle, Malin distinguished himself; he showed courage at the 
 right moment. 
 
 From that day he began to play a part as a politician ; he 
 was one of the heroes of the rank and file ; he deserted from
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 57 
 
 the party of the " Thermidoriens " to join that of the 
 "Clichiens," and was one of the Council of Elders. After 
 allying himself with Talleyrand and Fouche to conspire 
 against Bonaparte, he with them became one of Bona- 
 parte's most ardent partisans after the victory of Marengo. 
 Appointed tribune, Tte was one of the first to be elected to 
 the Council of State, worked at the revision of the Code, 
 and was soon promoted to senatorial dignity with the title 
 of Comte de Gondreville. 
 
 This was the political side of their career. Now for the 
 financial side. 
 
 Grevin was the most active and most crafty instrument of 
 the Comte de Gondreville's fortune in the district of Arcis. 
 The estate of Gondreville had belonged to the Simeuse 
 family, a good old house of provincial nobility, decimated by 
 the guillotine, of which the two surviving heirs, both young 
 soldiers, were serving in Conde's army. The estate, sold as 
 nationalized land, was purchased by Grevin for Malin, under 
 Marion's name. Grevin, in fact, acquired for his friend. the 
 larger part of the church lands sold by the Republic in the 
 department of the Aube. Malin sent the sums necessary for 
 these purchases, not forgetting a bonus to the agent. When, 
 presently, the Directory was supreme by which time Malin 
 was a power in the Republic the sales were taken up in his 
 name. 
 
 Then Grevin was a notary, and Malin in the Council of 
 State ; Grevin became mayor of Arcis, Malin was senator and 
 Comte de Gondreville. Malin married the daughter of a 
 millionaire army-contractor ; Grevin married the only daugh- 
 ter of Monsieur Varlet, the leading doctor in Arcis. The 
 Comte de Gondreville had three hundred thousand francs a 
 year, a fine house in Paris, and the splendid castle of Gondre- 
 ville. One of his daughters married a Paris banker, one of 
 the Kellers ; the other became the wife of Marshal the Due 
 de Carigliano.
 
 58 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Grevin, a rich man too, with fifteen thousand francs a year, 
 owned the house where he was now peacefully ending his 
 days in strict economy, having managed his friend's business 
 for him, and bought this house from him for six thousand 
 francs. The Comte de Gondreville was eighty years of age, 
 and Grevin seventy-six. The peer, taking his walk in his 
 park, the old notary in what had been that peer's father's 
 garden, each in his warm morning wrapper, hoarded crown 
 upon crown. Not a cloud had chequered this friendship of 
 sixty years. The notary had always been subservient to the 
 member of the convention, the councilor of State, the sen- 
 ator, the peer of France. 
 
 After the Revolution of July, Malin, being in Arcis, had 
 said to Gr6vin 
 
 "Would you care to have the cross?" (of the Legion of 
 Honor). 
 
 " And what would I do with it ? " replied Grevin. 
 
 Neither had ever failed the other. They had always ad- 
 vised and inform'ed each other without envy on one side or 
 arrogance or offensive airs on the other. Malin had always 
 been obliged to do his best for Grevin, for all Grevin's pride 
 was in the Comte de Gondreville. Grevin was as much the 
 Comte de Gondreville as Malin himself. At the same time, 
 since the Revolution of July, when Grevin, already an old 
 man, had given up the management of the comte's affairs, 
 and when the count, failing from age and from the part he 
 had played in so many political storms, was settling down to 
 a quiet life, the old men sure of each other's regard, but no 
 longer needing each other's help had met but rarely. On 
 his way to his country place or on his return journey to Paris, 
 the count would call on Grevin, who paid the count a visit or 
 two while he was at Gondreville. 
 
 Their children were scarcely acquainted. Neither Madame 
 Keller nor the Duchesse de Carigliano had ever formed any 
 intimacy with Mademoiselle Grevin either before or since her
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 59 
 
 marriage to Beauvisage the hosier. This scorn, whether 
 apparent or real, greatly puzzled Severine. Grevin, as mayor 
 of Arcis under the Empire, a man kind and helpful to all, 
 had, in the exercise of his power, conciliated and overcome 
 many difficulties. His good humor, bluntness, and honesty 
 had won the regard and affection of his district ; and beside, 
 everybody respected him as a man who could command the 
 favor, the power, and the influence of the Comte de Gondre- 
 ville. 
 
 By this time, however, when the notary's active participa- 
 tion in public business was a thing of the past, when for eight 
 years he had been almost forgotten in the town of Arcis, and 
 his death might be expected any day, Grevin, like his old friend 
 Malin, vegetated rather than lived. He never went beyond 
 his garden ; he grew his flowers, pruned his trees, inspected 
 his vegetables and his grafts like all old men, he seemed to 
 practice being a corpse. His life was as regular as clockwork. 
 
 In all weathers he wore the same clothes : heavy shoes, 
 oiled to keep out the wet, loose worsted stockings, thick gray 
 flannel trousers strapped round the waist, without braces ; a 
 wide vest of thin sky-blue cloth with horn buttons, and a 
 coat of gray flannel to match the trousers. On his head he 
 wore a little round beaver-skin cap, which he never took off 
 in the house. In the summer a black velvet cap took the 
 place of the fur cap, and he wore an iron-gray cloth coat 
 instead of the thick flannel one. 
 
 He was of medium height, and stout, as a healthy old man 
 should be, which made him move a little heavily ; his pace 
 was slow, as is natural to men of sedentary habits. Up by 
 daybreak, he made the most careful and elaborate toilet ; he 
 shaved himself, he walked round his garden, he looked at the 
 weather and consulted the barometer, opening the drawing- 
 room shutters himself. He hoed, he raked, he hunted out 
 the caterpillars he would always find occupation till breakfast- 
 time. After breakfast he devoted two hours to digestion,
 
 60 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 thinking of heaven knows what. Almost every day, between 
 two and five, his grand-daughter came to see him, sometimes 
 brought by the maid, and sometimes, more often, in fact, by 
 her mother. 
 
 There were days when this mechanical routine was upset. 
 He had to receive the farmers' rents, and payments in kind, 
 to be at once resold ; but this little business was but once a 
 month on a market-day. What became of the money? No 
 one knew, not even Severine or Cecile ; on that point Grevin 
 was as mute as the confessional. Still, all the old man's 
 feelings had in the end centred in his daughter and his grand- 
 child ; he really loved them more than his money. 
 
 This septuagenarian, so neat in his person, with his round 
 face, his bald forehead, his blue eyes and thin white hair, had 
 a tinge of despotism in his temper, as men have when they 
 have met with no resistance from men and things. His only 
 great fault, and that deeply hidden, for nothing had ever 
 called it into play, was a persistent and terrible vindictiveness, 
 a rancor which Malin had never roused. Grevin had always 
 been at Malin's service, but he had always found him grateful ; 
 the count had never humiliated or offended his friend, whose 
 nature he knew thoroughly. 
 
 Severine was affectionately attached to her father ; she and 
 her daughter never left the making of his linen to any one 
 else. They knitted his winter stockings, and watched his 
 health with minute care. Before leaving the goodman's 
 house every day Severine or Cecile inquired as to what his 
 dinner was to be next day, and sent him early vegetables from 
 market. 
 
 Madame Beauvisage had always wished that her father 
 should introduce her at the Chateau de Gondreville to make 
 acquaintance with the count's daughters ; but the prudent old 
 man had frequently explained to her how difficult it would be 
 to keep up any connection with the Duchesse de Carigliano, 
 who lived in Paris, and seldom came to Gondreville, or with
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 61 
 
 a woman of fashion, like Madame Keller, when she herself 
 had a hosier's store at Arcis. 
 
 " Your life is settled," said Grevin to his daughter. " Place 
 all your hopes of enjoyment in Cecile, who, when you give 
 up business, will certainly be rich enough to give you the free 
 and handsome style -"of living that you deserve. Choose a 
 son-in-law who has ambitions and brains, and then you can 
 some day go to Paris and leave that simpleton Beauvisage 
 here. If I should live long enough to have a grandson-in- 
 law, I will steer you over the sea of politics as I steered Malin, 
 and you shall rise as high as the Kellers." 
 
 These words, spoken before the Revolution of 1830, and 
 one year after the old notary had established himself in his 
 little house, account for his calm existence. Grevin wished to 
 live; he wished to start his daughter, his grand-daughter, and 
 his great-grandchildren on the high road to greatness. Grevin 
 was ambitious for the third generation. 
 
 When he made that speech the old man was thinking of 
 seeing Cecile married to Charles Keller, and at this moment 
 he was mourning over his disappointed hopes ; he did not 
 know what determination to come to. 
 
 Severine found her father sitting on a wooden bench at the 
 end of his terrace, under the blossoming lilacs, and taking his 
 coffee, for it was half-past five. She saw at once by the sor- 
 rowful gravity of her father's expression that he had heard the 
 news. In fact, the old count had sent a manservant to beg 
 his friend to go to him. Hitherto, Grevin had been unwilling 
 to encourage his daughter's hopes ; but now, in the conflict of 
 mingled considerations that struggled in his sorrowful mind, 
 his secret slipped out. 
 
 " My dear child," said he, " I had dreamed of such splen- 
 did and noble prospects for your future life, and death has 
 upset them all. Cecile might have been the Vicomtesse 
 Keller; for Charles, by my management, would have been 
 elected deputy for Arcis, and he would certainly some day
 
 62 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 have succeeded his father as peer. Neither Gondreville nor 
 Madame Keller, his daughter, would have sneezed at Cecile's 
 sixty thousand francs a year, especially with the added pros- 
 pect of a hundred thousand more which will come to you 
 some day. You could have lived in Paris with your daughter, 
 and have played your part as mother-in-law in the higher 
 spheres of power." 
 
 Madame Beauvisage nodded approval. 
 
 "But we are struck down by the blow that has killed this 
 charming young man, who had already made a friend of the 
 prince. And this Simon Giguet, who is pushing forward on 
 the political stage, is a fool, a fool of the vorst kind, for he 
 believes himself an eagle. You are too intimate with the 
 Giguets and the Marion family to refuse the alliance without 
 a great show of reason, but you must refuse " 
 " We are, as usual, quite agreed, my dear father." 
 "All this necessitates my going to see my old friend Malin ; 
 in the first place, to comfort him ; and in the second place, 
 to consult him. You and Cecile would be miserable with an 
 old family of the Faubourg Saint-Germain ; they would make 
 you feel your humble birth in a thousand little ways. What 
 we must look out for is one of Napoleon's dukes who is in 
 want of money ; then we can get a fine title for Cecile, and 
 we will tie up her fortune. 
 
 "You can say that I have arranged for the disposal of 
 Cecile's hand, and that will put an end to all such impertinent 
 proposals as Antonin Goulard's. Little Vinet is sure to come 
 forward ; and of all the suitors who will nibble at her fortune, 
 he is the more preferable. He is clever, pushing, and connected 
 through his mother with the Chargebreufs. But he is too 
 determined not to be master, and he is young enough to make 
 her love him ; between the two you would be done for. I 
 know what you are, my child ! " 
 
 "I shall feel very much embarrassed this evening at the 
 Marions," said Severine.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 63 
 
 " Well, my dear, send Madame Marion to me. I will talk 
 to her!" 
 
 " I knew that you were planning for our future, dear 
 father, but I had no idea that it would be anything so bril- 
 liant," said Madame Beauvisage, taking her father's hands 
 and kissing them. 
 
 "I have planned so deeply," replied Grevin, "that in 
 
 1831 I bought a house you know very well the Hotel Beau- 
 seant " 
 
 Madame Beauvisage started with surprise at hearing this 
 well-kept secret, but she did not interrupt her father. 
 
 "It will be my wedding-gift," he added. "I let it in 
 
 1832 to some English, for seven years, at twenty-four thou- 
 sand francs a year a good stroke of business, for it only cost 
 me three hundred and twenty-five thousand, and I have got 
 back nearly two hundred thousand. The lease is out on the 
 i5th of July next." 
 
 Severine kissed her father on the forehead and on both 
 cheeks. This last discovery promised such splendor in the 
 future that she was dazzled. 
 
 " If my father takes my advice," said she to herself, as she 
 recrossed the bridge, " he will leave the property only in 
 reversion to his grandchildren, and I shall have the life- 
 interest ; I do not wish that my daughter and her husband 
 should turn me out of their house ; they shall live in mine." 
 
 At dessert, when the two maids were dining in the kitchen, 
 and Madame Beauvisage was sure of not being overheard, she 
 thought it well to give Cecile a little lecture. 
 
 " My dear child," said she, " behave this evening as a well- 
 brought-up girl should ; and henceforth try to have a quiet, 
 reserved manner ; do not chatter too freely, nor walk about 
 alone with Monsieur Giguet, or Monsieur Olivier Vinet, or 
 the sub-prefect, or Monsieur Martener or anybody, in short, 
 not even Achille Pigoult. You will never marry any young 
 man of Arcis or of the department. Your fate will be to shine
 
 64 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCJS. 
 
 in Paris. You shall have some pretty dresses for every-day 
 wear, to accustom you to being elegant ; and I will try to 
 bribe some waiting-woman of the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse's 
 to find out where the Princesse de Cadignan and the Marquise 
 de Cinq-Cygne buy their things. Oh, we will not look in the 
 least provincial ! You must practice the piano three hours a 
 day, and I will have Moise over from Troyes daily until I 
 can find out about a master who will come from Paris. You 
 must cultivate all your talents, for you have not more than a 
 year before you at most before getting married. So, now, I 
 have warned you, and I shall see how you conduct yourself 
 this evening. You must keep Simon at arm's length without 
 making him ridiculous." 
 
 "Be quite easy, ma'am, I will begin at once to adore the 
 Unknown." 
 
 This speech, which made Madame Beauvisage smile, needs 
 a word of explanation. 
 
 "Ah, I have not seen him yet," said Phil6as, "but every- 
 body is talking of him. When I want to know whom he is, 
 I will send the sergeant or Monsieur Groslier to inspect his 
 passport." 
 
 There is not a country town in France where sooner or later 
 the Comedy of the Stranger is not played. The Stranger is 
 not infrequently an adventurer who takes the natives in, and 
 goes off, carrying with him a woman's reputation or a family 
 cash-box. 
 
 Now, the possible accession of Simon Giguet to representative 
 power was not the only great event of the day. The attention 
 of the citizens of Arcis had been much engaged by the pro- 
 ceedings of an individual who had arrived three days pre- 
 viously, and who was, as it happened, the first Stranger to the 
 rising generation. Hence, the "Unknown" was the chief 
 subject of conversation in every family circle. He was the 
 log that had dropped from the clouds into a community of 
 frogs.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 65 
 
 All the residents of Arcis-sur-Aube know each other, and 
 they know every drummer who comes on business from the 
 Paris houses ; thus, as in every small town in a similar posi- 
 tion, the arrival of a stranger in Arcis sets all tongues wag- 
 ging, and excites every imagination, if he should stay more 
 than two days without" announcing his name and bysiness. 
 
 Now, while Arcis was still stagnantly peaceful, three days 
 before that on which by the fiat of the creator of so many 
 fictions this story begins, everybody had witnessed the ar- 
 rival, by the road from La Belle-Etoile, of a Stranger, in a neat 
 tilbury, driving a well-bred horse, and followed by a tiger no 
 bigger than your thumb, mounted on a saddle-horse. The 
 coach in connection with the mails for Troyes had brought from 
 La Belle-Etoile three trunks from Paris, with no name on them, 
 but belonging to the new-comer, who took rooms at the Mulct. 
 Everybody in Arcis that evening supposed that this individual 
 wanted to purchase land at Arcis, and he was spoken of in 
 many family councils as the future owner of the castle. 
 
 The tilbury, the traveler, the tiger, and the steeds all 
 seemed to have dropped from some very superior social 
 sphere. The stranger, who was tired no doubt, remained in- 
 visible ; perhaps he spent part of his time in settling in the 
 rooms he selected, announcing his intention of remaining 
 some little time. He insisted on seeing where his horses were 
 housed in the stable, and was exceedingly particular; they 
 were to be kept apart from those belonging to the inn, and 
 from any that might arrive. So much eccentric care led the 
 host of the Mulct to the conclusion that the visitor must be an 
 Englishman. 
 
 On the very first evening some attempts were made on the 
 Mulct by curious inquirers ; but no information was to be got- 
 ten out of the little groom, who refused to give any account of 
 his master, not by misleading answers or silence, but by such 
 banter as seemed to indicate deep depravity far beyond his 
 years. 
 5
 
 66 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 After a careful toilet, the visitor ate his dinner at about six 
 o'clock, and then rode out, his groom in attendance, on the 
 Brienne road, and returned very late. The innkeeper, his 
 wife, and the chambermaids vainly examined the stranger's 
 luggage and possessions ; they discovered nothing that could 
 throw any light on the mysterious visitor's rank, name, pro- 
 fession, or purpose. 
 
 The effect was incalculable ; endless surmises were put for- 
 ward, such as might have justified the intervention of the 
 public prosecutor. 
 
 When he returned, the stranger admitted the mistress of 
 the house, who laid before him the volume in which, by the 
 regulations of the police, he was required to write his name 
 and dignity, the object of his visit, and the place whence he 
 came. 
 
 "I shall write nothing whatever, madame," said he to the 
 innkeeper's wife. " If anybody troubles you on the subject, 
 you can say that I refused, and send the sub-prefect to me if 
 you like, for I have no passport. People will ask you a great 
 many questions about me, madame," he added. "And you 
 can answer what you please ; I do not intend that you should 
 know anything about me, even if you should obtain informa- 
 tion in spite of me. If you annoy me, I shall go to the Hotel 
 de la Poste, on the square by the bridge ; and, observe, that I 
 propose to remain a fortnight at least. I should be very sorry 
 to go, for I know you to be a sister of Gothard, one of the 
 heroes of the Simeuse case." 
 
 " Certainly sir ! " replied the sister of Gothard the Cinq- 
 Cygnes' steward. 
 
 After this, the stranger had no difficulty in detaining the 
 good woman for nearly two hours, and extracting from her all 
 she could tell him concerning Arcis everybody's fortune, 
 everybody's business, and who all the officials were. 
 
 Next morning he again rode out attended by the tiger, and 
 did not come in till midnight.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 67 
 
 The reader can now understand Cecile's little jest, which 
 Madame Beauvisage thought had nothing in it. 
 
 Beauvisage and Cecile, equally surprised by the order of 
 the day set forth by Severine, were no less delighted. While 
 his wife was changing her dress to go to Madame Marion's, 
 the father listened tffjhe girl's hypotheses guesses such as a 
 young lady naturally indulges in under such circumstances. 
 Then, tired by the day's work, as soon as his wife and daugh- 
 ter were gone, he went to bed. 
 
 As all may suppose who know France, or the province of 
 Champagne which is not quite the same thing or yet more, 
 the ways of country towns, there was a perfect mob in Madame 
 Marion's room that evening. Simon Giguet's success was re- 
 garded as a victory over the Comte de Gondreville, and the 
 independence of Arcis in electioneering matters as established 
 for ever. The news of poor Charles Keller's death was 
 felt to be a special dispensation from heaven, and silenced 
 rivalry. 
 
 Antonin Goulard, Frederic Marest, Olivier Vinet, Monsieur 
 Martener, in short, all the authorities who had ever fre- 
 quented the house, whose opinions could hardly be adverse to 
 the Government as established by popular suffrage in July, 
 1830, were there as usual, but all brought thither by curiosity 
 as to the attitude assumed by the Beauvisages, mother and 
 daughter. 
 
 The drawing-room, restored to order, bore no traces of 
 the meeting which had presumably decided Maitre Simon's 
 fate. 
 
 By eight o'clock, four card-players, at each of the four 
 tables, were busily occupied. The small drawing-room and 
 the dining-room were full of company. 
 
 "It is the dawn of advancement," said Olivier, remarking 
 to her on a sight so delightful to a woman who is fond of en- 
 tertaining. 
 
 "It is impossible to foresee what Simon may rise to," re-
 
 68 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 plied Madame Marion. " We live in an age when a man 
 who has perseverance and the art of getting on may aspire to ' 
 the best." 
 
 This speech was made less to Vinet than for the benefit of 
 Madame Beauvisage, who had just come in with her daughter 
 and congratulated her friend. 
 
 Cecile went to gossip with Mademoiselle Mollot, one of her 
 bosom friends, and seemed more affectionate to her than ever. 
 Mademoiselle Mollot was the beauty of Arcis, as Cecile was 
 the heiress. M. Mollot, clerk of assize at Arcis, lived in the 
 Grande Place, in a house situated very much as that ot the 
 Beauvisages was at the bridge end. Madame Mollot, who 
 never sat anywhere but at the drawing-room window on the 
 first floor, suffered in consequence from acute and chronic 
 curiosity, a permanent and inveterate malady. Madame 
 Mollot devoted herself to watching her neighbors, as a ner- 
 vous woman talks of her ailments, with airs, and graces, and 
 thorough enjoyment. If a countryman came on the square 
 from the road to Brienne, she watched and wondered what 
 his business could be at Arcis, and her mind knew no rest till 
 she could account for that peasant's proceedings. She spent 
 her whole life in criticising events, men and things, and the 
 household affairs of Arcis. 
 
 She was a tall, meagre woman, the daughter of a judge at 
 Troyes, and she had brought Monsieur Mollot, formerly Gre- 
 vin's managing clerk, fortune enough to enable him to pay for 
 his place as clerk of assize. The clerk of assize ranks with a 
 judge, just as in the Supreme Court the chief clerk ranks with a 
 councilor. Monsieur Mollot owed his nomination to the 
 Comte de Gondreville, who had settled the matter by a word 
 in season at the chancellor's office in favor of Grevin's clerk. 
 The whole ambition of these three persons Mollot, his wife, 
 and his daughter was to see Ernestine Mollot, who was an 
 only child, married to Antonin Goulard. Thus the rejection 
 by the Beauvisages of every advance on the part of the sub-
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 69 
 
 prefect had tightened the bonds of friendship between the two 
 families. 
 
 "There is a much-provoked man!" said Ernestine to 
 Cecile, pointing to Simon Giguet. " He is pining to come 
 and talk to us ; but everybody who comes in feels bound to 
 congratulate and detain him. Fifty times at least I have 
 heard him say : ' The good-will of my fellow-citizens is toward 
 my father, I believe, rather than myself; be that as it may, 
 rely upon it, I shall devote myself not merely to our common 
 interests, but more especially to yours.' I can hear the 
 wordj from the movement of his lips, and every time he 
 looks round at you with the eyes of a martyr." 
 
 "Ernestine," said Cecile, "stay by me all the evening, 
 for I do not want to hear his hints hidden under speeches 
 full of Alas ! and punctuated with sighs." 
 
 " Then you do not want to be the wife of a keeper of the 
 seals!" 
 
 ''Have they got no higher than that?" said Cecile, 
 laughing. 
 
 "I assure you," said Ernestine, "that just now, before 
 you came in, Monsieur Godivet the registrar declared in his 
 enthusiasm that Simon would be keeper of the seals before 
 three years were out." 
 
 " And do they rely on the patronage of the Comte de Gon- 
 dreville?" asked Goulard, seating himself by the two girls, 
 with a shrewd suspicion that they were laughing at his friend 
 Giguet. 
 
 "Ah, Monsieur Antonin," said pretty Ernestine, "you 
 promised my mother to find out who the handsome stranger 
 is ! What is your latest information ? " 
 
 "The events of to-day, mademoiselle, have been of far 
 greater importance," said Antonin, seating himself by Cecile 
 like a diplomatist enchanted to escape from general observa- 
 tion by taking refuge with a party of girls. " My whole 
 career as sub-prefect or full prefect hangs in the balance."
 
 70 
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS, 
 
 " Why ! Will you not allow your friend Simon to be re- 
 turned as unanimously elected? " 
 
 " Simon is my friend, but the Government is my master, 
 and I mean to do all I can to hinder Simon's return. And 
 Madame Mollot ought to lend me her assistance as the wife 
 of a man whose duties attach him to the Government." 
 
 "We are quite prepared to side with you," said Madame 
 Mollot. " My husband told me," she went on in an under- 
 tone, "of all the proceedings here this morning. It was 
 lamentable! Only one man showed any talent Achille 
 Pigoult. Every one agrees in saying that he is an orator, and 
 would shine in Parliament. And though he has nothing, and 
 my daughter is aa only child with a marriage-portion of sixty 
 thousand francs to say nothing of what we may leave her 
 and money from her father's uncle the miller, and from my 
 Aunt Lambert at Troyes well, I declare to you that if Mon- 
 sieur Achille Pigoult should do us the honor of proposing for 
 her, for my part, I would say yes that is, if my daughter 
 liked him well enough. But the little simpleton will not 
 marry any one she does not fancy. It is Mademoiselle Beau- 
 visage who has put that into her head." 
 
 The sub-prefect took this broadside as a man who knows 
 that he has thirty thousand francs a year of his own, and 
 expects to be made prefect. 
 
 " Mademoiselle Beauvisage is in the right," said he, look- 
 ing at Cecile ; " she is rich enough to marry for love." 
 
 " We will not discuss marriage," said Ernestine. " It only 
 distresses my poor little Cecile, who was confessing to me just 
 now that if she could only be married for love, and not for her 
 money, she would like to be courted by some stranger who 
 knew nothing of Arcis or the fortunes which are to make her 
 a female Croesus ; and she only wishes she could go through 
 some romantic adventure that would end in her being loved 
 and married for her own sake " 
 
 "That is a very- pretty idea. I always knew that Made-
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 71 
 
 moiselle had as much wit as money!" exclaimed Olivier 
 Vinet, joining the group, in detestation of the flatterers sur- 
 rounding Simon Giguet, the idol of the day. 
 
 "And that was how, from one thing to another, we were 
 led to talk of the Unknown " 
 
 "And then," added Ernestine, "she thought of him as 
 the possible hero of the romance I have sketched " 
 
 " OhJ " cried Madame Mollot, " a man of fifty ! Never ! " 
 
 "How do you know that he is a man of fifty?" asked 
 Vinet, with a smile. 
 
 "To tell the truth," said Madame Mollot, "I was so 
 mystified, that this morning I took my opera-glasses " 
 
 " Well done ! " exclaimed the inspector of works, who was 
 courting the mother to win the daughter. 
 
 "And so," Madame Mollot went on, "I could see the 
 stranger shaving himself with such elegant razors ! Gold 
 handles or silver-gilt." 
 
 " Gold ! gold ! " cried Vinet. " When there is any doubt, 
 let everything be of the best ! And I, who have never even 
 seen the gentleman, feel quite sure that he is at least a count." 
 This, which was thought very funny, made everybody laugh.* 
 
 The little group who could be so merry excited the envy of 
 the dowagers and attracted the attention of the black-coated 
 men who stood round Simon Giguet. As to Giguet himself, 
 he was in despair at not being able forthwith to lay his fortune 
 and his prospects at the heiress' feet. 
 
 "Oh, my dear father," thought the deputy clerk, finding 
 himself complimented for the involuntary witticism, "what 
 a place you have sent me to as a beginning of my experience ! 
 A count comte with an m, ladies," he explained. "A man 
 as illustrious by birth as he is distinguished in manners ; note- 
 worthy for his fortune and his carriages a dandy, a man of 
 fashion a lemon-kid-glove man " 
 
 * There is a pun in the French on the words comte, a count, and conte, 
 a romance, a fib.
 
 72 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " He has the smartest tilbury you ever saw, Monsieur 
 Olivier," said Ernestine. 
 
 " And you never told me of his tilbury, Antonin, this 
 morning when we were discussing this dark conspirator ; the 
 tilbury is really an attenuating circumstance. A man with a 
 tilbury cannot be a Republican." 
 
 "Young ladies," said Antonin Goulard, "there is nothing 
 I would not do to promote your pleasure. We will know, 
 and that soon, if he is a comte with an m, so that you may 
 be able to construct your conte with an ."* 
 
 "And it may then become history," said the engineer. 
 
 "As written for the edification of sub-prefects," said Olivier 
 Vinet. 
 
 "And how will you set about it?" asked Madame Mollot. 
 
 "Ah!" replied the sub-prefect. "If you were to ask 
 Mademoiselle Beauvisage whom she would marry, if she were 
 condemned to choose from the men who are here now, she 
 would not tell you ! You must grant some reticence to power. 
 Be quite easy, young ladies, in ten minutes you shall know 
 whether the stranger is a count or a drummer." 
 
 Antonin left the little coterie of girls for there were beside 
 C6cile and Ernestine, Mademoiselle Berton, the daughter of 
 the collector of revenue, an insignificant damsel who was a 
 sort of satellite to the heiress and the beauty, and Made- 
 moiselle Herbelot, sister of the second notary of Arcis, an 
 old maid of thirty, sour, pinched, and dressed after the man- 
 ner of old maids she wore a green tabinet gown, and a 
 kerchief with embroidered corners, crossed and knotted in 
 front after the manner in fashion during the Reign of Terror. 
 
 " Julien," said the sub-prefect to his servant in the vesti- 
 bule, " you were in service for six months with the Gondre- 
 villes ; do you know a count's coronet when you see it ? " 
 
 "It has nine points, sir, with balls." 
 
 "Very good. Then go over to the Mulct and try to get a 
 * Conte story. Comte and conte are pronounced alike conte.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 73 
 
 look at the tilbury belonging to the strange gentleman who is 
 staying there ; and come back and tell me what is painted on 
 it. Do the job cleverly, pick up anything you can hear. If 
 you see the little groom, ask him at what hour to-morrow his 
 master can receive the sub-prefect say Monsieur le Comte, 
 if by chance you^ee such a coronet. Don't drink, say noth- 
 ing, come back quickly, and when you return let me know by 
 just showing yourself at the drawing-room door." 
 
 "Yes, Monsieur le Sous-prefet." 
 
 The Mulet Inn, as has been said, stands on the square at 
 the opposite corner to the garden wall of Madame Marion's 
 house on the other side of the Brienne road. So the problem 
 would be quickly solved. 
 
 Antonin Goulard returned to his seat by Mademoiselle 
 Beauvisage. 
 
 "We talked of him so much here last evening," Madame 
 Mollot was saying, "that I dreamed of him all night " 
 
 "Dear, dear!" said Vinet; "do you still dream of the 
 Unknown, fair lady?" 
 
 "You are very impertinent. I could make you dream of 
 me if I chose! " she retorted. "So this morning when I 
 got up " 
 
 It may here be noted that Madame Mollot was regarded at 
 Arcis as having a smart wit that is to say, she talked fluently, 
 and took an unfair advantage of the gift. A Parisian wander- 
 ing in those parts, like the Stranger in question, would have 
 probably thought her an intolerable chatterbox. 
 
 "and was dressing, in the natural course of things, as I 
 looked straight before me " 
 
 "Out of window?" said Goulard. 
 
 " Certainly. My dressing-room looks out on the market- 
 place. You must know that Poupart has given the Stranger 
 one of the rooms that face mine " 
 
 "One room, mamma!" exclaimed Ernestine. "The 
 count has three rooms ! The groom, who is all in black, is
 
 74 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 in the first room ; the second has been turned into a sort of 
 drawing-room ; and the gentleman sleeps in the third." 
 
 " Then he has half the inn," remarked Mademoiselle Her- 
 belot. 
 
 "Well, what has that to do with the man himself?" said 
 Madame Mollot, vexed at being interrupted by girls ; " I am 
 speaking of his person." 
 
 "Do not interrupt the orator," said Olivier Vinet. 
 
 " As I was stooping " 
 
 " Sitting," said Antonin Goulard. 
 
 " Madame was as she ought to be dressing, and looking 
 at the Mulct," said Vinet. 
 
 These pleasantries are highly esteemed in the country ; for 
 everybody has said everything there for too long not to be 
 content with the same nonsense as amused our fathers before 
 the importation of English prudery, one of the forms of mer- 
 chandise which custom-houses cannot prohibit. 
 
 " Do not interrupt the orator," said Mademoiselle Beau- 
 visage to Vinet, with a responsive smile. 
 
 " my eyes involuntarily fell on the window of the room 
 in which last night the Stranger had gone to bed at what 
 hour I cannot imagine, for I lay awake till after midnight ! 
 It is my misfortune to have a husband who snores till the walls 
 and ceiling tremble. If I get to sleep first, I sleep so heavily 
 that I hear nothing but if Mollot gets the start, my night's 
 rest is done for." 
 
 "There is a third alternative you might go off together," 
 said Achille Pigoult, coming to join this cheerful party. " It 
 is your slumbers that are in question, I perceive " 
 
 " Hold your tongue, and get along with you," said Mad- 
 ame Mollot, very graciously. 
 
 "You see what that means?" said Cecile in Ernestine's 
 ear. 
 
 "Well, he had not come in by one o'clock," Madame 
 Mollot went on.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 75 
 
 " He is a fraud ! Sneaking in when you could not see 
 him," said Achille Pigoult. " Oh, he is a knowing one, you 
 may depend ! He will get us all into a bag and sell us on the 
 market-place ! ' ' 
 
 " To whom ? " asked Vinet. 
 
 "To a business, "to an idea, to a system!" replied the 
 notary, and the other lawyer answered with a cunning smile. 
 
 "Imagine my surprise," Madame Mollot returned, "when 
 I caught sight of a piece of stuff, so magnificent, so elegant, 
 so gaudy ! Said I to myself, ' He must have a dressing-gown 
 of that stuff woven with spun glass which we saw at the In- 
 dustrial Exposition.' And I went for my opera-glasses and 
 looked. But, good heavens ! what did I see ? Above the 
 dressing-gown, where his head should have been, I saw a huge 
 mass, like a big knee. No, I cannot tell you how curious I 
 was!" 
 
 "I can quite imagine it," said Antonin. 
 
 "No, you cannot imagine it," said Madame Mollot, "for 
 that knee " 
 
 " Oh, I see it all," said Olivier Vinet, shouting with laugh- 
 ter. " The stranger was dressing too, and you saw his two 
 knees " 
 
 "Not at all," said Madame Mollot; "you are putting 
 things into my mouth. The Stranger was standing up ; he 
 held a sponge over a huge basin, and your rude joke be on 
 your own head, Monsieur Olivier. I should have known if I 
 had seen what you suppose " 
 
 " Oh ! have known Madame, you are committing 
 
 yourself!" said Antonin Goulard. 
 
 " Do let me speak ! " said Madame Mollot. "It was his 
 head ! He was washing his head ! he has not a hair." 
 
 "Rash man!" said Antonin Goulard. "He certainly 
 cannot have come to look for a wife. To get married here a 
 man must have some hair. Hair is in great request." 
 
 " So I have my reasons for saying that he must be fifty.
 
 76 THE DEPUTY FOR AH CIS. 
 
 A man does not take to a wig before that age. For, in fact, 
 the Unknown, when he had finished his toilet, opened his 
 window, and I beheld him from afar, the owner of a splendid 
 head of black hair. He stuck up his eyeglass when I went to 
 the balcony. So, my dear Cecile, that gentleman will hardly 
 be the hero of your romance." 
 
 " Why not ? Men of fifty are not to be disdained when 
 they are counts," said Ernestine. 
 
 "Perhaps he had hair after all," said Olivier Vinet mis- 
 chievously, " and then he would be very eligible. The real 
 question is whether it was his bald head that Madame Mollot 
 saw, or his 
 
 " Be quiet ! " said Madame Mollot. 
 
 Antonin Goulard went out to send Madame Marion's ser- 
 vant across to the Mulct with instructions for Julien. 
 
 " Bless me, what does a husband's age matter? " said Made- 
 moiselle Herbelot. 
 
 "So long as you get one," Vinet put in. He was much 
 feared for his cold and malignant sarcasm. 
 
 "Yes," replied the old maid, piqued by the remark, "I 
 would rather have a husband of fifty, kind and indulgent to 
 his wife, than a young man of between twenty and thirty 
 who had no heart, and whose wit stung everybody even his 
 wife." 
 
 "That," said Olivier Vinet, "is mere talk, since to prefer 
 a man of fifty to a young man one must have the choice ! " 
 
 " Oh ! " said Madame Mollot, to stop this squabble between 
 Mademoiselle Herbelot and young Vinet, who always went 
 too far, " when a woman has seen something of life, she knows 
 that whether a husband is fifty or five-and-twenty, it comes to 
 exactly the same thing if he is merely esteemed. The really 
 important thing in marriage is the suitability of circumstances 
 to be considered. If Mademoiselle Beauvisage wishes to live 
 in Paris and that would be my notion in her place I would 
 certainly not marry anybody in Arcis. If I had had such a
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 77 
 
 fortune as she will have, I might very well have given my 
 hand to a count, a man who could have placed me in a good 
 social position, and I should not have asked to see his pedi- 
 gree." 
 
 "It would have been enough for you to have seen him at 
 his toilet," said Vinefin a murmur to Madame Mollot. 
 
 "But the King can make a count, madame," observed 
 Madame Marion, who had been standing for a minute or two 
 looking at the circle of young people. 
 
 " But some young ladies like their counts ready-made," said 
 Vinet. 
 
 " Now, Monsieur Antonin," said Cecile, laughing at Olivier 
 Vinet's speech, " the ten minutes are over, and we do not yet 
 know whether the Stranger is a count." 
 
 " The Government must prove itself infallible," said Vinet, 
 turning to Antonin. 
 
 " I will keep my word," replied the sub-prefect, seeing his 
 servant's face in the doorway. And he again left his seat. 
 
 "You are talking of the Stranger ! " said Madame Marion. 
 " Does any one know anything about him ! " 
 
 "No, madame," said Achille Pigoult. "But he, without 
 knowing it, is like an athlete in a circus the object of interest 
 to two thousand pairs of eyes. I do know something," added 
 the little notary. 
 
 "Oh, tell us, Monsieur Achille!" Ernestine eagerly ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 "His servant's name is Paradis." 
 
 "Paradis ! " echoed everybody. 
 
 " Can any one be called Paradis?" asked Madame Herbe- 
 lot, taking a seat by her sister-in-law. 
 
 "It goes far to prove that his master is an angel," the 
 notary went on, " for when his servant follows him you see 
 then that " 
 
 " ' C'cst le chemin du Paradis. '* That is really very neat," 
 * This is the way of Paradise.
 
 78 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 said Madame Marion, who was anxious to secure Achilla 
 Pigoult in her nephew's interest. 
 
 " Monsieur," Julien was saying to his master in the dining- 
 room, "there is a coat-of-arms on the tilbury." 
 
 " A coat-of-arms? " 
 
 "And very queer they are. There is a coronet over them 
 nine points with balls " 
 
 " Then he is a count " 
 
 "And a winged monster running like mad, just like a postil- 
 lion that has lost something. And this is what is written on the 
 ribbon," said he, taking a scrap of paper out of his waistcoat 
 pocket. ' ' Mademoiselle Anicette, the Princesse de Cadignan's 
 maid, who had just come in a carriage, of course to bring 
 a letter to the gentleman (and the carriage from Cinq-Cygne 
 is waiting at the door), copied the words down for me." 
 
 "Give it me." 
 
 The sub-prefect read : 
 
 " Quo me trahit fortuna" 
 
 Though he was not a sufficiently accomplished herald to 
 know what family bore this motto, Antonin supposed that the 
 Cinq-Cygnes would hardly lend their chaise for the Princesse 
 de Cadignan to send an express messenger to any one not of 
 the highest nobility. 
 
 "Oho ! so you know the princess' maid? You are a lucky 
 beggar," said Antonin to the man. 
 
 Julien, a native of the place, after being in service at Gon- 
 dreville for six months, had been engaged by Monsieur le Sub- 
 prefect, who wished to have a stylish servant. 
 
 " Well, monsieur, Anicette was my father's god-daughter. 
 And father, who felt kindly toward the poor child, as her 
 father was dead, sent her to Paris to learn dressmaking ; my 
 mother could not bear the sight of her." 
 
 "Is she pretty?" 
 
 " Not amiss, Monsieur le Sous-prefet. More by token she 
 had her little troubles in Paris, However, as she is clever,
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 79 
 
 and can make dresses and understands hairdressing, the prin- 
 cess took her on the recommendation of Monsieur Marin, 
 head-valet to Monsieur le Due de Maufrigneuse." 
 
 "And what did she say about Cinq-Cygne? Is there a 
 great deal of company ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir, a greaf-deal. The princess is there, and Mon- 
 sieur d'Arthez, the Due de Maufrigneuse and the duchess, and 
 the young marquis. In short, the house is full. Monseigneur 
 the Bishop of Troyes is expected this evening." 
 
 "Monseigneur Troubert. Oh, I should like to know 
 whether he makes any stay there." 
 
 "Anicette thought he would. She fancies he has come on 
 account of the gentleman who is lodging at the Mulct. And 
 more people are expected. The coachman said there was a 
 great talk about the elections. Monsieur le President Michu 
 is to spend a few days there." 
 
 " Just try to get that maid into the town on some pretext. 
 Have you any fancy for her? " 
 
 " If she had anything of her own, there is no knowing. She 
 is a smart girl." 
 
 " Well, tell her to come to see you at the sub-prefecture." 
 
 " Very well, sir ; I will go at once." 
 
 "But do not mention me, or she will not come. Tell her 
 you have heard of a good place " 
 
 Oh, sir ! I was in service at Gondreville- 
 
 "And you do not know the history of that message sent 
 from Cing-Cygne at such an hour. For it is half-past nine." 
 
 " It was something pressing, it would seem ; for the comte, 
 who had just come in from Gondreville " 
 
 " The Stranger had been to Gondreville ! " 
 
 " He dined there, Monsieur le Sous-prefet. And, you shall 
 see, it is the greatest joke. The little groom is as drunk as an 
 owl, saving your presence. They gave him so much cham- 
 pagne wine in the servants' hall that he cannot keep on his 
 legs. They did it for a joke, no doubt."
 
 80 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "Well but the count?" 
 
 " The count had gone to bed, but as soon as he read the 
 note he got up. He is now dressing. They were putting the 
 horse in, and he is going out in the tilbury to spend the rest 
 of the evening at Cinq-Cygne." 
 
 "Then he is a person of importance? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, sir, no doubt ; for Gothard, the steward at Cinq- 
 Cygne, came this morning to see Poupart, who is his brother- 
 in-law, and told him to be sure to hold his tongue about the 
 gentleman and his doings, and to serve him as if he were the 
 King." 
 
 "Then can Vinet be right? " thought Goulard to himself. 
 " Is there some plot brewing? " 
 
 " It was the Due Georges de Maufrigneuse who sent Mon- 
 sieur Gothard to the Mulct ; and when Poupart came here to 
 the meeting this morning, it was because this count made him 
 come. If he were to tell Monsieur Poupart to set out for 
 Paris to-night, he would go. Gothard told his brother-in-law 
 to throw everything over for the gentleman and hoodwink all 
 inquirers." 
 
 " If you can get hold of Anicette, be sure to let me know," 
 said Antonin. 
 
 "Well, I could go to see her at Clinq-Cygne, sir, if you 
 were to send me out to your house at le Val-Preux." 
 
 " That is a good idea. You might get a lift on the chaise. 
 But what about the little groom ? " 
 
 " He is a smart little chap, Monsieur le Sous-preTet ! Just 
 fancy, sir, screwed as he is, he has just ridden off on his mas- 
 ter's fine English horse, a thoroughbred that can cover seven 
 leagues an hour, to carry a letter to Troyes, that it may reach 
 Paris to-morrow ! And the kid is no more than nine and a 
 half years old ! What will he have become by the time he is 
 twenty?" 
 
 The sub-prefect listened mechanically to this last piece of 
 domestic gossip. Julien chattered on for a few minutes, and
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 81 
 
 Goulard heard him vaguely, thinking all the time of the 
 great Unknown. 
 
 " Wait a little," he said to the servant. 
 
 "What a puzzle! " thought he, as he slowly returned to 
 the drawing-room. " A man who dines with the Comte de 
 Gondreville, and who%pends the night at Cinq-Cygne ! 
 Mysteries with a vengeance ! " 
 
 "Well ! " cried Mademoiselle Beauvisage's little circle as 
 he joined them. 
 
 "Well, he is a count, and of the right sort, I will answer 
 for it ! " 
 
 "Oh, how I should like to see him ! " exclaimed Cecile. 
 
 "Mademoiselle," said Antonin, with a mischievous smile 
 at Madame Mollot, " he is tall and well made, and does not 
 wear a wig ! His little tiger was as tipsy as a lord ; they had 
 filled him up with wine in the servants' hall at Goudreville ; 
 and the child, who is but nine, replied to Julien with all the 
 dignity of an old valet when my man said something about 
 his master's wig. ' A wig ! My master ! I would not stay 
 with him. He dyes his hair, and that is bad enough.' " 
 
 "Your opera-glasses magnify a good deal," said Achille 
 Pigoult to Madame Mollot, who laughed. 
 
 "Well, and this boy of our handsome count's, tipsy as he 
 is, has flown off to Troyes to carry a letter, and will be there 
 in an hour and a quarter, in spite of the darkness." 
 
 " I should like to see the tiger ! " said Vinet. 
 
 " If he dined at Gondreville, we shall soon know all about 
 this count," said Cecile, " for grandpapa is going there to- 
 morrow morning." 
 
 "What will seem even more strange," said Antonin Gou- 
 lard, " is that a special messenger, in the person of Mademoi- 
 selle Anicette, the Princesse de Cadignan's maid, has come 
 from Cinq-Cygne to the stranger, and he is going to spend 
 the night there." 
 
 "Bless me!" said Olivier Vinet ; "but he is not a man 
 6
 
 82 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 he is a demon, a phoenix ! He is the friend of both parties ! 
 He can ingurgitate " 
 
 " For shame, monsieur ! " said Madame Mollot, " you use 
 words ' ' 
 
 "Ingurgitate is good Latin, madame," replied Vinet very 
 gravely. " He ingurgitates, I say, with King Louis-Philippe 
 in the morning, and banquets at Holyrood in the evening 
 with Charles X. There is but one reason that can allow a 
 respectable Christian to frequent both camps and go alike to 
 the Capulets' and the Montagus'. Ah ! I know what the 
 man is ! He is the manager of the railroad line between 
 Paris and Lyons, or Paris and Dijon, or Montereau and 
 Troyes " 
 
 "Of course!" cried Antonin. "You have hit it. Only 
 finance, interest, or speculation are equally welcome wherever 
 they go." 
 
 "Yes, and just now the greatest names, the greatest fami- 
 lies, the old and the new nobility, are rushing full tilt into 
 joint-stock concerns," said Achille Pigoult. 
 
 " Francs to the Frank ! " said Olivier, without a smile. 
 
 "You can hardly be said to be the olive branch of peace," 
 said Madame Mollot. 
 
 "But is it not disgusting to see such names as Verneuil, 
 Maufrigneuse, and d'Herouville cheek by jowl with Tillet 
 and Nucingen in the quotations on 'Change?" 
 
 " Our stranger is, you may depend, an infant railroad line," 
 said Vinet. 
 
 "Well, all Arcis will be topsy-turvy by to-morrow," said 
 Achille Pigoult. "I will call on the gentleman to get the 
 notary's work in the concern. There will be two thousand 
 deeds to draw up." 
 
 "And so our romance is a locomotive!" said Ernestine 
 sadly to Cecile. 
 
 " Nay, a count and a railway company in one is doubly 
 conjugal," said Achille. " But is he a bachelor ? "
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 83 
 
 " I will find out to-morrow from grandpapa ! " cried Cecile 
 with affected enthusiasm. 
 
 " A pretty joke ! " exclaimed Madame Marion with a forced 
 laugh. "Why, Cecile, child, is your brain running on the 
 Unknown ? " 
 
 "A husband is alwSys the Unknown," remarked Olivier 
 Vinet hastily, with a glance at Mademoiselle Beauvisage, 
 which she perfectly understood. 
 
 "And why not?" said she. " There is nothing compro- 
 mising in that. Beside, if these gentlemen are right, he is 
 either a great lord or a great speculator. My word ! I can 
 do with either. I like Paris ! I want a carriage, and a fine 
 house, and a box at the opera, et ccetera. " 
 
 "To be sure," said Vinet. "Why refuse yourself any- 
 thing in a day-dream ? Now, if I had the honor to be your 
 brother, you should marry the young Marquis de Cinq-Cygne, 
 who is, it strikes me, the young fellow to make the money 
 fly, and to laugh at his mother's objections to the actors in 
 the judicial drama in which our presiding judge's father came 
 to such a sad end." 
 
 "You would find it easier to become prime minister!" 
 said Madame Marion. "There can never be any alliance 
 between Grevin's grand-daughter and the Cinq-Cygnes." 
 
 "Romeo was within an ace of marrying Juliet," said 
 Achille Pigoult ; " and Mademoiselle Cecile is handsomer 
 and " 
 
 "Oh, if you quote opera! " said Herbelot feebly, as he 
 rose from the whist-table. 
 
 "My colleague," said Achille Pigoult, "is evidently not 
 strong in mediaeval history." 
 
 " Come along, Malvina," said the sturdy notary, without 
 answering his young brother of the law. 
 
 "Tell me, Monsieur Antonin," said Cecile, "you spoke 
 of Anicette, the Princesse de Cadignan's maid do you know 
 her?"
 
 84 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "No; but Julien does. She is his father's godchild, and 
 they are old friends." 
 
 "Oh, do try, through Julien, to get her for us; mamma 
 will give any wages " 
 
 " Mademoiselle, to hear is to obey, as they say to the des- 
 pots in Asia," replied the sub-prefect. "To serve you, see 
 how prompt I will be." 
 
 He went off to desire Julien to get a lift in the chaise re- 
 turning to Cinq-Cygne, and win over Anicette at any cost. 
 
 At this moment Simon Giguet, who had been put through 
 his paces by all the influential men of Arcis, and who believed 
 himself secure of his election, joined the circle round Cecile 
 and Mademoiselle Mollot. 
 
 It was getting late ; ten had struck. 
 
 Having consumed an enormous quantity of cakes, of orgeat, 
 punch, lemonade, and various fruit syrups, all who had come 
 that evening to Madame Marion's on purely political grounds, 
 and were unaccustomed to tread these boards to them quite 
 aristocratic disappeared promptly, all the more so because 
 they never sat up so late. The party would now be more in- 
 timate in its tone ; Simon Giguet hoped to be able to exchange 
 a few words with Cecile, and looked at her with a conquering 
 air. This greatly offended Cecile. 
 
 " My dear fellow," said Antonin to Simon, as he saw the 
 aureola of triumph on 'his friend's brow, " you have joined 
 us at a moment when all the men of Arcis are in the wrong 
 box " 
 
 " Quite wrong," said Ernestine, nudged by Cecile. " We 
 are quite crazy about the Unknown. Cecile and I are quar- 
 reling for him." 
 
 "To begin with, he is no longer unknown," said Cecile. 
 "He is a count." 
 
 " Some adventurer ! " said Simon Giguet scornfully. 
 
 "Would you say that to his face," retorted Cecile, much 
 nettled. "A man who has just had a message by one of the
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 85 
 
 Princesse de Cadignan's servants, who dined to-day at Gon- 
 dreville, and is gone to spend this very evening with the 
 Marquise de Cinq-Cygne ? " 
 
 She spoke so eagerly and sharply that Simon was put out of 
 
 countenance. 
 
 
 
 "Indeed, mademoiselle," said Oliver Vinet, "if we all 
 said to people's faces what we say behind each other's backs, 
 society would be impossible. The pleasure of society, especi- 
 ally in the country, consists in speaking ill of others." 
 
 "Monsieur Simon is jealous of your enthusiasm about the 
 strange count," remarked Ernestine. 
 
 " It seems to me," said Cecile, " that Monsieur Simon has 
 no right to be jealous of any fancy of mine ! " 
 
 And saying this in a tone to annihilate Simon, Cecile rose. 
 Everybody made way for her, and she joined her mother, who 
 was settling her gambling account. 
 
 " My dear girl," said Madame Marion, close at her heels, 
 " it seems to me that you are very hard on my poor Simon." 
 
 " Why, what has the dear little puss been doing? " asked 
 her mother. 
 
 " Mamma, Monsieur Simon gave my Unknown a slap in 
 the face by calling him an adventurer." 
 
 Simon had followed his aunt, and was now on the battle- 
 field by the whist-table. Thus the four persons, whose inter- 
 ests were so serious, were collected in the middle of the room ; 
 C6cile and her mother on one side of the table, Madame 
 Marion and her nephew on the other. 
 
 "Really, madame," said Simon Giguet, "you must con- 
 fess that a young lady must be very anxious to find me in the 
 wrong, to be vexed by my saying that a man of whom all 
 Arcis is talking, and who is living at the Mulct " 
 
 " Do you suppose he is competing with you ? " said Madame 
 Beauvisage jestingly. 
 
 " I should certainly feel it a deep grievance if he should be 
 the cause of any misunderstanding between Mademoiselle
 
 86 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Cecile and me," said the candidate, with a beseeching look at 
 the girl. 
 
 " But you pronounced sentence, monsieur, in a cutting 
 tone, which proved you to be despotic and you are right ; 
 if you hope ever to be minister, you must cut a good deal ! " 
 
 Madame Beauvisage took Madame Marion by the arm and 
 led her to a sofa. Cecile, left alone, went to join the circle, 
 that she might not hear any reply that Simon might make ; 
 and he remained by the table, looking foolish enough, me- 
 chanically playing tricks with the bone fish. 
 
 " There are as good fish in the sea ! " said Oliver Vinet, 
 who had observed the little scene ; and Cecile, overhearing 
 the remark, though it was spoken in a low tone, could not 
 help laughing. 
 
 "My dear friend," said Madame Marion to Madame 
 Beauvisage, " nothing now, you see, can hinder my nephew's 
 election." 
 
 "I congratulate you and the Chamber," said Madame 
 SeVerine. 
 
 " And my nephew will make his mark, my dear. I will 
 tell you why : his own fortune, and what his father will leave 
 him, with mine, will bring him in about thirty thousand francs 
 a year. When a man is a member of parliament and has 
 such a fortune, there is nothing he may not aspire to." 
 
 "Madame, he will command our admiration, and our best 
 wishes will be with him throughout his political career, 
 but " 
 
 " I ask for no reply," exclaimed Madame Marion, eagerly 
 interrupting her friend. " I only ask you to think it over. 
 Do our young people like each ether? Can we arrange the 
 match? We shall live in Paris whenever the Chambers are 
 sitting, and who knows but the Deputy for Arcis may be 
 settled there by getting some good place in office ? See how 
 Monsieur Vinet of Provins has got on ! Mademoiselle de 
 Chargeboeuf was thought very foolish to marry him; and
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 87 
 
 before long she will be the wife of the keeper of the seals, 
 and Monsieur Vinet may have a peerage if he likes." 
 
 " Madame, it does not rest with me to settle my daughter's 
 marriage. In the first place, her father and I leave her abso- 
 lutely free to choose for herself. If she wanted to marry the 
 Unknown, if he were suitable match, we should give our 
 consent. Then Cecile depends entirely on her grandfather, 
 who, as a wedding-gift, will settle on her a house in Paris, 
 the Hotel Beauseant, which he bought for us ten years ago, 
 and which at the present day is worth eight hundred thousand 
 francs. It is one of the finest mansions in the Faubourg 
 Germain. He has also a sum of two hundred thousand francs 
 put by for furnishing it. Now a grandfather who behaves in 
 that way, and who will persuade my mother-in-law on her 
 part to do something for her grandchild, has some right to 
 an opinion on the question of a suitable match " 
 
 " Certainly ! " said Madame Marion, amazed at this revela- 
 tion, which would add to the difficulties of her nephew's 
 marriage with Cecile. 
 
 "And even if Cecile had no expectations from her grand- 
 father," Madame Beauvisage went on, "she would not marry 
 without consulting him. The young man my father had 
 chosen is just dead ; I do not know what his present inten- 
 tions may be. If you have any proposals to make, go and 
 see my father." 
 
 " Very well, I will," said Madame Marion. 
 
 Madame Beauvisage signaled to Cecile, and they left. 
 
 On the following afternoon Antonin and Frederic Marest 
 were walking, as was their after-dinner custom, with Monsieur 
 Martener and Olivier under the limes of the Avenue des 
 Soupirs, smoking their cigars. 
 
 They had taken but a few turns when they were joined by 
 Simon Giguet, who said to the sub-prefect with an air of 
 mystery 
 
 "You will surely stick by an old comrade, who will make
 
 88 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 it his business to get you the Legion of Honor and a pre- 
 fecture /" 
 
 "Are you beginning your political career already ?" said 
 Antonin, laughing. " So you are trying to bribe me you 
 who are such a puritan ? " 
 
 "Will you support me?" 
 
 " My dear fellow, you know that Bar-sur-Aube registers its 
 votes here ? Who can guarantee a majority under such cir- 
 cumstances? My colleague at Bar-sur-Aube would show me 
 up if I did not do as much as he to support the Government ; 
 and your promises are conditional, while my overthrow would 
 be a certainty." 
 
 " But I have no opponent." 
 
 "So you think," said Antonin. "But one will turn up, 
 there is no doubt of that." 
 
 "And my aunt, who knows that I am on tenter-hooks, has 
 not come back ! " cried Giguet. " These three hours may 
 count for three years ! " 
 
 And the great secret came out. He confided to his friend 
 that Madame Marion was gone to propose on his behalf to old 
 Grvin for Cecile. 
 
 The friends had walked on as far as the Brienne road, just 
 opposite the Mulct. While Simon stared down the hill, up 
 which his aunt would return from the bridge, the sub-prefect 
 was studying the runlets worn in the ground by the rain. 
 Arcis is not paved with either flagstones or cobbles, for the 
 plains of Champagne afford no building materials, much less 
 any pebbles large enough to make a road. 
 
 At this particular moment the Stranger was returning from 
 the Castle of Cinq-Cygne, where he had evidently spent the 
 night. Goulard was determined to clear up for himself the 
 mystery in which the Stranger chose to wrap himself being 
 also wrapped, so far as his outer man was concerned, in a light 
 overcoat or paletot of coarse frieze, such as was then the fashion. 
 A cloak thrown over him hid his figure from view, and an
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 89 
 
 enormous comforter of red cashmere covered his face up to 
 ;he eyes. His hat, knowingly set on one side, was, neverthe- 
 'icss, not extravagant. Never was a mystery so mysteriously 
 str.othered and concealed. 
 
 "Clear the way! " cried the tiger, riding in front of the 
 tlbury. " Open the gate, Daddy Poupart ! " he piped in his 
 skill little voice.' 
 
 The three stablemen ran out, and the tilbury went in with- 
 oit any one having seen the driver's face. 
 The sub-prefect followed it, however, to the door of the inn. 
 ' Madame Poupart," said Antonin, " will you tell Monsieur 
 'lonsieur ? " 
 
 'I do not know his name," said Gothard's sister. 
 'Then you are to blame. The police regulations are 
 defi ite, and Monsieur Groslier does not see a joke like all 
 polie authorities when they have nothing to do." 
 
 "nnkeepers are never in the wrong at election time," said 
 the tjer, getting off his horse. 
 
 "Iwill tell that to Vinet," thought the official. "Go 
 and at your master to see me, the sub-prefect of Arcis." 
 
 Antein went back to his three friends, who had stopped 
 outside on seeing the sub-prefect in conversation with the 
 tiger, aready famous in Arcis for his name and his ready wit. 
 "Mcsieur begs that Monsieur le Sous-prefet will walk up. 
 He will>e delighted to see him," Paradis came out in a few 
 minutes > say this to Antonin. 
 
 "I sajlittle man," said Olivier, "how much a year does 
 your masr give a youth of your spirit and inches? " 
 
 " Give^nonsieur? What do you take me for? Monsieur 
 le Comte lows himself to be done and I am satisfied." 
 " That W is at a good school," said Frederic Marest. 
 "The IVh School. Monsieur le Procureur du Roi," re- 
 plied Parad^ and the five men stared at his cool impudence. 
 "What aVjgaro ! " exclaimed Vinet. 
 " It does \t do to sing small," said the boy. " My master
 
 90 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 calls me a little Robert Macaire. Since we have found cut 
 how to invest in .the Funds, we are Figaro with the savings 
 bank into the bargain." 
 
 " Why, what do you earn ? " 
 
 " There are times when I make a thousand crowns or a 
 race and without selling my master, monsieur." 
 
 "Sublime infant ! He knows the turf " 
 
 "And all the gentlemen riders! " said the boy, puttingout 
 his tongue at Vinet. 
 
 " Paradise Road goes a long way ! " said Frederic Marst. 
 
 Antonin Goulard, meanwhile, shown up by the innke-per, 
 found the Unknown in the room he used for a drawing-pom, 
 and himself under inspection through a most impertinen eye- 
 glass. 
 
 " Monsieur," said Antonin Goulard in a rather loftytone, 
 "I have just heard from the innkeeper's wife that yourefuse 
 to conform to the police regulations ; and as I have ncdoubt 
 that you are a man of some consequence, I have comfmyself 
 that " 
 
 "Your name is Goulard?" said the Stranger in a head- 
 voice. 
 
 "I am sub-prefect, monsieur," said Antonin Goulrd. 
 
 "Your father, I think, was attached to the Simeu'S?" 
 
 "And I am attached to the Government. Tnes have 
 changed." 
 
 " You have a servant named Julien who wan to bribe 
 away the Princesse de Cadignan's waiting-maid?" 
 
 " Monsieur, I allow no one to speak to me in Jch a way ; 
 you misunderstand my character " 
 
 "But you wish to understand mine," interrupd the other. 
 "You may write it in the inn-register: 'An imminent per- 
 son from Paris, age doubtful, traveling for hisleasure.' It 
 would be an innovation highly appreciated in ranee to imi- 
 tate the English method of allowing people to me and go as 
 they please without annoying them and askinthem for their
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 91 
 
 papers at every turn. I have no passport : what will you do 
 to me?" 
 
 " The public prosecutor is out there under the limes " 
 
 said the sub-prefect. 
 
 "Monsieur Marest? Wish him from me a very good- 
 morning." 
 
 "But who are you?" 
 
 " Whatever you wish me to be, my dear Monsieur Goulard," 
 said the Stranger, "since it is you who must decide how I 
 should appear before the good folk of this district. Give me 
 some advice as to my demeanor. Here read this." 
 
 And the visitor held out a note reading as follows : 
 
 " (Private.'} PREFECTURE OF THE AUBE. 
 
 "MONSIEUR LE SOUS-PREFET: Be good enough to take 
 steps with the bearer as to the election in Arcis, and conform 
 to his requirements in every particular. I request you to be 
 absolutely secret, and to treat him with the respect due to his 
 rank." 
 
 The note was written and signed by the prefect of the de- 
 partment. 
 
 "You have been talking prose without knowing it," said 
 the Stranger, as he took the letter back. 
 
 Antonin Goulard, already impressed by the man's gentle- 
 manly appearance and manner, spoke respectfully. 
 
 " How is that, monsieur? " said he. 
 
 " By trying to bribe Anicette. She came to tell me of 
 Julien's offers you may call him Julian the Apostate, for 
 little Paradis, my tiger, routed him completely, and he ended 
 by confessing that you were anxious to place Anicette in the 
 service of the richest family in Arcis. Now, as the richest 
 family in Arcis are the Beauvisages, I presume that it is Made- 
 moiselle Cecile who is anxious to secure such a treasure." 
 
 "Yes, monsieur."
 
 92 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " Very well, Mademoiselle Anicette can go to the Beau- 
 visages at once." 
 
 He whistled. Paradis appeared so promptly that his master 
 said 
 
 "You were listening." 
 
 " I cannot help myself, Monsieur le Comte, the walls are 
 made of paper. If you like, Monsieur le Comte, I can go to 
 an upstairs room." 
 
 " No, you may listen ; it is your privilege. It is my business 
 to speak low when I do not want you to hear. Now, go back 
 to Cinq-Cygne, and give this twenty-franc piece to Anicette 
 from me. Julien will be supposed to have bribed her on your 
 account," he added, turning to Goulard. "This gold-piece 
 means that she is to do as Julien tells her. Anicette may pos- 
 sibly be of use to our candidate." 
 
 "Anicette! " 
 
 "You see, Monsieur le Sous-prefet, I have made use of 
 waiting-maids for two-and-thirty years. I had my first adven- 
 ture at the age of thirteen, exactly like the Regent, the present 
 King's great-great-grandfather. Now, do you know the amount 
 of this demoiselle Beauvisage's fortune?" 
 
 "No one can help knowing it, monsieur ; for last evening, 
 at Madame Marion's, Madame Severine said that Monsieur 
 Grevin, Cecile's grandfather, would give her the Hotel 
 Beaus6ant and two hundred thousand francs on her wedding- 
 day." 
 
 The Stranger's eyes betrayed no surprise ; he seemed to 
 think it a very moderate fortune. 
 
 " Do you know Arcis well? " he asked Goulard. 
 
 " I am sub-prefect of the town, and I was born here." 
 
 "Well, then, how can I balk curiosity?" 
 
 " By satisfying it, Monsieur le Comte. Use your Christian 
 name ; enter that and your title on the register." 
 
 " Very good : Comte Maxime." 
 
 "And if you would call yourself the manager of a railway
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 93 
 
 company, Arcis would be content ; you could keep it quiet for 
 a fortnight by flying that flag." 
 
 " No, I prefer water- works ; it is less common. I have come 
 to improve the waste-lands of the province. That, my dear 
 Monsieur Goulard, will be an excuse for inviting myself to 
 dine at your house- to meet the Beauvisages to-morrow. I 
 particularly wish to see and study them." 
 
 "I shall only be too happy," said the official. "But I 
 must ask your indulgence for the poverty of my establish- 
 ment " 
 
 "If I succeed in directing the election at Arcis in accord- 
 ance with the wishes of those who have sent me here, you, my 
 
 good friend, will be made a prefect. Read these " and he 
 
 held out two other letters. 
 
 "Very good, Monsieur le Comte," said Goulard, as he re- 
 turned them. 
 
 " Make out a list of all the votes at the disposal of the Gov- 
 ernment. Above all, we must not appear to have any mutual 
 understanding. I am merely a speculator, and do not care a 
 fig about the election." 
 
 " I will send the police superintendent to compel you to 
 write your name on Poupart's register." 
 
 " Yes, that is very good. Good-morning, monsieur. What 
 a land we live in ! " he went on in a loud tone. " It is im- 
 possible to stir a step without having the whole posse at your 
 heels even the sub-prefect." 
 
 "You will have to settle that with the head of the police," 
 replied Antonin emphatically. 
 
 And twenty minutes later there was a great talk at Madame 
 Mollot's of high words between the sub-prefect and the 
 Stranger. 
 
 " Well, and what wood is the log made of that has dropped 
 into our pool ? " asked Olivier Vinet of Goulard, as he came 
 away from the inn. 
 
 " A certain Comte Maxime, come to study the geology of
 
 94 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 the district in the hope of finding mineral sources," said 
 Goulard indifferently. 
 
 "^-sources you should say," replied Olivier. 
 
 " Does he fancy he can raise any capital in these parts?" 
 asked Monsieur Martener. 
 
 " I doubt our royalist people seeing anything in that form 
 of mining," said Vinet, smiling. 
 
 "What do you expect, judging from Madame Marion's 
 looks and movements?" said Antonin, changing the con- 
 versation by pointing out Simon and his aunt in eager con- 
 ference. 
 
 Simon had gone forward to meet Madame Marion, and 
 stood talking in the square. 
 
 "Well, if he were accepted, a word would be enough to 
 tell him so, I should think," observed Vinet. 
 
 "Well?" asked the two men at once as Simon came up 
 the lime-walk. 
 
 " My aunt has hopes. Madame Beauvisage and old Grevin, 
 who was starting for Gondreville, were not surprised at our 
 proposal ; our respective fortunes were discussed. Cecile is 
 absolutely free to make her own choice. Finally, Madame 
 Beauvisage said that for her part she saw no objection to a 
 connection which did her honor, though, at the same time, 
 she must make her consent depend on my election, and pos- 
 sibly on my appearing in the Chamber ; and old Grevin said 
 he must consult the Comte de Gondreville, as he never came 
 to any important decision without consulting him and taking 
 his advice." 
 
 "So you will not marry Cecile, old boy," said Goulard 
 bluntly. 
 
 "And why not?" said Giguet ironically. 
 
 " My dear fellow, Madame Beauvisage and her daughter 
 spend four evenings a week in your aunt's drawing-room ; 
 Madame Marion is the most thorough fine lady in Arcis. 
 Though she is twenty years the elder, she is the object of
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 95 
 
 Madame Beauvisage's envy ; and do you suppose they could 
 refuse you point-blank without some little civility?" 
 
 " Neither Yes nor No is NO," Vmet went on, " in view of 
 the extreme intimacy of your two families. If Madame Beau- 
 visage is the woman of fortune, Madame Marion is the most 
 looked up to ; for, %ith the exception of the presiding judge's 
 wife who sees no one she is the only woman who can en- 
 tertain at all ; she is the queen of Arcis. Madame Beauvisage 
 wishes to refuse politely that is all." 
 
 " It seems to me that old Grevin was making a fool of your 
 aunt, my dear boy," said Frederic Marest. "Yesterday you 
 attacked the Comte de Gondreville; you hurt him, you of- 
 fended him deeply for Achille Pigoult defended him bravely 
 and now he is to be consulted as to your marrying Cecile ! " 
 
 " No one can be craftier than old Grevin," said Vinet. 
 
 " Madame Beauvisage is ambitious," Goulard went on, 
 " and knows that her daughter will have two millions of 
 francs. She means to be the mother-in-law of a minister or 
 of an ambassador, so as to lord it in Paris." 
 
 "Well, and why not that?" said Simon Giguet. 
 
 "I wish you may get it!" replied Goulard, looking at 
 Vinet, and they laughed as they went on their way. " He 
 will not even be elected ! " he went on to Olivier. "The 
 Government has schemes of its own. You will find a letter 
 at home from your father, desiring you to secure every one in 
 your connection who ought to vote for their masters. Your 
 promotion depends upon it, and you are to keep your own 
 counsel." 
 
 "And who is the man for whom they are to vote ushers, 
 attorneys, justice of the peace, and notaries?" asked Vinet. 
 
 " The man I will tell you to vote for." 
 
 " But how do you know that my father has written to me, 
 and what he has written?" 
 
 "From the Unknown." 
 
 "The man of mines?"
 
 96 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " My dear Vinet, we are not to know him ; we must treat 
 him as a stranger. He saw your father as he came through 
 Provins. Just now this individual showed me a letter from 
 the chief prefect instructing me to act in the matter of the 
 elections as I shall be directed by this Comte Maxime. I 
 should not get off without having to fight a battle, that I 
 knew ! Let us dine together and plan our batteries : You 
 want to be public prosecutor at Mantes, and I to be prefect, 
 and we must not appear to meddle in the elections, for we are 
 between the hammer and anvil. Simon is the candidate put 
 forward by the party who want to upset the present ministry, 
 and who may succeed. But for clear-sighted men like us 
 there is but one thing to do." 
 
 "And that is?" 
 
 "To obey those who make and unmake ministries. The 
 letter that was shown to me was from a man in the secrets of 
 the immutable idea." 
 
 Before going any further, it will be necessary to explain 
 who this "miner " was, and what he hoped to extract out of 
 the province of Champagne. 
 
 About two months before Simon Giguet's day of triumph 
 as a candidate, at eleven o'clock one evening, just as tea was 
 being served in the Marquise d'Espard's drawing-room in the 
 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, the Chevalier d'Espard, her 
 brother-in-law, as he set his cup down on the chimney-shelf 
 and looked at the circle round the fire, observed : 
 
 " Maxime was very much out of spirits this evening did 
 not you think so ?" 
 
 "Well," replied Rastignac, "his depression is very natural. 
 He is eight-and-forty ; at that age a man does not make friends ; 
 and when we buried de Marsay, Maxime lost the only one who 
 could thoroughly understand him, who could be of use to him, 
 or make use of him." 
 
 "And he probably has some pressing debts. Could not
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC1S. 97 
 
 you put him in the way of paying them off ? " said the mar- 
 quise to Rastignac. 
 
 Rastignac at this juncture was in office for the second time ; 
 he had just been created count, almost in spite of himself; 
 his father-in-law, the Baron de Nucingen, had been made a 
 peer of France ; his brother was a bishop ; the Comte de la 
 Roche-Hugon, his brother-in-law, was ambassador; and he 
 was supposed to be an indispensable element in the composi- 
 tion of any future ministry. 
 
 "You always forget, my dear marquise," replied Rastignac, 
 " that our Government changes its silver for nothing but 
 gold; it takes no account of men." 
 
 "Is Maxima a man to blow his brains out?" asked du 
 Tillet the banker. 
 
 "You only wish he were ! Then we should be quits," re- 
 plied Maxime de Trailles, who was supposed by all to have 
 left the house. 
 
 And the count rose like an apparition from the depths of a 
 low chair behind that of the Chevalier d'Espard. 
 
 Everybody laughed. 
 
 "Will you have a cup of tea?" asked young Madame de 
 Rastignac, whom the marquise had begged to do the honors 
 of the tea-table. 
 
 "With pleasure," said the count, coming to stand in front 
 of the fire. 
 
 This man, the prince of the rakes of Paris, had, till now, 
 maintained the position of superiority assumed by dandies 
 in those days known in Paris as gants jaunes (lemon-kids), 
 and since then as "lions." It is needless to tell the story of his 
 youth, full of disreputable adventures and terrible dramas, in 
 which he had always managed to observe the proprieties. To 
 this man women were but means to an end ; he had no belief 
 in their sufferings or their enjoyment ; like the deceased de 
 Marsay, he regarded them as naughty children. 
 
 After running through his own fortune, he had devoured 
 7
 
 98 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 that of a famous courtesan known as the Handsome Dutch- 
 woman, the mother of the no less famous Esther Gobseck. 
 Then he brought trouble on Madame de Restaud, Madame 
 Delphine de Nucingen's sister ; the young countess, Rastig- 
 nac's wife, was Madame de Nucingen's daughter. 
 
 Paris society is full of inconceivable anomalies. The Ba- 
 ronne de Nucingen was at this moment in Madame d'Espard's 
 drawing-room, face to face with the author of all her sister's 
 misery an assassin who had only murdered a woman's happi- 
 ness. That, no doubt, was why he was there. 
 
 Madame de Nucingen had dined with the marquise, and 
 her daughter with her. Augusta de Nucingen had been 
 married for about a year to the Comte de Rastignac, who had 
 started on his political career by holding the post of under- 
 secretary of State in the ministry formed by the famous de 
 Marsay, the only great statesman brought to the front by the 
 Revolution of July. Count Maxime de Trailles alone knew 
 how much disaster he had occasioned ; but he had always 
 sheltered himself from blame by obeying the code of manly 
 honor. Though he had squandered more money in his life 
 than the felons in the four penal establishments of France 
 had stolen in the same time, justice treated him with respect. 
 He had never failed in any question of technical honor ; he 
 paid his gambling debts with scrupulous punctuality. He was 
 a capital player, and the partner of the greatest personages 
 and ambassadors. He dined with all the members of the 
 corps diplomatic. He would fight ; he had killed two or 
 three men in his time nay, he had murdered them, for his 
 skill and coolness were matchless. 
 
 There was not a young man in Paris to compare with him 
 in dress, in grace of manner, in pleasant wit, in ease and 
 readiness, in what used to be called the "grand air." As 
 page to the Emperor, trained from the age of twelve in horse 
 exercise of every kind, he was a noted rider. He had always 
 five horses in his stables, he kept racers, he set the fashion.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 99 
 
 Finally, no man was more successful than he in giving a 
 supper to younger men ; he would drink with the stoutest, 
 and come out fresh and cool, ready to begin again, as if 
 orgies were his element. 
 
 Maxime, one of the men whom everybody despises, but 
 who control that contempt by the insolence of audacity and 
 the fear they inspire, never deceived himself as to his posi- 
 tion. This was where his strength lay. Strong men can 
 always criticise themselves. 
 
 At the time of the Restoration he had turned his employ- 
 ment as page to the Emperor to good account. He attrib- 
 uted his supposed Bonapartist proclivities to the repulses he 
 had met with from a succession of ministers when he had 
 wanted to serve under the Bourbons ; for, in fact, notwith- 
 standing his connections, his good birth, and his dangerous 
 cleverness, he had never succeeded in getting an appointment. 
 Then he had joined the underground conspiracy, which ended 
 in the fall of the elder branch of the Bourbons. When the 
 younger branch, at the heels of the Paris populace, had 
 trampled down the senior branch and established itself on the 
 throne, Maxime made the most of his attachment to Napo- 
 leon, for whom he cared no more than for the object of his 
 first flirtation. He then did good service, for which it was 
 difficult to make a return, as he wanted to be repaid too often 
 by people who knew how to keep accounts. At the first re- 
 fusal Maxime assumed a hostile attitude, threatening to reveal 
 certain not very creditable details ; for a dynasty first set up 
 has, like infants, dirty linen to hide. 
 
 De Marsay, in the course of his career, made up for the 
 blunders of those who had undervalued the usefulness of this 
 person ; he employed him on such secret errands as need a 
 conscience hardened by the hammer of necessity ; an address 
 which is equal to any mode of action, impudence, and, above 
 all, the coolness, presence of mind, and swift apprehension of 
 affairs, which are combined to make a bravo of scheming and
 
 100 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 superior policy. Such an instrument is at once rare and in- 
 dispensable. De Marsay intentionally secured to Maxime de 
 Trailles a firm footing in the highest social circles ; he repre- 
 sented him as being a man matured by passion, taught by ex- 
 perience, knowing men and things, to whom traveling and a 
 faculty of observation had given great knowledge of European 
 interests, of foreign cabinets, and of the connections of all 
 the great continental families. De Marsay impressed on 
 Maxime the necessity for doing himself credit ; he explained 
 to him that discretion was not so much a virtue as a good 
 speculation ; he proved to him that power never evades the 
 touch of a strong and trustworthy tool, at the same time 
 elegant and polished. 
 
 "In political life you can only squeeze a man once," said 
 he, blaming him for having uttered a threat. 
 
 And Maxime was the man to understand all the significance 
 of the axiom. 
 
 At de Marsay's death, Comte Maxime de Trailles fell back 
 into his old life. He went every year to gamble at watering- 
 places, and returned to spend the winter in Paris ; but, al- 
 though he received from time to time some considerable sums 
 dug out of the depths of very tight-locked chests, this sort of 
 half-pay due to a man of spirit, who might at any moment be 
 made use of, and who was in the confidence of many mysteries 
 of antagonistic diplomatists, was insufficient for the extrava- 
 gant splendor of a life like that of this king of the dandies, 
 the tyrant of four or five Paris clubs. Hence the count had 
 many hours of uneasiness over the financial question. 
 
 Having no estates or investments, he had never been able 
 to strengthen his position by being elected deputy ; and hav- 
 ing no ostensible duties, it was out of his power to hold the 
 knife to a great man's throat, and get himself made a peer of 
 France. And time was gaining on him ; dissipation of all 
 kinds had damaged his health and person. In spite of a 
 handsome appearance, he knew it ; he did not deceive him-
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 101 
 
 self. He determined to settle, to marry. He was too clever 
 a man to overestimate the true value of his position ; it was, 
 he knew, an illusion. So he could not find a wife in the 
 highest Paris society, nor in the middle class. He required a 
 vast amount of spite, with apparent sincerity and real service 
 done, to make himsett- acceptable ; for every one hoped for 
 his fall, and a vein of ill-luck might be his ruin. 
 
 If once he should find himself in prison, at Clichy or 
 abroad, as a result of some bill of exchange that he failed 
 to negotiate, he would drop into the gulf where so many 
 political dead men are to be seen who do not' comfort each 
 other. At this very hour he was dreading the falling stones 
 from some portions of the awful vault which debts build up 
 over many a Parisian head. He had allowed his anxiety to 
 be seen in his face ; he had refused to play here at Madame 
 d'Espard's; he had been absent-minded while talking to 
 ladies ; and he had ended by sitting mute and absorbed in 
 the armchair from which he now rose like Banquo's ghost. 
 
 Comte Maxime de Trailies, standing in the middle of the 
 fire-front, under the cross-lights of two large candelabra, found 
 himself the centre of direct or indirect observation. The few 
 words that had been said required him to assume an attitude 
 of defiance; and he stood there like a man of spirit, but with- 
 out arrogance, determined to show himself superior to sus- 
 picion. A painter could not have had a more favorable 
 moment for sketching this really remarkable man. 
 
 For must not a man have extraordinary gifts to play such a 
 part as his, to have fascinated women for thirty years, to have 
 commanded himself to use his talents only in a secret sphere 
 exciting a people to rebel, discovering the mysteries of the 
 astutest politicians, and triumphing only in ladies' boudoirs 
 or men's private rooms? Is there not something grand in 
 being able to rise to the highest schemes of political life, and 
 then calmly drop back into the insignificance of a frivolous 
 existence ? A man must be of iron who can live through the
 
 102 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 alternations of the gaming table and the sudden journeys of a 
 political agent, who can keep up the war-footing of elegance 
 and fashion and the expenses of necessary civilities to the fair 
 sex, whose memory is a perfect library of craft and falsehood, 
 who can hide so many and such different ideas, and so many 
 tricks of craft, under such impenetrable suavity of manner. 
 If the breeze of favor had blown steadily on those overspread 
 sails, if the course of events had served Maxime better, he 
 might have been a Mazarin, a Marechal de Richelieu, a 
 Potemkin* or perhaps, more exactly, a Lauzun, minus Pig- 
 nerol. 
 
 The count, a fairly tall man, and not inclining to be fat, 
 had a certain amount of stomach ; but he suppressed it majes- 
 tically to use Brillat-Savarin's words. His clothes, too, were 
 so well made that his figure preserved a youthful aspect, and 
 there was something light and easy in his movements, which 
 was due, no doubt, to constant exercise, to the habit of fencing, 
 riding, and shooting. Maxime had, in fact, all the physical 
 grace and distinction of an aristocrat, enhanced by his ad- 
 mirable "get-up." His face was long, of the Bourbon type, 
 framed in whiskers and a beard under his chin, carefully cut 
 and curled, and as black as jet. This hue, matching that of 
 his thick hair, was preserved by the use of an Indian cosmetic, 
 very expensive, and known only in Persia, of which Maxime 
 kept the secret. He thus cheated the keenest eye as to the 
 white hairs which had long since streaked the natural black. 
 The peculiarity of this dye, used by the Persians for thin 
 beards, is that it does not make the features look hard ; it can 
 be softened by an admixture of indigo, and harmonizes with 
 the color of the skin. This, no doubt, was the operation seen 
 by Madame Mollot ; but it remains to this day a standing joke 
 at Arcis to wonder now and again, at the evening meetings, 
 "what Madame Mollot did see." 
 
 Maxime had a fine forehead, blue eyes, a Grecian nose, a 
 * A noted Russian Minister of State; born 1739, died 1791.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 103 
 
 pleasant mouth, and well-shaped chin ; but all round his eyes 
 were a myriad wrinkles, as fine as if they had been marked 
 with a razor invisible, in fact, at a little distance. There 
 were similar lines on his temples, and all his face was a good 
 deal wrinkled. His eyes, like those of gamblers who have sat 
 up night after night* were covered with a sort of glaze; but 
 their look, if dimmed, was only the more terrible nay, terri- 
 fying. It so evidently covered a brooding fire, the lavas of 
 half-extinguished passions. The mouth, too, once fresh and 
 scarlet, had a cold shade, and it was not quite straight ; the 
 right-hand corner drooped a little. This sinuous line seemed 
 to hint at falsehood. Vice had disfigured the smile, but his 
 teeth were still sound and white. 
 
 These blemishes, too, were overlooked in the general effect 
 of his face and figure. His grace was still so attractive that 
 no younger man could compare with Maxime on horseback in 
 the Bois de Boulogne, where he appeared more youthful and 
 graceful than the youngest and most elegant of them all. 
 This privilege of eternal youth has been seen in some men of 
 our day. 
 
 De Trailles was all the more dangerous because he seemed 
 yielding and indolent, and never betrayed his obstinate fore- 
 gone conclusions on every subject. This charming indiffer- 
 ence, which enabled him to back up a seditious mob with as 
 much skill as he could have brought to bear on a Court in- 
 trigue to strengthen the position of a King, had a certain 
 charm. No one, especially in France, ever distrusts what 
 seems calm and homogeneous ; we are accustomed to so much 
 stir about trifles. 
 
 The count, dressed in the fashion of 1839, had on a black 
 coat, a dark blue cashmere vest embroidered with light blue 
 sprigs, black trousers, gray silk socks, and patent-leather shoes. 
 His watch, in his vest pocket, was secured through a button- 
 hole by a neat gold chain. 
 
 " Rastignac," said he, as he accepted the cup of tea held
 
 104 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 out to him by the pretty countess, " will you come with me 
 to the Austrian embassy ? " 
 
 " My dear fellow, I am too recently married not to go home 
 with my wife." 
 
 "Which means that by-and-by ?" said the young 
 
 countess, looking round at her husband. 
 
 "By-and-by is the end of the world," replied Maxime. 
 " But if you make madame the judge, that will win the case 
 for me, I think?" 
 
 Count Maxime, with a graceful gesture, drew the pretty 
 countess to his side ; she listened to a few words he said, and 
 then remarked : "If you like to go to the embassy with 
 Monsieur de Trailles, my mother will take me home." 
 
 A few minutes later the Baronne de Nucingen and the 
 Countess de Rastignac went away together. Maxime and 
 Rastignac soon followed ; and when they were sitting together 
 in the carriage 
 
 " What do you want of me, Maxime? " asked the husband. 
 " What is the hurry, that you take me by the throat? And 
 what did you say to my wife? " 
 
 "That I wanted to speak to you," replied Monsieur de 
 Trailles. "You are a lucky dog, you are ! You have ended 
 by marrying the sole heiress of the Nucingen millions but 
 you have worked for it. Twenty years of penal servitude 
 like " 
 
 "Maxime!" 
 
 "While I find myself looked at askance by everybody," 
 he went on, without heeding the interruption. "A wretched 
 creature a du Tillet asks if I have courage enough to kill 
 myself! It is time to see where we stand. Do they want me 
 out of the way, or do they not ? You can find out you must 
 find out," said Maxime, silencing Rastignac by a gesture. 
 " This is my plan ; listen to it. You ought to do me a ser- 
 vice I have served you, and can serve you again. The life 
 I am leading bores me, and I want a pension. Help me to
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 105 
 
 conclude a marriage which will secure me half a million ; 
 once married, get me sent as minister to some wretched 
 American republic. I will stay there long enough to justify 
 my appointment to a similar post in Germany. If I am good 
 for anything, I shall be promoted ; if I am good for nothing, 
 I shall be cashiered I may have a son ; I will bring him 
 up strictly ; his mother will be rich ; I will train him up to 
 diplomacy ; he may become an ambassador ! " 
 
 "And this is my answer," said Rastignac. " There is a 
 harder struggle to be fought out than the outside world 
 imagines between a power in swaddling clothes and a child in 
 power. The power in swaddling clothes is the Chamber of 
 Deputies, which, not being restrained by a hereditary Chamber, 
 
 may " 
 
 " Aha ! " said Maxime, " you are a peer of France ! " 
 " And shall I not remain so under any government ? " said 
 the newly made peer. " But do not interrupt, you are in- 
 terested in all this muddle. The Chamber of Deputies will 
 inevitably be the whole of the Government, as de Marsay 
 used to tell us the only man who might have rescued France ; 
 for a nation does not die; it is a slave or free, that is all. 
 The child in power is the dynasty crowned in the month of 
 August, 1830. 
 
 " The present ministry is beaten ; it has dissolved the 
 Chamber, and will call a general election to prevent the next 
 ministry from having the chance; but it has no hope of a vic- 
 tory. If it should be victorious in the elections, the dynasty 
 would be in danger ; whereas, if the ministry is turned out, 
 the dynastic party may struggle on and hold its own for some 
 time yet. The blunders of the Chamber will turn to the ad- 
 vantage of a Will, which, unfortunately, is the mainspring of 
 politics. When one man is all in all, as Napoleon was, the 
 moment comes when he must have representatives ; and as 
 superior men are rejected, the great Head is not represented. 
 The representative is called the Cabinet, and in France there
 
 106 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 is no Cabinet only a Will for life. In France only those 
 who govern can blunder; the Opposition can never blunder; 
 it may lose every battle and be none the worse ; it is 
 enough if, like the Allies in 1814, it wins but one victory. 
 With ' three glorious days ' it could destroy everything. 
 Hence not to govern, but to sit and wait, is to be the 
 next heir to power. Now, my personal feelings are on the 
 side of the aristocracy, my public opinions on that of the 
 dynasty of July. The House of Orleans has helped me to 
 reinstate the fortunes of my family, and I am attached to it 
 for ever." 
 
 "The for ever of Monsieur de Talleyrand, of course," de 
 Trailles put in. 
 
 "So at the present moment I can do nothing for you," 
 Rastignac went on. " We shall not be in power these six 
 months. Yes, for those six months, we shall be dying by 
 inches : I have always known it. We knew our fate from the 
 first ; we were but a stop-gap ministry. But if you distinguish 
 yourself in the thick of the electoral fray that is beginning, 
 if you become a vote a member faithful to the reigning 
 dynasty, your wishes shall be attended to. I can say a great 
 deal about your zeal, I can poke my nose into every secret 
 document, every private and confidential letter, and find 
 you some tough place to work up. If you succeed, I can 
 urge your claims your skill and devotion and demand the 
 reward. 
 
 "As to your marriage, my dear fellow, that can only be 
 arranged in the country with some family of ambitious manu- 
 facturers. In Paris you are too well known. The thing to 
 find is a millionaire, a parvenu, with a daughter, and possessed 
 with the ambition to swagger at the Tuileries." 
 
 "Well ; but get your father-in-law to lend me twenty-five 
 thousand francs to carry me over meanwhile ; then he will be 
 interested in my not being dismissed with empty promises, 
 and will promote my marriage."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 107 
 
 "You are wide-awake, Maxime, and you do not trust me, 
 but I like a clever fellow ; I will arrange that little business for 
 you." 
 
 The carriage stopped. 
 
 The Comte de Rastignac saw the minister of the Interior in 
 the embassy drawing-room, and drew him into a corner. The 
 Comte de Trailles was apparently devoting himself to the old 
 Comtesse de Listomere, but in reality he was watching the 
 two men ; he marked their gestures, interpreted their glances, 
 and at last caught a friendly look toward himself from the 
 minister's eye. 
 
 Maxime and Rastignac went away together at one in the 
 morning, and before they each got into his own carriage, Ras- 
 tignac said on the stairs 
 
 " Come to see me when the elections are coming on. Be- 
 tween this and then I shall find out where the Opposition is 
 likely to be strongest, and what remedy may be devised by 
 two such minds as ours." 
 
 " I am in a hurry for those twenty-five thousand frangs ! " 
 replied de Trailles. 
 
 " Well, keep out of sight." 
 
 About seven weeks later, one morning before it was light, 
 the Comte de Trailles drove mysteriously in a hackney-coach 
 to the Rue de Varenne. He dismissed the coach on arriving 
 at the door of the minister of Public Works, looked to see that 
 he was not watched, and then waited in a small room on the 
 first floor till Rastignac should be up. In a few minutes the 
 manservant, who had carried in Maxime's card, showed him 
 into his master's room, where the great man was finishing his 
 toilet. 
 
 " My dear fellow," said the minister, " I can tell you a 
 secret which will be published in the newspapers within two 
 days, and which you can turn to good account. That poor 
 Charles Keller, who danced the mazurka so well, has been 
 killed in Africa, and he was our candidate for the borough
 
 108 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 and district of Arcis. His death leaves a gap. Here are 
 copies of the two reports one from the sub-prefect, the other 
 from the police commissioner informing the ministry that 
 there were difficulties in the way of our poor friend's election. 
 In the police commissioner's letter you will find some informa- 
 tion as to the state of the town which will be sufficient to 
 guide a man of your ability, for the ambition of poor Charles 
 Keller's opponent is founded on his wish to marry an heiress. 
 To a man like you this is hint enough. The Cinq-Cygnes, 
 the Princesse de Cadignan, and Georges de Maufrigneuse are 
 within a stone's throw of Arcis ; you could at need secure the 
 legitimist votes. So " 
 
 " Do not wear your tongue out," said Maxime. " Is the 
 police commissioner still at Arcis ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Give me a line to him." 
 
 " My dear fellow," said Rastignac, giving Maxime a packet 
 of papers, " you will find there two letters written to Gondre- 
 ville to introduce you. You have been a page, he was a 
 senator you will understand each other. Madame Francois 
 Keller is addicted to piety ; here is a letter to her from the 
 Marechale de Carigliano. The marechale is now Orleanist ; 
 she recommends you warmly, and will, in fact, be going to 
 Arcis. I have only one word to add : Be on your guard 
 against the sub-prefect ; I believe him to be very capable of 
 taking up this Simon Giguet as an advocate with the ex- 
 president of the council. If you need more letters, powers, 
 introductions write me." 
 
 "And the twenty-five thousand francs?" asked Maxime. 
 
 " Sign this bill on du Tillet ; here is the money." 
 
 "I shall succeed," said the count, "and yoi can promise 
 the authorities that the Deputy for Arcis will be theirs, body 
 and soul. If I fail, pitch me overboard ! " 
 
 And within an hour Maxime de Trailles, driving his tilbury, 
 was on the road to Arcis.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 109 
 
 As soon as he was furnished with the information supplied 
 by the landlady of the Mulct and Antonin Goulard, Monsieur 
 de Trailles lost no time in arranging the plan of his electoral 
 campaign a plan so obvious that the reader will have divined 
 it at once. This shrewd agent for his own private politics at 
 once set up PhileaS^as the candidate in opposition to Simon 
 Giguet ; and, notwithstanding that the man was an unlikely 
 cipher, the idea, it must be admitted, had strong chances in 
 its favor. Beauvisage, as wearing the halo of municipal 
 authority, had, with the great mass of indifferent voters, the 
 advantage of being known by reputation. Logic rules the 
 development of affairs here below more than might be sup- 
 posed it is like a wife to whom, after every infidelity, a man 
 is sure to return. 
 
 Plain sense demands that the electors called upon to choose 
 a representative of their common interests should always be 
 amply informed as to his fitness, his honesty, and his char- 
 acter. In practice, no doubt, this theory is often considerably 
 strained ; but whenever the electoral flock is left to follow its 
 instincts, and can believe that it is voting in obedience to its 
 own lights and intelligence, it may be trusted to throw zeal 
 and conscious pride into its decisions ; hence, while knowing 
 their man is half the battle in the electoral sense, to know his 
 name is, at any rate, a good beginning. 
 
 Among lukewarm voters, beginning with the most fervent, 
 Phileas was certain, in the first instance, to secure the Gondre- 
 ville party. Any candidate would be certain of the support 
 of the "Viceroy" of Arcis, if it were only to punish the 
 audacity of Simon Giguet. The election of an upstart, in the 
 very act of flagrant ingratitude and hostility, would, cast a slur 
 on the Comte de Gondreville's provincial supremacy, and 
 must be averted at any cost. Still, Beauvisage must expect, 
 at the first announcement of his parliamentary ambition, a 
 far from flattering or encouraging expression of surprise on 
 the part of his father-in-law Grevin. The old man had, once
 
 110 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 for all, taken his son-in-law's measure ; and to a mind as well 
 balanced and clear as his, the notion of Phileas as a states- 
 man would have the same unpleasant effect as a startling dis- 
 cord has on the ear. Also, if it is true that no man is a 
 prophet in his own country, he is still less so in his own 
 family, where any recognition of even the most indisputable 
 success is grudged or questioned long after it has ceased to be 
 doubted by the outer world. But, the first shock over, Grevin 
 would probably become accustomed to an alternative, which, 
 after all, was not antagonistic to his own notions for the future 
 existence of Severine. And then what sacrifice would he not 
 be ready to make to save the high influence of the Gondre- 
 villes, so evidently endangered ? 
 
 To the legitimist and republican parties, neither of which 
 could have any weight in the elections excepting to turn the 
 scale, Monsieur de Trailles' nominee had one strange recom- 
 mendation namely, his acknowledged ineptitude. These 
 two fractional elements of the anti-dynastic opposition knew 
 that neither was strong enough to return a member ; hence 
 they would probably be eager to embrace an opportunity of 
 playing a trick on what they disdainfully called the established 
 order of things; and it might confidently be expected that, 
 in cheerful desperation, they would heartily contribute to the 
 success of a candidate so grossly ridiculous as to reflect a 
 broad beam of ridicule on the Government that could sup- 
 port his election. Finally, in the suffrages of the Left Centre, 
 which had provisionally accepted Simon '"Viguet as its candi- 
 date, Beauvisage would give rise to a strong secession, since 
 he too gave himself out as opposed to the reigning dynasty ; 
 and Monsieur de Trailles, pending further orders, while assur- 
 ing the mayor of the support of the ministry, meant to en- 
 courage that political bias, which was undoubtedly the most 
 popular on the scene of operations. 
 
 Whatever budget of convictions the incorruptible representa- 
 tive might carry with him to Paris, his horoscope was drawn ;
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC IS. Ill 
 
 it was quite certain that on his very first appearance at the 
 Tuileries. august fascination would win him over to fanaticism, 
 if the mere snares of ministerial enticement were not enough 
 to produce that result. 
 
 Public interest being so satisfactorily arranged for, the 
 electoral agent had*"now to consider the personal question : 
 Whether, while manufacturing a deputy, he could find the 
 stuff that would also make a father-in-law. The first point 
 the fortune, and the second point the young lady, met bis 
 views; the first without dazzling him, the second without his 
 being blind to the defects of a provincial education which 
 must be corrected from the beginning, but which would prob- 
 ably not offer any serious resistance to his skillful marital 
 guidance. Madame Beauvisage carried her husband away by 
 storm ; she was an ambitious woman, who, in spite of her 
 four-and-forty years, still seemed conscious of a heart. Con- 
 sequently, the best game to play would perhaps be a feint 
 attack on her, to be subsequently turned with advantage on 
 the daughter. 
 
 How far must the advanced works be carried ? A question 
 to be answered as circumstances might direct. In any case, 
 so far as the two women were concerned, Maxime felt that he 
 had the strong recommendation of his title, his reputation as 
 a man of fashion, and his peculiar fitness to initiate them into 
 the elegant and difficult arcana of Paris life ; and, finally, as 
 the founder of Beauvisage's political fortunes, which promised 
 such a happy revolution in the life of these two exiled ladies, 
 might not Monsieur de Trailles expect to find them enthusi- 
 astically grateful ? 
 
 At the same time, there remained one serious difficulty in 
 the way of a successful matrimonial campaign. He must ob- 
 tain the consent of old Grevin, who was not the man to allow 
 Cecile's marriage without making the strictest inquiries into 
 the past career of her suitor. Now, in the event of such an 
 inquiry, was there not some fear that a punctilious pjd man
 
 112 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 might fail to find a record of such complete security and con- 
 ventional virtues as his prudence might insist on ? 
 
 The semi-governmental mission which had brought Monsieur 
 de Trailles to Arcis would indeed give a semblance of such 
 importance and amendment as might be calculated to neu- 
 tralize the effect of certain items of information. And if, be- 
 fore this mission were made public, it were confided as a great 
 secret to Grevin by Gondreville, the old man's vanity would 
 be flattered, and that would score in Maxime's favor. 
 
 He then resolved, in this difficult predicament, to adopt 
 the very old trick attributed to Gribouille, consisting in throw- 
 ing himself into the water to avoid getting wet. He would 
 anticipate the old notary's suspicions ; he himself would seem 
 to doubt his own prudence ; and, by way of a precaution 
 against the temptations that had so long beset him, he deter- 
 mined to make it a preliminary condition that Cecile's for- 
 tune should be expressly settled on herself. By this means 
 they would feel safe against any relapse on his part into habits 
 of extravagance. 
 
 It would be his business to acquire such influence over his 
 young wife as would enable him, by acting on her feelings, to 
 recover the conjugal authority of which such a marriage-con- 
 tract would deprive him. 
 
 At first nothing occurred to make him doubt the wisdom 
 and perspicacity of all these projects. As soon as it was 
 mooted, the nomination of Beauvisage caught fire like a train 
 of gunpowder ; and Monsieur de Trailles thought the success 
 of all his schemes so probable that he felt justified in writing 
 to Rastignac, pledging himself to carry out his mission with 
 the happiest and completest results. 
 
 But, suddenly in opposition to Beauvisage the triumphant, 
 another candidate appeared on the scene ; and, it may be in- 
 cidentally rioted, that, for the good fortune of this piece of 
 history, the competitor presented himself under conditions so 
 exceptional and so unforeseen that, instead of a picture of
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 113 
 
 petty conflicts attending a country election, it may very prob- 
 ably afford the interest of a far more exciting drama. 
 
 The man who intervenes in this narrative to fill so high 
 a calling will be called upon to play so important a part 
 that it is necessary to introduce him by a somewhat lengthy 
 retrospective explanation. But at the stage we have reached, 
 to interrupt the story by a sort of argument in the middle 
 would be a breach of all the laws of art, and expose me to the 
 wrath of the Critic, that sanctimonious guardian of literary 
 orthodoxy. 
 
 In the presence of such a dilemma, the author would find 
 himself in serious difficulties, but that his lucky star threw in 
 his way a correspondence in which he found every detail he 
 could wish to place before the reader set forth in order, with 
 a brilliancy and vividness he could not have hoped to achieve. 
 
 These letters are worthy of being read with attention. 
 While they bring on to the scene many actors in the Human 
 Comedy who have appeared before, they explain a number ot 
 facts indispensable to the understanding and progress of this 
 particular drama. When they have been presented, and the 
 narrative thus brought up to the point where it now apparently 
 breaks off, it will resume its course without any hiatus ; and 
 the author flatters himself that the introduction for a time of 
 the epistolary form, instead of destroying its unity, may, in 
 fact, enhance it. 
 8
 
 PART II. 
 
 EDIFYING LETTERS. 
 THE COMTE DE I/ESTORADE TO MARIE-GASTON.* 
 
 My DEAR SIR : In obedience to your request, I have seen 
 M. the Prefet of Police, to ascertain whether the pious pur- 
 pose of which you speak in your letter dated from Carrara 
 will meet with any opposition on the part of the authorities. 
 He informs me that the Imperial decree of the 23d Prairial 
 of the year XII. , which is still paramount on all points con- 
 nected with interments, establishes beyond a doubt the right 
 of every landowner to be buried in his own ground. You 
 have only to apply for permission from the preTet of the De- 
 partment Seine-et-Oise and without any further formality, 
 you can transfer the mortal remains of Madame Marie-Gaston 
 to the monument you propose to erect to her in your park at 
 Ville-d'Avray. 
 
 But I may now be so bold as to suggest to you some objec- 
 tions. Are you quite sure that difficulties may not be raised 
 by the Chaulieu family, with whom you are not on the best 
 terms? In fact, might they not, up to a certain point, be 
 justified in complaining that, by removing a tomb dear to 
 them as well as to you from a public cemetery to private and 
 inclosed ground, you are regulating the visits they may wish 
 to pay to that grave by your own arbitrary will and pleasure ? 
 Since, evidently, it will be in your power to prohibit their 
 coming on to your property. 
 
 I am well aware that, strictly speaking, a wife, living or 
 dead, belongs to her husband, to the exclusion of all other 
 
 * See " Letters of Two Brides." 
 (114)
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 115 
 
 relationship however near. But if, under the promptings of 
 the ill-feeling they have already manifested toward you on 
 more than one occasion, Madame Marie-Gaston's parents 
 should choose to dispute your decision by an action at law, 
 what a painful business it must be ! You would gain the day, 
 I make no doubt, the Due de Chaulieu's influence being no 
 longer what it was at the time of the Restoration ; but have 
 you considered what venom an advocate's tongue can infuse 
 into such a question, especially when arguing a very natural 
 claim : that of a father, mother, and two brothers, pleading 
 to be left in possession of the melancholy gratification of 
 praying over a grave ? 
 
 And if I must indeed tell you my whole mind, it is with 
 deep regret that I find you inventing new forms of cherishing 
 your grief, too long inconsolable. We had hoped that, after 
 spending two years in Italy, you would return more resigned, 
 and would make up your mind to seek some diversion from 
 your sorrow in active life. But this sort of temple to ardent 
 memories which you are proposing to erect in a place where 
 they already crush you too closely, can only prolong their 
 bitterness, and I cannot approve the perennial renewal you 
 will thus confer on them. 
 
 However, as we are bound to serve our friends in their own 
 way, I have conveyed your message to Monsieur Dorlange ; 
 still, I cannot but tell you that he was far from eager to enter 
 into your views. His first words, when I announced myself 
 as representing you, were that he had not the honor of know- 
 ing you ; and, strange as the reply may seem to you, it was 
 spoken with such perfect simplicity, that at first I imagined I 
 had made some mistake, some confusion of name. However, 
 as your oblivious friend presently admitted that he had been 
 at school at the college of Tours, and also that he was the 
 same M. Dorlange who, in 1831, had taken the first prize for 
 sculpture under quite exceptional circumstances, I could enter- 
 tain no doubt as to his identity. I then accounted to myself
 
 116 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 for his defective memory by the long break in your inter- 
 course, of which you wrote. That neglect must have wounded 
 him more than you imagined ; and when he affected not even 
 to recollect your name, it was a revenge he was not sorry 
 to take. 
 
 This, however, is not the real obstacle. 
 
 Remembering on what brotherly terms you had formerly 
 been, I could not believe that M. Dorlange's wrath would be 
 inexorable. And so, after explaining to him the work he was 
 invited to undertake, I was about to enter on some explana- 
 tions as to his grievance against you, when I was met by the 
 most unlooked-for obstacle. 
 
 "Indeed," said he, "the importance of the commission 
 you are good enough to propose to me, the assurance that no 
 outlay will be thought too great for the dignity and perfection 
 of the work, the invitation to set out myself for Carrara to 
 superintend the choice and extraction of the marbles the 
 whole thing is a piece of such great good fortune for an artist, 
 that at any other time I should have accepted it eagerly. But 
 at this moment, when you honor me with a call, though I 
 have no fixed intention of abandoning my career as an artist, 
 I am possibly about to be launched in political life. My 
 friends are urging me to come forward as a candidate at the 
 coming elections ; and, as you will understand, monsieur, if 
 I should be returned, the complication of parliamentary 
 duties, and my initiation into a new experience, would, for 
 some time at any rate, stand in the way of undertaking such 
 a work as you propose, with the necessary leisure and thought. 
 Also," added M. Dorlange, "I should be working in the 
 service of a great sorrow anxious to find consolation at any 
 cost in the projected monument. That sorrow would natu- 
 rally be impatient ; I should inevitably be slow, disturbed, 
 hindered ; it will be better, therefore, to apply to some one 
 else which does not make me less grateful for the honor and 
 confidence you have shown me."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 117 
 
 After listening to this little speech, very neatly turned, as 
 you perceive, it struck me that your friend was anticipating 
 parliamentary triumphs, perhaps a little too confidently, and, 
 for a moment, I thought of hinting at the possibility of his 
 failing at the election, and asking whether, in that case, I 
 might call on him againr But it is never polite to cast doubts 
 on popular success ; and as I was talking to a man already 
 much offended, I would not throw oil on the fire by a ques- 
 tion that might have been taken amiss. I merely expressed 
 my regrets, and said I would let you know the result of my 
 visit. 
 
 I need hardly say that within a few days I shall have 
 found out what are the prospects of this parliamentary ambi- 
 tion which has arisen so inopportunely in our way. For my 
 part, there seem to me to be a thousand reasons for expecting 
 it to miss fire. Assuming this, you would perhaps do well to 
 write M. Dorlange ; for his manner, though perfectly polite 
 and correct, appeared to confess a still lively memory of some 
 wrong for which you will have to obtain forgiveness. I know 
 that it must be painful to you to explain the very singular cir- 
 cumstances of your marriage, for it will compel you to retrace 
 the days of your happiness, now so cruelly a memory. But, 
 judging from what I saw of your old friend, if you are really 
 bent on his giving you the benefit of his talents, if you do not 
 apply to him yourself, but continue to employ a go-between, 
 you will be persisting in a course which he finds disobliging, 
 and expose yourself to a final refusal. 
 
 At the same time, if the step I urge on you is really too 
 much for you, there is perhaps another alternative. Madame 
 de 1'Estorade has always seemed to me a very tactful negoti- 
 ator in any business she undertakes, and in this particular in- 
 stance I should feel entire confidence in her skill. She en- 
 dured, from Madame Marie-Gaston's gusts of selfish passion, 
 treatment much like that of which Monsieur Dorlange com- 
 plains. She, better than anybody, will be in a position to ex-
 
 318 THE DEPUTY FOR AXCIS. 
 
 plain to him the absorbing cares of married life which you shut 
 up in its own narrow folds ; and it seems to me that the ex- 
 ample of longsuffering and patience which she always showed 
 to her whom she would call her "dear crazy thing," cannot 
 fail to infect your mind. 
 
 You have ample time to think over the use you may wish 
 to make of the opening that thus offers. Madame de 1'Esto- 
 rade is just now suffering from a nervous shock, the result of a 
 terrible fright. A week ago our dear little Na'is was within an 
 ace 'of being crushed before her eyes ; and but for the courage 
 of a stranger who rushed at the horses' heads and brought them 
 up short, God knows what dreadful misfortune would have be- 
 fallen us. This fearful moment produced in Madame de 1'Es- 
 torade an attack of nervous excitement which made us for a 
 time excessively anxious. Though she is much better to-day, 
 it will be some days yet before she can see Monsieur Dorlange, 
 supposing you should think her feminine intervention desirable 
 and useful. 
 
 Still, once again, my dear sir, would it not be wiser to give 
 up your idea ? All I can foresee as the outcome for you is 
 enormous expense, unpleasant squabbles with the Chaulieus, 
 and a renewal of all your sorrows. Notwithstanding, I am 
 none the less at your service in and for anything, as I cannot 
 fail to be, from every sentiment of esteem and friendship. 
 
 THE COMTESSE DE I/ESTORADE TO MADAME OCTAVE DE CAMPS. 
 
 PARIS, February, 1839. 
 
 DEAR FRIEND: Of all the expressions of sympathy that 
 have reached me since the dreadful accident to my poor child, 
 none has touched me more deeply than your kind letter. To 
 answer your affectionate inquiry, I must say that in that ter- 
 rible moment Na'is was marvelously composed and calm. It 
 would be impossible, I think, to see death more imminent, 
 but neither at the time nor afterward did the brave child
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 119 
 
 flinch ; everything shows her to have a firm nature, and her 
 health, thank God, has not suffered in the faintest degree. 
 
 I, for my part, as a consequence of my intense fright, have 
 had an attack of spasmodic convulsions, and for some days, it 
 would seem, alarmed my doctor, who feared I might go out of 
 my mind. Thanks, However, to a strong constitution, I am 
 now almost myself again, and no traces would remain of that 
 painful shock if it had not, by a singular fatality, been con- 
 nected with another unpleasant circumstance which I had for 
 some time thought fit to fill a place in my life. 
 
 Even before this latest kind assurance of your good-will 
 toward me, I had thought of turning to the help of your 
 friendship and advice ; and now, when you are so good as to 
 write that you would be happy and proud if in any degree you 
 might take the place of poor Louise de Chaulieu, the dear, 
 incomparable friend snatched from me by death, how can I 
 hesitate? I take you at your word, my dear madame, and 
 boldly request you to exert in my favor the delicate skill 
 which enabled you to defy impertinent comment when the 
 impossibility of announcing your marriage to Monsieur de 
 Camps exposed you to insolent and perfidious curiosity the 
 peculiar tact by which you extricated yourself from a position 
 of difficulty and danger in short, the wonderful art which 
 allowed you at once to keep your secret and maintain your 
 dignity. I need their help in the disagreeable matter to 
 which I have alluded. Unfortunately, to benefit by the doc- 
 tor's advice, the patient must explain the case ; and here M. 
 de Camps, with his genius for business, seems to me an atro- 
 cious person. Owing to those odious forges he has chosen to 
 buy, you are as good as dead to Paris and the world. Of old, 
 when you were at hand, in a quarter of an hour's chat I could 
 have told the whole story without hesitancy or preparation ; 
 as it is, I have to think it all out and go through the solemn 
 formality of a confession in black and white. 
 
 After all, effrontery will perhaps best serve my turn; and
 
 120 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 since, in spite of circumlocutions and preambles, I must at 
 last come to the point, why not confess at once that at the 
 kernel of the matter is that very stranger who rescued my poor 
 little girl. A stranger be it clearly understood to M. de 
 1'Estorade, and to all who may have reported the accident ; a 
 stranger to the whole world, if you please but not to your 
 humble servant, whom this man has for three months past 
 condescended to honor with the most persistent attention. It 
 cannot seem any less preposterous to you than it does to me, 
 my dear friend, that I, at two-and-thirty, with three children, 
 one a tall son of fifteen, should have become the object of 
 unremitting devotion, and yet that is the absurd misfortune 
 against which I have to protect myself. 
 
 And when I say that I know the unknown, this is but partly 
 true : I know neither his name nor his place of residence, nor 
 anything about him ; I never met him in society ; and I may 
 add that though he has the ribbon of the Legion of Honor, 
 nothing in his appearance, which has no trace of elegance, 
 leads me to suppose that I ever shall meet him in society. 
 
 It was at the church of Saint-Thomas d'Aquin, where, as 
 you know, I was in the daily habit of attending mass, that 
 this annoying "shadowing" first began. I also took the 
 children out walking in the Tuileries almost every day, M. de 
 1'Estorade having taken a house without a garden. This 
 custom was soon noted by my persecutor, and gave him bold- 
 ness ; for wherever I was to be found out of doors I had to put 
 up with his presence. But this singular adorer was as prudent 
 as he was daring ; he always avoided following me to my door; 
 and he steered his way at such a distance and so undemon- 
 stratively, that I had at any rate the comforting certainty that 
 his foolish assiduity could not attract the notice of anybody 
 who was with me. And yet, heaven alone knows to what 
 inconveniences and privations I have submitted to put him off 
 my track. I never entered the church but on Sunday ; and 
 to the risk of the dear children's health I have often kept them
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 121 
 
 at home, or invented excuses for not going out with them, 
 leaving them to the servants against all my principles of 
 education and prudence. 
 
 Visits, shopping I can do nothing but in a carriage ; and 
 all this could not hinder that, just when I fancied I had 
 routed this tiresofiae person and exhausted his patience, he 
 was on the spot to play so brave and providential a part in 
 that dreadful accident to Na'is. But it is this very obligation 
 which I now owe him that introduces a vexatious complica- 
 tion into a position already so awkward. If I had at last 
 been too much annoyed by his persistency I might by some 
 means, even by some decisive action, have put an end to his 
 persecution ; but now, if he comes across my path, what can 
 I do ? How am I to proceed ? Merely to thank him would 
 be to encourage him ; and even if he should not try to take 
 advantage of my civilities to alter our relative position, I 
 should have him at my heels closer than ever. Am I then 
 not to notice him, to affect not to recognize him ? But, my 
 dear madame, think ! A mother who owes her child's life to 
 his efforts and pretends not to perceive it who has not a 
 word of gratitude ! 
 
 This, then, is the intolerable dilemma in which I find my- 
 self, and you can see how sorely I need your advice and 
 judgment. What can I do to break the odious habit this 
 gentleman has formed of following me like my shadow? 
 How am I to thank him without exciting his imagination, 
 or to avoid thanking him without suffering the reproaches 
 of my conscience ? This is the problem I submit to your 
 wisdom. 
 
 If you will do me the service of solving it and I know 
 no one else so capable I shall add my gratitude to the 
 affection which, as you know, dear madame, I already feel 
 for you.
 
 122 THE DEPUl^Y FOR ARCIS. 
 
 THE COMTE DE I/ESTORADE TO MARIE-GASTON. 
 
 PARIS, February, 1839. 
 
 The public prints, my dear sir, may have been beforehand 
 in giving you an account of a meeting between your friend 
 M. Dorlange and the Due de Rhetore. But the newspapers, 
 by announcing the bare facts since custom and propriety do 
 not allow them to expatiate on the motives of the quarrel 
 will only have excited your curiosity without satisfying it. I 
 happen to know on good authority all the details of the affair, 
 and I hasten to communicate them to you, as they must to 
 you be of the greatest interest. 
 
 Three days ago, that is to say, on the evening of the day 
 when I had called on M. Dorlange, the Due de Rhetore was 
 in a stall at the opera. M. de Ronquerolles, who has lately 
 returned from a diplomatic mission that had detained him far 
 from Paris for some years, presently took the seat next to him. 
 Between the acts these gentlemen did not leave their places to 
 walk in the gallery ; but, as is commonly done in the theatre, 
 they stood up with their backs to the stage, consequently facing 
 M. Dorlange, who sat behind them and seemed absorbed in 
 the evening's news. There had been a very uproarious scene 
 in the Chamber what is termed a very interesting debate. 
 The conversation turned very naturally on the events in Paris 
 society during M. de Ronquerolles' absence, and he happened 
 to make this remark, which, of course, attracted M. Dorlange's 
 attention : 
 
 " And that poor Madame de Macumer what a sad end, 
 and what a strange marriage ! " 
 
 "Oh, you know," said M. de Rhetore in the high-pitched 
 tone he affects, " my sister had too much imagination not to 
 be a little chimerical and romantic. She was passionately in 
 love with M. de Macumer, her first husband ; still, one may 
 tire of all things, even of widowhood. This M. Marie-Gaston
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 123 
 
 came in her way. He is attractive in person ; my sister was 
 rich, he very much in debt ; he was proportionately amiable 
 and attentive; and, on my honor, the rogue managed so 
 cleverly that, after stepping into M. de Macumer's shoes and 
 making his wife die of jealousy, he got out of her everything 
 that the law allotfeed the poor silly woman to dispose of. 
 Louise left a fortune of at least twelve hundred thousand 
 francs, to say nothing of magnificent furniture and a delight- 
 ful villa she had built at Ville-d' Avray. Half of this came to 
 our gentleman, the other half to my father and mother, the 
 Due and Duchesse de Chaulieu, who, as parents, had a right 
 to that share. As to my brother Lenoncourt and me we 
 were simply disinherited for our portion." 
 
 As soon as your name was pronounced, my dear sir, M. 
 Dorlange laid down his paper; then, as M. de Rhetore ceased 
 speaking, he rose. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, M. le Due, for taking the liberty of 
 correcting your statements ; but, as a matter of conscience, I 
 must assure you that you are to the last degree misinformed." 
 
 "You say? " replied the duke, half-closing his eyes, 
 
 and in a tone of contempt which you can easily imagine. 
 
 "I say, Monsieur le Due, that Marie-Gaston has been my 
 friend from childhood, and that he has never been called a 
 rogue. On the contrary, he is a man of honor and talent ; 
 and far from making his wife die of jealousy, he made her 
 perfectly happy during three years of married life. As to her 
 fortune " 
 
 "You have considered the consequences of this step?" 
 said the duke, interrupting him. 
 
 " Certainly, monsieur. And I repeat that, with regard to 
 the fortune left to Marie-Gaston by a special provision in his 
 wife's will, he coveted it so little that, to my knowledge, he 
 is about to devote a sum of two or three hundred thousand 
 francs to the erection of a monument to the wife he has never 
 ceased to mourn."
 
 124 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "And, after all, monsieur, who are you?" the Due de 
 Rhetore broke in again, with growing irritation. 
 
 " In a moment I shall have the honor to inform you," re- 
 plied M. Dorlange. " But, first, you will allow me to add 
 that Madame Marie-Gaston could have no pangs of conscience 
 in disposing as she did of the fortune of which you have been 
 deprived. All her wealth, as a matter of fact, came to her 
 from M. le Baron de Macumer, her first husband, and she 
 had previously renounced her patrimony to secure an adequate 
 position to your brother, M. le Due de Lenoncourt-Givry, 
 who, as a younger son, had not, like yourself, M. le Due, the 
 benefit of the entail." 
 
 M. Dorlange felt in his pocket for his card-case, but it was 
 not there. 
 
 " I have no cards about me," he said ; " but my name is 
 Dorlange a sort of stage-name, and easy to remember 42 
 Rue de 1' Quest." 
 
 " Not a very central position," M. de Rhetore remarked 
 ironically. 
 
 At the same time he turned to M. de Ronquerolles, and 
 taking him as a witness and as his second 
 
 " I must apologize to you, my dear fellow," said he, "for 
 sending you on a voyage of discovery to-morrow morning." 
 Then he added : " Come to the smoking-room ; we can talk 
 there in peace, and at any rate in security.'' 1 
 
 By the emphasis he laid on the last word, it was impossible 
 to misunderstand the innuendo it was meant to convey. The 
 two gentlemen went out, without the scene having given rise 
 to any commotion or fuss; since the stalls all round them were 
 empty, and M. Dorlange then caught sight of M. Stidman, 
 the famus sculptor, at the other end of the stalls. He went 
 up to him. 
 
 "Do you happen to have," said he. "such a thing as a 
 memorandum or sketch book in your pocket?" 
 
 "Yes always."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 125 
 
 ' Then would you lend it to me and allow me to tear a leaf 
 out ? I have just had an idea that I do not want to lose. If 
 I should not see you as you go out, to return the book, you 
 shall have it without fail to-morrow morning." 
 
 On returning to his seat M. Dorlange made a hasty pencil 
 sketch ; and when the curtain rose, and MM. de Rhetore and 
 de Ronquerolles came back to their places, he lightly touched 
 the duke on the shoulder, and, handing him the drawing, he 
 said, "My card, which I have the honor of giving to your 
 grace." 
 
 The card was a pretty sketch of sculpturesque architecture 
 set in a landscape. Underneath it was written : " Sketch for 
 a monument to be erected to the memory of Madame Marie- 
 Gaston, nee Chaulieu, by her husband, from the designs of 
 Charles Dorlange, sculptor, Rue 1'Ouest, 42." 
 
 He could have found no more ingenious way of intimating 
 to M. de Rhetore that he had no mean adversary ; and you 
 may observe, my dear sir, that M. Dorlange thus gave weight 
 to his denial by giving substance, so to speak, to his statement 
 as to your disinterestedness and conjugal devotion and grief. 
 
 The performance ended without any further incident. M. 
 de Rhetore parted from M. de Ronquerolles. 
 
 M. de Ronquerolles then addressed M. Dorlange, very cour- 
 teously endeavoring to effect a reconciliation, observing that 
 though he might be in the right, his conduct was unconven- 
 tional and offensive, that M. de Rhetore had behaved with 
 great moderation, and would certainly accept the very slightest 
 expression of regret in fact, said everything that could be 
 said on such an occasion. M. Dorlange would not hear of 
 anything approaching to an apology, and on the following 
 day he received a visit from M. de Ronquerolles and General 
 de Montriveau as representing M. de Rhetore. Again they 
 were urgent that M. Dorlange should consent to express him- 
 self in different language. But your friend was not to be 
 moved from this ultimatum-
 
 126 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC2S. 
 
 " Will M. Rhetore withdraw the expressions I felt myself 
 bound to take exception to? If so, I will retract mine." 
 
 "That is impossible," said they. "The offense was per- 
 sonal to M. de Rhetore, to you it was not. Rightly or 
 wrongly, he firmly believes that M. Marie-Gaston did him an 
 injury. Allowance must always be made for damaged in- 
 terests; perfect justice is never to be gotten from them." 
 
 " So that M. le Due may continue to slander my friend at 
 his pleasure!" said M. Dorlange, "since, in the first place, 
 my friend is in Italy; and in the second, he would always, if 
 possible, avoid coming to extreme measures with his wife's 
 brother. And," he added, "it is precisely this impossibility 
 of his defending himself which gives me a right nay more, 
 makes it my duty to intervene. It was by a special grace of 
 Providence that I was enabled to catch some of the malignant 
 reports that are flying about on the wing ; and since M. le 
 Due de Rhetore sees no reason to mitigate his language, we 
 will, if you please, carry the affair through to the end." 
 
 The dispute being reduced to these terms, the duel was 
 inevitable, and in the course of the day the seconds on both 
 sides arranged the conditions. The meeting was fixed for the 
 next morning; the weapons, pistols. On the ground, M. 
 Dorlange was perfectly cool. After exchanging shots without 
 effect, as the seconds seemed anxious to stop the proceedings 
 
 "Come," said he cheerfully, "one shot more!" as if he 
 were firing at a dummy in a shooting gallery. 
 
 This time he was wounded in the fleshy part of the thigh, 
 not a dangerous wound, but one which bled very freely. 
 While he was being carried to the carriage in which he had 
 come, M. de Rhetore was anxiously giving every assistance, 
 and when he was close to him "All the same," said Dor- 
 lange, " Marie-Gaston is an honest gentleman, a heart of 
 gold " and he fainted away almost as he spoke. 
 
 This duel, as you may suppose, my dear sir, has been the 
 talk of the town ; I have only had to keep my ears open to
 
 THIS TIME HE WAS WOUNDED.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 127 
 
 collect any amount of information concerning M. Dorlange, 
 for he is the lion of the day, and all yesterday it was im- 
 possible to go into a house where he was not the subject of 
 conversation. My harvest was chiefly gathered at Mme. de 
 Montcornet's. She, as you know, has a large acquaintance 
 among artists and men of letters ; and to give you a notion of 
 the position your friend holds in their regard, I need only 
 report a conversation in which I took part last evening in 
 the countess' drawing-room. The speakers were M. Emile 
 Blondet, of the " Debats ; " M. Bixiou the caricaturist, one 
 of the best-informed eavesdroppers in Paris I believe you 
 know them both, but at any rate I am sure that you are inti- 
 mate with Joseph Bridau, our great painter, who was the third 
 speaker, for I remember that he and Daniel d'Arthez signed 
 for you when you were married. 
 
 Bridau was speaking when I joined them. 
 
 "Dorlange began splendidly," said he. " There was the 
 touch of a great master even in the work he sent in for com- 
 petition, to which, under the pressure of opinion, the Academy 
 awarded the prize, though he had laughed very audaciously at 
 their programme." 
 
 "Quite true," said M. Bixiou. "And the Pandora he 
 exhibited in 1837, on his return from Rome, was also a very 
 striking work. But as it won him, out of hand, the Legion 
 of Honor and commissions from the Government and the 
 municipality, with at least thirty flaming notices in the papers, 
 I doubt if he can ever recover from that success." 
 
 " That is a verdict a la Bixiou," said Emile Blondet. 
 
 " So it is, and with good reason. Did you ever see the 
 man?" 
 
 "No, he is seen nowhere." 
 
 " True, that is his favorite haunt. He is a bear, but a bear 
 intentionally ; out of affectation and deliberate purpose." 
 
 " I really cannot see," said Joseph Bridau, "that such a 
 dislike to society is a bad frame of mind for an artist. What
 
 128 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 can a sculptor, especially, gain by frequenting drawing-rooms 
 where men and women have got into the habit of wearing 
 clothes?" 
 
 " Well, even a sculptor may get some amusement which 
 saves him from monomania or brooding. And then he can 
 see how the world wags that 1839 is neither the fifteenth nor 
 the sixteenth century." 
 
 "What! " said Blondet, "do you mean the poor fellow 
 suffers from that delusion ? " 
 
 " He ! He talks quite glibly of living the life of the artists 
 of mediaeval times, with all their universal studies and learn- 
 ing, and the terrific labors which we can conceive of in a 
 society that was still semi-barbarous, but that has no place in 
 ours. He is a guileless dreamer, and never perceives that 
 civilization, by strangely complicating our social intercourse, 
 devotes to business, interest, and pleasure thrice as much time 
 as a less advanced social organization would spend on those 
 objects. Look at the savage in his den ! He has nothing to 
 do ; but we, with the Bourse, the opera, the newspapers, 
 parliamentary debates, drawing-room meetings, elections, rail- 
 roads, the Cafe de Paris, and the National Guard when, I ask 
 you, are we to find time for work?" 
 
 "A splendid theory for idlers," said Emile Blondet, 
 laughing. 
 
 " Not at all, my dear boy ; it is perfectly true. The curfew 
 no longer rings at nine o'clock, I suppose ! Well, and only 
 last evening, if my door-porter Ravenouillet didn't give a 
 party ! Perhaps I committed a serious blunder by declining 
 the indirect invitation he sent me." 
 
 " Still," said Joseph Bridau, " it is evident that a man who 
 is not mixed up with the business interests or pleasures of his 
 age may, out of his savings, accumulate a very pretty capital 
 of time. Dorlange, I fancy, has a comfortable income irre- 
 spective of commissions ; there is nothing to hinder him from 
 living as he has a mind to live.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC1S. 129 
 
 " And, as you see, he goes to the opera, since it was there 
 he picked up his duel. And, indeed, you have hardly hit the 
 nail on the head by representing him as cut off from all con- 
 temporary interests, when I happen to know that he is on the 
 point of taking them up on the most stirring and absorbing 
 side of the social maAine namely, politics ! " 
 
 " What! he thinks he can be a politician?" asked Emile 
 Blondet scornfully. 
 
 " It is part, no doubt, of his famous scheme of universal 
 efficiency, and you should see how logically and perseveringly 
 he is carrying out the idea. Last year two hundred and fifty 
 thousand francs fell on him from the sky, and my man pur- 
 chased a house in the Rue Saint-Martin as a qualification ; and 
 then, as another little speculation, with the rest of the money 
 he bought shares in the ' National ' newspaper, and I find 
 him in the office whenever I am in the mood to have a laugh 
 at the Republican Utopia. There he has his flatterers ; they 
 have persuaded him that he is a born orator and will make a 
 sensation in the Chamber. There is, in fact, a talk of work- 
 ing up a constituency to nominate him, and on days when 
 they are very enthusiastic they discover that he is like 
 Danton." 
 
 " Oh, this is the climax of burlesque ! " said Emile 
 Blondet. 
 
 I do not know, my dear sir, whether you have ever observed 
 that men of superior talent are always extremely indulgent. 
 This was now proven in the person of Joseph Bridau. 
 
 "I agree with you," said he, " that if Dorlange starts on 
 that track he is almost certainly lost to art. But, after all, 
 why should he not be a success in the Chamber ? He speaks 
 with great fluency, and seems to be full of ideas. Look at 
 Canalis ; when he won his election : ' Faugh ! a poet ! ' 
 said one and another, which has not prevented his making 
 himself famous as an orator and being made minister." 
 
 "Well, the first point is to get elected," said Emile 
 9
 
 130 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Blondet. "What place does Dorlange think of standing 
 
 for?" 
 
 "For one of the rotten boroughs of the 'National,' of 
 course," remarked Bixiou. " However, I do not know that 
 the place is yet decided on." 
 
 "As a general rule," said the "Debats" man, "to be 
 returned as member, even with the hottest support of your 
 party, requires a somewhat extensive political notoriety, or, 
 else, at least, some good provincial status of family or of 
 fortune. Does any one know whether Dorlange can command 
 these elements of success?" 
 
 " As to family status, that would be a particular difficulty 
 with him; his family is non-existent to a desperate extent." 
 
 "Indeed," said Blondet. " Then he is a natural son ?" 
 
 " As natural as may be father and mother alike unknown. 
 But I can quite imagine his being elected ; it is the rank and 
 file of his political notions that will be so truly funny." 
 
 " He must be a republican if he is a friend of the gentle- 
 men on the ' National,' and has a likeness to Danton." 
 
 " Evidently. But he holds his fellow-believers in utter 
 contempt, and says that they are good for nothing but fight- 
 ing, rough play, and big talk. So provisionally he will put up 
 with a monarchy bolstered up by republican institutions 
 though he asserts that this citizen-kingship must infallibly be 
 undermined by the abuse of private interest which he calls 
 corruption. This would tempt him to join the little church 
 of the Left Centre ; but there again there is always a but 
 he can discern nothing but a coalition of ambitious and emas- 
 culated men, unconsciously smoothing the way to a revolution 
 which he sees already on the horizon ; to his great regret, 
 because in his opinion the masses are neither sufficiently pre- 
 pared nor sufficiently intelligent to keep it from slipping 
 through their fingers. 
 
 "As to Legitimism, he laughs at it ; he will not accept it 
 as a principle under any aspect. He regards it simply as a more
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 131 
 
 definite and time-honored form of hereditary monarchy, allows 
 it no other superiority than that of old wine over new. And 
 while he is neither Legitimist, nor Conservative, nor Left 
 Centre, but a republican who deprecates a republic, he stoutly 
 sets up for being a Catholic and rides the hobby of that party 
 freedom in teaching ; and yet this man, who wants freedom 
 in teaching, is, on the other hand, afraid of the Jesuits, and 
 still talks, as if we were in 1829, of the encroachments of the 
 priestly party and the Congregation. 
 
 "And can you imagine, finally, the great party he proposes 
 to form in the Chamber himself, of course, its leader? That 
 of justice, impartiality, and honesty : as if anything of the 
 kind were to be found in the parliamentary pottage, or as if 
 every shade of opinion had not, from time immemorial, 
 flourished that flag to conceal its ugly emptiness?" 
 
 " So that he gives up sculpture once and for all? " said Jo- 
 seph Bridau. 
 
 " Not immediately. He is just finishing a statue of some 
 female saint, but he will not let anybody see it, and does not 
 mean to exhibit it this year. He has notions of his own about 
 that, too." 
 
 " Which are ? " asked Emile Blondet. 
 
 " That religious works ought not to be displayed to the 
 judgment of criticism and the gaze of the public cankered by 
 skepticism ; that, without confronting the turmoil of the world, 
 they ought modestly and piously to take the place for which 
 they are intended." 
 
 "Bless me!" exclaimed Blondet. "And such a fervent 
 Catholic could fight a duel?" 
 
 " Oh, there is a better joke than that. Catholic as he is, 
 he lives with a woman he brought over from Italy, a sort ot 
 goddess of Liberty, who is at the same time his model and his 
 housekeeper." 
 
 " What a gossip what a regular inquiry office that Bixiou 
 is ! " they said, as they divided.
 
 132 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 They had just been asked by Madame de Montcornet to 
 accept a cup of tea from her fair hands. 
 
 As you see, my dear sir, M. Dorlange's political aspirations 
 are not regarded very seriously, most people thinking of them 
 very much as I do myself. I cannot doubt that you will write 
 him at once to thank him for his zealous intervention to 
 defend you against calumny. His brave devotion has, in fact, 
 filled me with sympathy for him, and I should be really glad 
 to see you making use of your old friendship for him to hinder 
 him from embarking on the thankless tracks he is so eager to 
 tread. I am not guided by the thought of the drawbacks at- 
 tributed to him by M. Bixiou, who has a sharp and too ready 
 tongue ; like Joseph Bridau, I think little of them ; but a mis- 
 take that every one must regret, in my opinion, would be to 
 abandon a career in which he has already won a high position, 
 to rush into the political fray. Sermonize him to this effect, 
 and, as much as you can, induce him to stick to Art. In- 
 deed, you yourself are interested in his doing so if you are 
 still bent on his undertaking the work he has so far refused to 
 accept. 
 
 In the matter of the personal explanation I advised you to 
 have with him, I may tell you that your task is greatly facili- 
 tated. You are not called upon to enter into any of the de- 
 tails that might perhaps be too painful. Mme. de 1'Estorade, 
 to whom I have spoken of the mediator's part I proposed that 
 she should play, accepts it with pleasure, and undertakes in 
 half an hour's conversation to dissipate the clouds that may 
 still hang between you and your friend. 
 
 While writing you this long letter, I sent to inquire for 
 him : the report is as good as possible, and the surgeons are 
 not in the least uneasy about him, unless some extraordinary 
 and quite unforeseen complications should supervene. He is, 
 it would seem, an object of general interest ; for, according to 
 my servant, people are standing in rows waiting to put their 
 names down.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCJS. 133 
 
 There is this also to be said M. de Rhetore is not liked. 
 He is haughty, starchy, and not clever. How different from 
 her who dwells in in our dearest memory ! She was simple 
 and kind, without ever losing her dignity, and nothing could 
 compare with the amiability of her temper, unless it were the 
 brightness of her wit. 
 
 THE COMTESSE DE I/ESTORADE TO MADAME OCTAVE DE CAMPS. 
 
 PARIS, February, 1839. 
 
 Nothing could be better than all you have written, dear 
 madame : it was, in fact, highly probable that this annoying 
 person would not think twice about speaking to me the next 
 time we should meet. His heroism gave him a right to do 
 so, and the most ordinary politeness made it incumbent on 
 him. Unless he were content to pass for the clumsiest of 
 admirers, he could not help asking me how NaTs and I had 
 recovered from the effects of the accident he had been able to 
 forefend. But if, contrary to all expectations, he should per- 
 sist in not stepping out of his cloud, I was fully determined to 
 act on your wise advice. If the mountain did not come to 
 me, I would go to the mountain. Like " Hippolyte " in 
 Theramene's tale, I would "thrust myself on the monster" 
 and fire my gratitude in his teeth. Like you, my dear friend, 
 I quite understood that the real danger of this persecution lay 
 in its continuance, and the inevitable explosion that threatened 
 me sooner or later ; the fact that the servants, or the children, 
 might at any moment detect the secret ; that I should be 
 exposed to the most odious inferences if it were suspected by 
 others ; and, above all, the idea that if this ridiculous mystery 
 should be discovered by M. de 1'Estorade and drive him to 
 such lengths as his Southern nature and past experience in the 
 army made me imagine only too easily all this had spurred 
 me to a point I cannot describe, and I might have gone further 
 even than you advised. I had not only recognized the neces- 
 sity for being the first to speak ; but under the pretext that my
 
 134 THE DEPUTY FOR AKCIS. 
 
 husband would call to thank him under his own roof, I meant 
 to compel him to give me his name and address, and, sup- 
 posing he were at all a possible acquaintance, to invite him 
 forthwith to dinner, and thus entice the wolf into the sheep- 
 fold. 
 
 For, after all, what danger could there be ? If he had but 
 a shade of commonsense when he saw the terms I live on with 
 M. de 1'Estorade, and my "maniacal" passion for my chil- 
 dren, as you call it, in short, the calm regularity of my home- 
 life, would he not understand how vain was his pursuit ? At 
 any rate, whether he should persist or not, his vehemence 
 would have lost its perilous out-of-door character. If I was to 
 be persecuted, it would, at any rate, be under my own roof, 
 and I should only have to deal with one of those common 
 adventures to which every woman is more or less liable. And 
 we can always get over such slippery places with perfect credit, 
 so long as we have a real sense of duty and some little presence 
 of mind. 
 
 Not, I must tell you, that I had come to this conclusion 
 without a painful effort. When the critical moment should 
 come, I was not at all sure that I should be cool enough to 
 confront the situation with such a high hand as was indis- 
 pensable. However, I had fully made up my mind ; and 
 you know me what I have determined on I do. 
 
 Well, my dear madame, all this fine scheme, all my elaborate 
 courage, and your not less elaborate foresight, are entirely 
 wasted. Since your last letter the doctor has let me out of 
 his hands. I have been out several times, always majestically 
 surrounded by my children, that their presence, in case I 
 should be obliged to take the initiative, might screen the 
 crudity of such a proceeding. But in vain have I scanned 
 the horizon on all sides out of the corner of my eye, nothing, 
 absolutely nothing, has been visible that bore the least re- 
 semblance to a deliverer or a lover. What, now, do you say 
 to this new state of affairs? A minute since I spoke of thrust-
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC IS. 135 
 
 ing myself on the monster. How was I to interpret this 
 absence ? Had he, with admirable perspicacity, scented the 
 snare in which we meant to entrap him, and was he prudently 
 keeping out of the way ? 
 
 But if this were so, he would be really a man to think 
 seriously about; my dear M. de 1'Estorade, you must take 
 care of yourself! 
 
 You see, my dear friend, I am trying to take the matter 
 lightly, but in my heart of hearts I believe that I sing to 
 keep my courage up. This skillful and unexpected strategy 
 leaves me wondering. 
 
 As to my feeling for the man, you will not misunderstand 
 that. He saved my little girl, it is true, but merely to lay me 
 under an obligation. He is ugly; but there is something 
 vigorous and strongly marked about him which leaves an im- 
 pression on the mind; one fancies that he must have some 
 powerful and dominating characteristics. So, do what I will, 
 I cannot hinder his occupying my mind. Now, I feel as if I 
 had got rid of him altogether. Well, may I say it ? I am 
 conscious of a void. I miss him as the ear misses a sharp and 
 piercing sound that has annoyed it for a long time. 
 
 What I am going to add will strike you as very childish, 
 but can we control the mirage of our fancy? I have often 
 told you of my discussions with Louise de Chaulieu as to the 
 way in which women should deal with life. For my part, I 
 always told her that the frenzy with which she never ceased 
 to seek the Infinite was quite ill-regulated and fatal to happi- 
 ness. And she would answer : "You, my dearest, have never 
 loved. Love implies a phenomenon so rare, that we may 
 live all our life without meeting the being on whom nature 
 has bestowed the faculty of giving us happiness. If on some 
 glorious day that being appears to wake your heart from its 
 slumbers, you will take quite another tone." 
 
 The words of those doomed to die are so often prophetic ! 
 Supposing this man should be the serpent, though late, that
 
 136 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Louise seemed to threaten me with; good heavens! That 
 he should ever represent a real danger, that he should ever be 
 able to tempt me from my duty, there is certainly no fear. I 
 am confidently strong as to any such extreme of ill. I 
 say to you, as MONSIEUR, Louis XIV. 's brother, said to his 
 wife when he brought her papers he had just written, for her 
 to decipher them : "See clearly for me, dear madame, read 
 my heart and brain ; disperse the mists, allay the antagonistic 
 impulses, the ebb and flow of will which these events have 
 given rise to in my mind." Was not my dear Louise mis- 
 taken ? Am I not one of those women on whom love, in her 
 sense, has no hold? The " Being who on some glorious day 
 awoke my heart from its slumbers" was my Armand my 
 Rene my Na'fs, three angels for whom and in whom I have 
 hitherto lived ; and for me, I feel, there never can be any 
 other passion. 
 
 THE COMTESSE DE I/ESTORADE TO MADAME OCTAVE DE CAMPS. 
 
 PARIS, March, 1839. 
 
 In about the year 1820, two "new boys," to use my son 
 Armand's technical slang, joined the school at Tours in the 
 same week. One had a charming face ; the other might have 
 been called ugly, but that health, honesty, and intelligence 
 beamed in his features and made up for their homeliness and 
 irregularity. And here you will stop me, dear madame, asking 
 me whether I have quite gotten over my absorbing idea, that 
 I am in the mood to write you a chapter of a novel ? Not at 
 all, and this strange beginning, little as it may seem so, is 
 only the continuation and sequel of my adventure. So I beg 
 you to listen to my tale and not to interrupt. To proceed : 
 Almost from the first, the two boys formed a close friendship ; 
 there was more than one reason for their intimacy. One of 
 them the handsome lad was dreamy, thoughtful, even a 
 little sentimental ; the other eager, impetuous, always burning
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 137 
 
 for action. Thus their two characters supplemented each 
 other the best possible combination for any union that is to 
 prove lasting. Both, too, had the same stain on their birth. 
 The dreamy boy was the son of the notorious Lady Dudley, 
 born in adultery f.he was known as Marie-Gaston, which can 
 hardly be called a name. The other, whose father and mother 
 were both unknown, was called Dorlange which is not a 
 name at all. Dorlange, Valmon, Volmar, Derfeuil, Melcourt, 
 these are all names adopted for the stage, and that only in the 
 old-fashioned plays, where they dwell now in company with 
 Arnolphe, Alceste, Clitandre, Damis, Eraste, Philinte, and 
 Arsinoe. So another reason why these unhappy no-man's- 
 sons should cling together for warmth was the cruel desertion 
 from which they both suffered. During the seven mortal years 
 of their life at school, not once for a single day, even in holiday 
 time, did the prison doors open to let them out. At long in- 
 tervals Marie-Gaston had a visitor in the person of an old 
 nurse who had served his mother. Through this woman's 
 hands came the quarterly payment for his schooling. 
 
 The money paid for Dorlange came with perfect regularity 
 from some unknown source through a banker at Tours. One 
 thing was observed that this youth's weekly allowance was 
 fixed at the highest sum permitted by the college rules, whence 
 it was concluded that his anonymous parents were rich. Owing 
 to this, but yet more to the generous use he made of his money, 
 Dorlange enjoyed a certain degree of consideration among his 
 companions, though he could in any case have commanded it 
 by the prowess of his fist. At the same time, it was remarked, 
 but not loud enough for him to hear, that no one had ever 
 asked to see him in the parlor, nor had anybody outside the 
 house ever taken the smallest interest in him. 
 
 And the two boys worked, each after his own fashion. At 
 the age of fifteen, Marie-Gaston had produced a volume of 
 verse : satires, elegies, meditations, to say nothing of two 
 tragedies. As for Dorlange, his studies led him to steal fire-
 
 13 8 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC1S. 
 
 logs ; out of these, with his knife, he carved virgins, grotesques, 
 schoolmasters and saints, grenadiers, and in secret figures 
 of Napoleon. 
 
 In 1827 their school days ended ; the friends left the college 
 of Tours together, and both were sent to Paris. A place had 
 already been secured for Dorlange in Bosio's studio, and 
 thenceforward a certain amount of caprice was discernible in 
 the occult Providence that watched over him. On arriving 
 at the house to which the master of the college had directed 
 him on leaving, he found pleasant rooms prettily furnished for 
 him. Under the glass shade over the clock a large letter, 
 addressed to him, had been so placed as to strike his eye at 
 once. Within the envelope he found a note in these words 
 
 "The day after your arrival in Paris, go, at eight in the 
 morning precisely, to the garden of the Luxembourg, Allee 
 de 1'Observatoire, the fourth bench on the right-hand side 
 from the gate. This is imperative. Do not on any account 
 fail." 
 
 Dorlange was punctual, as may be supposed, and had not 
 waited long when he was joined by a little man, two feet high, 
 who, with his enormous head and thick mop of hair, his 
 hooked nose and chin and crooked legs, might have stepped 
 out of one of Hoffmann's fairy tales. Without a word for to 
 his personal advantages, this messenger added that of being 
 deaf and dumb he placed in the youth's hands a letter and a 
 purse. The letter said that Dorlange' s family were much 
 pleased to find that he had a disposition for the fine arts. He 
 was urged to work hard and profit by the teaching of the great 
 master under whose tuition he was placed. He would, it was 
 hoped, be steady, and an eye would be kept on his behavior. 
 On the other hand, he was not to forego the rational amuse- 
 ments suited to his age. For his needs and his pleasures he 
 might count on a sum of twenty-five louis, which would be 
 paid to him every three months at this same place, by the 
 same messenger. With regard to this emissary, Dorlange was
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 1S9 
 
 expressly forbidden to follow him when he departed after ful- 
 filling his errand. In case of disobedience, either direct or 
 indirect, the penalty was serious no less, in fact, than the 
 withdrawal of a^l assistance, and complete desertion. 
 
 Now, my deaf friend, do you remember that in 1831 I 
 carried you off to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where, at 
 that time, the exhibition used to be held of works com- 
 peting for the first prize in sculpture? The subject set for 
 the competition had appealed to my heart Niobe weeping 
 over her children. And do you remember my fury at the 
 work sent in by one of the competitors, round which there 
 was a crowd so dense that we could scarcely get near it ? The 
 insolent wretch had made game of the subject. His Niobe, 
 indeed, as I could not but agree with you and the public, was 
 most touching in her beauty and grief; but to have repre- 
 sented her children as so many monkeys, lying on the ground 
 in the most various and grotesque attitudes what a deplorable 
 waste of talent ! It was in vain that you insisted in pointing out 
 how charming the monkeys were graceful, witty and that 
 it was impossible to laugh more ingeniously at the blindness 
 and idolatry of mothers who regard some hideous brat as a 
 masterpiece of Nature's handiwork. I considered the thing a 
 monstrosity ; and the indignation of the older academicians, 
 who demanded the solemn erasure of this impertinent work 
 from the list of competing sculpture, was, in my opinion, 
 wholly justified. Yielding, however, to public opinion and 
 to the papers, which spoke of raising a subscription to send 
 the sculptor to Rome if the Grand Prix*- were given to any- 
 body else, the Academy did not agree with me and with its 
 elders. The remarkable beauty of the Niobe outweighed all 
 else, and this slanderer of mothers found his work crowned, 
 though he had to take a pretty severe lecture which the sec- 
 retary was desired to give him on the occasion. Unhappy 
 youth ! I can pity him now, for he had never known a 
 * First Prize.
 
 140 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 mother. He was Dorlange, the youth abandoned at the 
 school at Tours, and Marie-Gastoivs friend. 
 
 For four years, from 1827 till 1831, when Dorlange was 
 sent to Rome, the two young men had never parted. Dor- 
 lange, with his allowance of two thousand four hundred francs, 
 always punctually paid by the hand of the mysterious dwarf, 
 was a sort of Marquis d'Aligre. Marie-Gaston, on the con- 
 trary, if left to his own resources, wduld have lived in great 
 penury ; but between persons who truly care for each other, a 
 rarer case than is commonly supposed, on one side plenty, 
 and on the other nothing, is a determining cause of their 
 alliance. Without keeping any score, our two pigeons had 
 everything in common home, money, troubles, pleasures, 
 and hopes; the two lived but one life. Unfortunately for 
 Marie-Gaston, his efforts were not, like his friend's, crowned 
 with success. His volume of verse, carefully recast and re- 
 vised, with other poems from his pen and two or three dramas, 
 all, for lack of good-will on the part of stage-managers and 
 publishers, remained in obscurity. At last the firm of two, 
 by Dorlange's insistency, took strong measures: by dint of 
 strict economy, the needful sum was saved to print and bring 
 out a volume. The title " Snowdrops " was attractive ; the 
 binding was pearl-gray, the margins broad, and there was a 
 pretty title-page designed by Dorlange. But the public was 
 as indifferent as the publishers and managers it would neither 
 buy nor read ; so much so, that one day when the rent was 
 due, Marie-Gaston, in a fit of despair, sent for an old-book 
 buyer, and sold him the whole edition for three sous a volume, 
 whence a perfect crop of "Snowdrops" was ere long to be 
 seen on every stall along the quays from the Pont Royal to 
 the Pont Marie. 
 
 This wound was still bleeding in the poet's soul when it 
 became necessary for Dorlange to set out for Rome. Life in 
 common was no longer possible. Being informed by the mys- 
 terious dwarf that his allowance would be paid to him as usual
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 141 
 
 in Rome, through Torlonia's bank, it occurred to Dorlange to 
 offer Marie-Gaston the fifteen hundred francs a year granted 
 him on the royal scholarship for the five years while he should 
 remain in Rome. But a heart noble enough to receive a favor 
 is rarer even tha?i that which can bestow one. Marie-Gaston, 
 embittered by constant reverses, had not the necessary courage 
 to meet this sacrifice half-way. The dissolution of partnership 
 too plainly exposed the position of a dependent which he had 
 hitherto accepted. Some trifling work placed in his hands by 
 the great writer Daniel d'Arthez added to his little income 
 would, he said, be enough to live on, and he peremptorily 
 refused what his pride stigmatized as charity. 
 
 Marie-Gaston's poverty increased day by day ; and prompted 
 by inexorable necessity, he had drifted into a most painful 
 position. He had tried to release himself from the constant 
 pinch of want, which paralyzed his flight, by staking every- 
 thing for all or nothing. He imprudently mixed himself up 
 in the concerns of a newspaper, and then, to obtain a ruling 
 voice, took upon himself almost all the expenses of the under- 
 taking. Thus led into debt for a sum of not less than thirty 
 thousand francs, he saw nothing before him but a debtor's 
 prison opening its broad jaws to devour him. 
 
 At this juncture he met Louise de Chaulieu. For nine 
 months, the blossoming time of their marriage, Marie-Gaston's 
 letters were few and far between, and those he wrote were 
 high treason to friendship. Dorlange ought to have been the 
 first person told, and he was told nothing. That most high 
 and mighty dame, Louise de Chaulieu, Baronne de Macumer, 
 would have it so. When the day of the marriage arrived, her 
 passion for secrecy had reached a pitch bordering on mania. 
 I, her closest friend, was scarcely allowed to know it, and no one 
 was admitted to the ceremony. To comply with the require- 
 ments of the law, witnesses were indispensable; but at the 
 time when Marie-Gaston invited two friends to do him this 
 service, he announced that their relations must be finally but
 
 142 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 amiably put an end to. His feelings toward everybody but 
 his wife, whom he exalted to a pure abstraction, " would be," 
 he wrote to Daniel d'Arthez, " friendship independent of the 
 friend." 
 
 As for Louise, she, I believe, for greater security, would 
 have had the witnesses murdered on leaving the mairie, but 
 for a wholesome fear of the public prosecutor ! 
 
 In 1836, when the sculptor came back from Rome, the 
 sequestration of Marie-Gaston was closer and more unrelaxing 
 than ever. Dorlange had too much spirit to steal or force his 
 way into the sanctuary where Louise had sheltered her crazy 
 passion, and Marie-Gaston was too desperately in love to 
 break the spell and escape from Arminda's garden. The 
 friends, incredible as it must seem, never met, nor even ex- 
 changed notes. Still, on hearing of Madame Marie-Gaston's 
 death, Dorlange forgot every slight and rushed off to Ville- 
 d'Avray to offer what consolation he might. Vain devotion. 
 Within two hours of the melancholy ceremony, Marie-Gaston 
 was in a post-chaise flying south to Italy, with no thought for 
 his friend, or a sister-in-law and two nephews, who were 
 dependent on him. Dorlange thought this selfishness of grief 
 rather too much to be borne ; and he eradicated from his 
 heart, as he believed, the last remembrance of a friendship 
 which even the breath of sorrow had not revived. 
 
 A few weeks since, his sorrow, still living and acute, sug- 
 gested an idea to his mind. In the middle of the park at 
 Ville-d'Avray there is a small lake, and in the middle of the 
 lake an island of which Louise was very fond. To this island, 
 a calm and shady retreat, Marie-Gaston wished to transfer his 
 wife's remains, and he wrote us from Carrara to this effect. 
 And then, remembering Dorlange, he begged my husband to 
 call on him and inquire whether he would undertake to exe- 
 cute a monument. Dorlange at first affected not even to 
 remember Marie-Gaston's name, and under a civil pretext 
 refused the commission.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 143 
 
 But here comes a startling instance of the strength of old 
 association in an affectionate nature. On the evening of the 
 day when he had shown out M. de 1'Estorade, being at the 
 opera, he overheard the Due de Rhetore speak slightingly 
 of his old friend^and took the matter up with eager indigna- 
 tion. Hence a duel, in which he was wounded and of 
 which the news must certainly have reached you ; so here is a 
 man risking his life for an absentee whom he had strenuously 
 denied in the morning. 
 
 THE COMTESSE DE I/ESTORADE TO MADAME OCTAVE DE CAMPS. 
 
 PARIS, March, 1839. 
 
 I derived the main facts of the long biographical notice I 
 sent you, my dear friend, from a recent letter written by M. 
 Marie-Gaston. On hearing of the heroic devotion of which 
 he had been the object, his first impulse was to hasten to 
 Paris and see the friend who had made such a noble return 
 for his faithlessness. Unluckily, the day before he should 
 have started, a painful hindrance interfered. By a singular 
 coincidence, while M. Dorlange was wounded in his behalf in 
 Paris, he himself, visiting Savarezza one of the finest marble 
 quarries that are worked at Carrara had a bad fall and 
 sprained his leg. Being obliged to put off his journey, he 
 wrote to M. Dorlange from his bed of suffering to express his 
 gratitude. 
 
 By the same mail I also received a voluminous letter : M. 
 Marie-Gaston, after telling me all the past history of their 
 friendship, begged me to call on his old schoolfellow and 
 advocate his cause. In point of fact, he could not be satis- 
 fied with this convincing proof of the place he still held in 
 M. Dorlange's affections. What he desires is to prove that, 
 in spite of evidence to the contrary, he has never ceased to 
 deserve it. This is a matter of some little difficulty, because 
 he would not on any account consent to attribute the blame
 
 144 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 to the real author of the mischief. This, however, is the 
 whole secret of his conduct to M. Dorlange. His wife was 
 bent on having him entirely to herself, and insisted, with 
 extraordinary perversity, on uprooting every other feeling. 
 But nothing would persuade him to admit this, or the sort of 
 moral mediocrity which such ill-regulated and frenzied jeal- 
 ousy denotes. 
 
 My first idea, to this end, was to write a note to his friend 
 the sculptor and beg him to call on me. But, on second 
 thoughts, he has hardly yet got over his wound, and beside, 
 this kind of convocation with a definite object in view would 
 give an absurd solemnity to my part as a go-between. I 
 thought of another plan. Anybody may visit an artist's 
 studio : without any preliminary announcement I could call 
 on M. Dorlange with my husband and NaTs, under pretense 
 of reiterating the request already put to him to give us the 
 benefit of his assistance. And by seeming to bring my femi- 
 nine influence to bear on this matter, I had a bridge ready 
 made to lead me to the true point of my visit. 
 
 So, on the day after I had come to this happy conclusion, 
 I and my escort found our way to a pleasant little house in 
 the Rue de 1'Ouest, behind the gardens of the Luxembourg, 
 one of the quietest parts of Paris. In the vestibule and pas- 
 sages, fragments of sculpture, bas-reliefs, and inscriptions, 
 nicely arranged against the walls, showed the owner's good 
 taste and betrayed his habitual interests. 
 
 We were met on the steps by a woman to whom M. de 
 1'Estorade has already alluded. The student from Rome, it 
 would seem, could not come away from Italy without bringing 
 some souvenir. This beautiful Italian, a sort of middle-class 
 Galatea, sometimes housekeeper and sometimes a model, repre- 
 senting at once Home and Art, fulfills in M. Dorlange's 
 household if scandal is to be trusted the most perfect ideal 
 of the " woman-of-all-work " so constantly advertised in news- 
 papers.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 145 
 
 While this handsome housekeeper announced M. le Comte 
 and Mrae. la Comtesse de 1'Estorade, M. Dorlange, in a 
 picturesque studio jacket, having his back to us, hastily drew 
 a green baize curtain in front of the statue he was working on. 
 
 The instant he turned round, before I had had time to be- 
 lieve my eyes, imagine my astonishment at seeing NaYs rush 
 up to him and almost into his arms, exclaiming with childish 
 glee 
 
 " Oh ! you are the gentleman who saved me ! " 
 
 What the gentleman who had saved her ? Why, then, M. 
 Dorlange must be that much-talked-of Unknown ? 
 
 Now you say : 
 
 "And you, my dear countess, rushing thus into his studio 
 like ?" 
 
 My dear madame, don't speak of it ! Startled, trembling, 
 red and white by turns, I must for a moment have looked an 
 image of awkward confusion. 
 
 Happily, my husband launched at once into elaborate com- 
 pliments as a happy and grateful father. I, meanwhile, had 
 time to recover myself; and when it came to my turn to speak, 
 I had composed my features to one of my finest expressions 
 a r Estorade, as you choose to call them ; I then, as you 
 know, register twenty-five degrees below zero, and should 
 freeze the words on the lips of the most ardent adorer. 
 
 "Madame," said the sculptor, "since we are better ac- 
 quainted than we had any reason to suppose, may I be per- 
 mitted to indulge my curiosity ?" 
 
 I fancied I felt the cat's claw extended to play with the 
 mouse, so I replied : 
 
 " Artists, if I am not mistaken, are sometimes very indis- 
 creetly curious " 
 
 And I emphasized my meaning with a marked severity 
 which I hoped would give it point. But my man was not 
 abashed. 
 
 " I hope that will not prove to be the case with my in- 
 10
 
 146 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 quiry," said he. "I only wanted to know if you have a 
 sister?" 
 
 "Well done," thought I. "A way out of the difficulty! 
 The game he means to play is to ascribe his persistent perse- 
 cution to some fancied resemblance." 
 
 But though I should very willingly have given him that 
 loophole in M. de 1'Estorade's presence, I was not free to tell 
 him a lie. 
 
 "No, monsieur," replied I, "I have no sister at any rate, 
 not to my knowledge." 
 
 And I said it with an air of superior cunning so as to make 
 sure of not being taken for a dupe. 
 
 "At any rate," said M. Dorlange, "it was not impossible 
 that my idea was a true one. The family, among whom I 
 once met a lady strikingly like you, is involved in an atmos- 
 phere of mystery which allows every possible hypothesis." 
 
 "And am I indiscreet in asking their name ? " 
 
 " Not in the least. They are people you may perhaps have 
 known in Paris in 1829-30. They kept house in great style, 
 and entertained magnificently. I met them in Italy." 
 
 "But their name?" said I, with a determination that was 
 not prompted, I own, by any charitable motive. 
 
 "Lanty,"* said M. Dorlange, without any hesitation or 
 embarrassment. 
 
 There was, in fact, a family of that name in Paris before I 
 came to live here, and you, like me, may remember hearing 
 some strange tales about them. 
 
 As he answered the question, the sculptor went up to the 
 veiled statue. 
 
 " I have taken the liberty, madame, of giving you the sister 
 you never had," he said, rather abruptly, "and I make so 
 bold as to ask you if you do not yourself discern a family 
 likeness?" 
 
 At the same time he pulled away the baize which hid the 
 * Vide " Sarrasine."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 147 
 
 work, and then, my dear madame, I beheld myself, in the 
 guise of a saint, crowned with a glory. How, I ask you, 
 could I be angry? On seeing the startling likeness that 
 really stared them in the face, my husband and Na'is exclaimed 
 with admiration. 
 
 As for M. Dorlange, he proceeded without delay to explain 
 this rather dramatic surprise. 
 
 " This statue, " said he, " is a Sainte-Ursule, a commission 
 from a convent in the country. In consequence of circum- 
 stances too long to relate, the features of the young lady I 
 mentioned just now remain deeply stamped on my memory. 
 I began, therefore, to model it from memory ; but one day, 
 madame, in the church of St. Thomas-d'Aquin, I saw you, 
 and I was so superstitious as to believe that Providence had 
 sent you to me as a duplicate for my benefit. From that time 
 you were the model from which I worked ; and as I could not 
 think of asking you to come and sit to me in my studio, I 
 availed myself, as far as possible, of every chance of meeting 
 you. If by any mischance you had happened to notice my 
 persistency in crossing your path, you would have taken me 
 for one of those idlers who hang about in hope of an adven- 
 ture, and I was nothing worse than a conscientious artist, 
 prcnant son Men ou il le trouve, like Moliere, making the most 
 of my chances, and trying to find inspiration in Nature alone, 
 which always gives the best results." 
 
 "Oh, I had noticed you following us," said Nai's, with an 
 all-knowing air. 
 
 Children ! my dear madame does any one understand 
 them ? Na'is had seen all ; at the time of her accident it 
 would have been natural that she should say something to her 
 father or to me about this gentleman, whose constant presence 
 had not escaped her notice and yet, not a word. Brought 
 up as she has been by me with such constant care, and hardly 
 ever out of my sight, I am absolutely certain of her perfect 
 innocence. Then it must be supposed that Nature alone can
 
 148 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 give a little girl of thirteen an instinctive knowledge of cer- 
 tain secrets. Is it not terrible to think of? 
 
 But husbands ! my dear madame, husbands are what are 
 so truly appalling when, at unexpected moments, we find 
 them abandoned to a sort of blind predestination. Mine, for 
 instance, as it seems to me, ought to have pricked up his ears 
 as he heard this gentleman describe how he had dared to take 
 me for his model. M. de 1'Estorade is not considered a fool ; 
 on all occasions he has a strong sense of the proprieties ; and 
 if ever I should give the least cause, I believe him capable of 
 being ridiculously jealous. And yet, seeing his " belle Renee," 
 as he calls me, embodied in white marble as a saint, threw 
 him, as it seems, into such a state of admiration as altered 
 him out of all knowledge ! 
 
 He and NaTs were wholly absorbed in verifying the fidelity 
 of the copy; that was quite my attitude, quite my eyes, my 
 mouth, the dimples in my cheeks. In short, I found that I 
 must take upon myself the part which M. de 1'Estorade had 
 quite forgotten, so I said very gravely to this audacious artist 
 
 " Does it not occur to you, monsieur, that thus to appro- 
 priate without leave in short, to put it plainly, thus to steal 
 a stranger's features might strike her, or him, as a rather 
 strange proceeding ? " 
 
 "Indeed, madame," replied he, very respectfully, "my 
 fraudulent conduct would never have gone beyond the point 
 you yourself might have sanctioned. Though my statue is 
 doomed to be buried in a chapel for nuns, I should not have 
 dispatched it without obtaining your permission to leave it as 
 it was. I could, when necessary, have ascertained your ad- 
 dress ; and while confessing the fascination to which I had 
 succumbed, I should have requested you to come to see the 
 work. Then, when you saw it, if a too exact likeness should 
 have offended you, I would have said what I now say : with a 
 few strokes of the chisel I will undertake to mislead the most 
 practiced eye."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 149 
 
 Diminish the resemblance ! That was no part of the pro- 
 gramme ! My husband, apparently, did not think it close 
 enough, for at this moment he turned to M. Dorlange to say, 
 with beatific blandness 
 
 " Do not you thmk, monsieur, that Madame de 1'Estorade's 
 nose is just a little thinner ? " 
 
 Thoroughly upset as I was by these unforeseen incidents, I 
 should, I fear, have pleaded badly for M. Marie- Gaston ; how- 
 ever, at my very first allusion to the subject 
 
 "I know," said M. Dorlange, "all you could say in de- 
 fense of the 'faithless one.' I do not forgive, but I will 
 forget. As things have turned out, I was within an ace of 
 being killed for his sake, and it would be really too illogical 
 to owe him now a grudge on old scores. Still, as regards the 
 monument at Ville-d'Avray, nothing will induce me to under- 
 take it. As I have already explained to M. de 1'Estorade, 
 there is an obstacle in the way which grows more definite 
 every day ; I also consider it contemptible in Marie-Gaston 
 that he should persist in chewing the cud of his grief, and I 
 have written him to that effect. He must show himself a 
 man, and seek such consolation as may always be found in 
 study and work." 
 
 The object of my visit was at an end, and for the moment I 
 had no hope of penetrating the dark places, on which, how- 
 ever, I must throw some light. As I rose to leave, M. Dor- 
 lange said 
 
 " May I hope, then, that you will not insist on any too 
 serious disfigurement of my statue?" 
 
 " It is my husband rather than I who must answer that 
 question. We can reopen it on another occasion, for M. de 
 1'Estorade hopes you will do us the honor to return this call." 
 
 M. Dorlange bowed respectful acquiescence, and we came 
 away. As he saw us to the carriage, not venturing to offer me 
 his arm, I happened to turn round to call Nafs, who was 
 rashly going up to a Pyrenean dog that lay in the forecourt.
 
 15 o THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 I then perceived the handsome housekeeper behind a window- 
 curtain, eagerly watching me. Finding herself caught in the 
 act, she dropped the curtain with evident annoyance. 
 
 "Well," thought I, "now this woman is jealous of me! 
 Is she afraid, I wonder, that I may become her rival, at least 
 as a model?" 
 
 In fact, I came away in a perfectly vile temper. I was 
 furious with NaTs and with my husband. I could have given 
 him the benefit of a scene of which he certainly could have 
 made neither head nor tail. 
 
 Now, what do you think of it all ? Is this man one of the 
 cleverest rogues alive, who all in a moment, to get himself 
 out of a scrape, could invent the most plausible fiction ? Or 
 is he, indeed, an artist and nothing but an artist, who artlessly 
 regarded me as the living embodiment of his ideal ? 
 
 THE COMTESSE DE I/ESTORADE TO MADAME OCTAVE DE CAMPS. 
 
 PARIS, March, 1839. 
 
 DEAR MADAME: M. Dorlange dined with us yesterday. 
 My own notion had been to receive him en familk, so as to 
 have him under my eye and catechise him at my ease. 
 But M. de 1'Estorade, to whom I did not communicate my 
 disinterested purpose, pointed out that such an invitation, to 
 meet nobody, might be taken amiss. 
 
 "We cannot treat him," my husband smilingly added, 
 "as if he were one of our farmers' sons who came to display 
 his sub-lieutenant's epaulette, and whom we should invite 
 quite by himself because we could not send him to the 
 kitchen." 
 
 So to meet our principal guest, we asked M. Joseph Bridau, 
 the painter; the Chevalier d'Espard, M. and Mme. de la 
 Bastie, and M. de Ronquerolles. When inviting this last gentle- 
 man, my husband took care to ask him whether he would 
 object to meeting M. de Rhetore's adversary for you know,
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 151 
 
 no doubt, that the duke chose for his seconds in the duel 
 General de Montriveau and M. de Ronquerolles. 
 
 "Far from objecting," he replied, "I am delighted to 
 seize an opportunity of improving my acquaintance with a 
 clever man, whose Conduct in the affair in which we were 
 concerned was in all respects admirable." 
 
 And when my husband told him of the obligation we owe 
 to M. Dorlange 
 
 " Why, the artist is a hero ! " he exclaimed. "If he goes 
 on as he has begun, we shall not be able to reach to his 
 knees." 
 
 In his studio, with his throat bare so as to give freedom to 
 his head, which is a little large for his body, and dressed in a 
 most becoming loose Oriental sort of garment, M. Dorlange 
 was certainly better looking than in ordinary evening dress. 
 At the same time, when he is talking with animation, his face 
 lights up, and then his eyes seem to pour out a tide of that 
 magnetic fluid of which I had been conscious at our previous 
 meetings. Mme. de la Bastie was no less struck by it. 
 
 I forget whether I told you of the object of M. Dorlange's 
 ambition : he proposes to come forward as a candidate on the 
 occasion of the next elections. This was his reason for de- 
 clining the commission offered him by my husband as repre- 
 senting M. Marie-Gaston. Politics, in fact, are an absorbing 
 and dominating passion which can scarcely allow a second to 
 flourish by its side. Nevertheless, I was bent on studying the 
 situation to the bottom, and after dinner I insidiously drew 
 my gentleman into one of those tte-a-ttc chats which the 
 mistress of a house can generally arrange. After speaking of 
 M. Marie-Gaston, our friend in common, of my dear Louise's 
 crazy flights, and my own constant but useless attempts to 
 moderate them, after giving him every opportunity and facility 
 for opening the battle, I asked him whether his Sainte-Ursule 
 was to be sent off soon. 
 
 "It is quite ready to start, madame," said he. "But I
 
 152 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 wait for your permission, your exeat; for you to tell me, in 
 short, whether or not I am to alter anything in the face." 
 
 " First tell me this," replied I. " Supposing I were to wish 
 for any alteration, would such a change greatly injure the 
 statue?" 
 
 "It probably would. However little you clip a bird's 
 wings, it is always checked in its flight." 
 
 " One more question. Is your statue most like me or the 
 other woman ? ' ' 
 
 "You, madame, I need hardly say. You are the present; 
 she is the past." 
 
 " But to throw over the past in favor of the present is called, 
 as you doubtless are aware, monsieur, by an ugly name. And 
 you confess to this evil tendency with a frank readiness that 
 is really quite startling." 
 
 "It is true that art can be brutal," said M. Dorlange, 
 laughing. "Wherever it may find the raw material of a 
 creation, it rushes on it with frenzy." 
 
 "Art," said I, "is a big word, under which a world of 
 things find refuge ! The other day you told me that circum- 
 stances, too long to be related, had contributed to stamp on 
 your mind, as a constant presence, the features of which mine 
 are a reflection, and which have left such an impression on 
 your memory. Was not this saying pretty plainly that it was 
 not the sculptor alone who remembered them? " 
 
 " Indeed, madame, I had not time to explain myself more 
 fully. And in any case, on seeing you for the first time, 
 would you not have thought it extraordinary if I had assumed 
 a confidential tone? " 
 
 "But now? " said I audaciously. 
 
 " Even now, unless under very express encouragement, I 
 should find it hard to persuade myself that anything in my 
 past life could have a special interest for you." 
 
 "But why so? Some acquaintances ripen quickly. Your 
 devotion to my Na'is is a long step forward in ours. Beside,"
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 153 
 
 I added with affected giddiness, "I love a story beyond all 
 things." 
 
 "Beside the fact that mine has no end, it has, even to me, 
 remained a mystery." 
 
 "All the more -reason Between us, perhaps, we may 
 
 be able to solve it." 
 
 M. Dorlange seemed to consider the matter ; then, after a 
 short silence, he said 
 
 "It is very true; women are clever in discerning faint 
 traces in facts or feelings where we men can detect none. 
 But this revelation does not involve myself alone, and I must 
 be allowed to beg that it remain absolutely between ourselves. 
 I do not except even M. de 1'Estorade ; a secret ceases to exist 
 when once it goes beyond the speaker and the recipient." 
 
 "M. de 1'Estorade," said I, "is so little accustomed to 
 hear everything from me, that he never saw a single line of 
 my correspondence with Madame Marie-Gaston." 
 
 At the same time I made a mental reservation with refer- 
 ence to you, my dear friend; for are you not the keeper of 
 my conscience? And to a confessor one must confess all, if 
 one is to be judiciously advised. 
 
 Till now M. Dorlange had been standing in front of the 
 fireplace, while I sat at the corner". He now took a chair 
 close to me, and by way of preamble he said : 
 
 "I spoke to you, madame, of the Lanty family " 
 
 At this instant Mme. de la Bastie, as provoking as a shower 
 at a picnic, came up to ask me whether I had seen Nathan's 
 new play ? Much I cared for anybody else's comedy when 
 absorbed in this drama, in which it would seem I had played 
 a pretty lively part ! However, M. Dorlange was obliged to 
 give up his seat by me, and it was impossible to have him to 
 myself any more that evening. 
 
 Nor, in fact, is there anything in this interrupted tale to 
 suggest that love played the part I had insinuated. There are 
 plenty more ways of stamping a personality on one's memory j
 
 15 4 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 and if M. Dorlange did not love the woman of whom I re- 
 minded him, what grudge can he have against me who am but 
 a sort of second edition ? Nor must we overlook that very 
 handsome housekeeper ; for, granting that she is but a habit, 
 adopted for reasons of commonsense rather than of passion, 
 the woman must still be, at any rate in some degree, a fence 
 against me. Consequently, dear madame, all the alarms I 
 have dinned into your ears would be ridiculous indeed; I 
 should somewhat resemble Belise in " Les Femmes Savantes," 
 who is haunted by the idea that every one who sees her must 
 fall in love with her. 
 
 But I should be only too glad to come to this dull con- 
 clusion. 
 
 Lover or not, M. Dorlange is a man of high spirit and re- 
 markable powers of mind ; if he does not put himself out of 
 court by any foolish aspirations, it will be an honor and a 
 pleasure to place him on our list of friends. The service he 
 did us predestines him to this, and I should really be sorry to 
 seem hard on him. In that case, indeed, Nais would quar- 
 rel with me, for she very naturally thinks everything of her 
 rescuer. 
 
 In the evening, when he had left 
 
 "Mamma, how well M. Dorlange talks ! " said she, with a 
 most amusing air of approval. 
 
 Speaking of NaTs, this is the explanation she gives of the 
 reserve that disturbed me so much. 
 
 "Well, mamma," said she, "I supposed that you would 
 have seen him too. But after he stopped the horses, as you 
 did not seem to know him, and as he is rather common-look- 
 ing, I fancied he was a man " 
 
 " A man what do you mean ? " 
 
 "Why, yes; the sort of man of which one takes no notice; 
 but how glad I was when I found that he was a gentleman ! 
 You heard me exclaim : ' Why, you are the gentleman who saved 
 me?"
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 155 
 
 Though her innocence is perfect, there is in this explana- 
 tion an ugly streak of pride, on which, you may be sure, I 
 delivered a fine lecture. This distinction between the man 
 and the gentleman is atrocious ; but, on the whole, was not 
 the child in the Yight? But if I carry my criticism any 
 further, you will be telling me to beware, for that I am al- 
 ready catching it from M. Dorlange. 
 
 THE COMTESSE DE I/ESTORADE TO MADAME OCTAVE DE CAMPS. 
 
 PARIS, April, 1839. 
 
 For nearly a fortnight, my dear madame, we heard no more 
 of M. Dorlange. Not only did he not think proper to come 
 and reopen the confidences so provokingly interrupted by 
 Madame de la Bastie, but he did not seem aware that, after 
 dining with anybody, a card, at least, is due within the 
 week. 
 
 Yesterday morning we were at breakfast, and I had just 
 made a remark to this effect, without bitterness, and merely 
 by way of conversation, when Lucas, who, as an old servant, 
 is somewhat overbold and familiar, made some one throw open 
 the door of the dining-room as if in triumph ; and handing a 
 note first to M. de 1'Estorade, he set down in the middle of 
 the table a mysterious object wrapped in tissue paper, which 
 at first suggested a decorative dish of some kind. 
 
 "What in the world is that?" I asked Lucas, seeing in his 
 face the announcement of a surprise. And I put out my hand 
 to tear away the paper. 
 
 " Oh, madame, be careful ! " cried he. " It is breakable." 
 
 My husband meanwhile had read the note, which he handed 
 to me, saying: "M. Dorlange's apology." 
 
 This is what the artist wrote : 
 
 " Monsieur le Comte, I fancied I could discern that Mad- 
 ame de 1'Estorade gave me permission very reluctantly to 
 take advantage of the audacious use I had made of my petty
 
 156 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 larceny. I have therefore bravely determined to alter my 
 work, and at the present moment hardly a likeness is discern- 
 ible between ' the two sisters.' Still, I could not bear that all 
 I had done should be lost to the world, so I had a cast taken 
 of Sainte-Ursule's head before altering it, and made a reduced 
 copy, placing it on the shoulders of a charming countess, who 
 is not yet canonized, thank heaven ! 
 
 "The mould was broken after the first copy was taken, and 
 that only copy I have the honor to beg you to accept. This 
 fact, which was only proper, gives the statuette rather more 
 value. Believe me, etc." 
 
 While I was reading, my husband, Lucas, Nais, and Rene 
 had been very busy extracting me from my wrappings ; and 
 behold, from a saint I had been converted into a lady of 
 fashion, in the shape of a lovely statuette elegantly dressed. I 
 thought that M. de 1'Estorade and the two children would go 
 crazy with admiration. The news of this wonder having 
 spread through the house, all the servants whom we certainly 
 spoil came in one after another, as if they had been invited, 
 and each in turn exclaimed " How like madame ! " I quote 
 only the leading theme, and do not remember every stupjd 
 variation. 
 
 L'Estorade said : "On my way to the Exchequer office I 
 will look in on M. Dorlange. If he is disengaged this even- 
 ing, I will ask him to dine here. Armand, whom he has not 
 yet seen, will be at home; thus he will see all the family to- 
 gether, and you can express your thanks." 
 
 I did not approve of this family dinner ; it seemed to me to 
 place M. Dorlange on a footing of intimacy which this fresh 
 civility again warned me might be dangerous. When I raised 
 some little difficulty, M. de 1'Estorade remarked 
 
 " Why, my dear, the first time we invited him, you wanted 
 to ask him only, which would have been extremely awkward, 
 and now, that it is perfectly suitable, you are making objec- 
 tions ! "
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 157 
 
 To this argument, which placed me entirely in the wrong, 
 I could make no reply, except saying to myself that hus- 
 bands are sometimes very clumsy. 
 
 He also contrived to vex me on another point, on which, 
 as you know, I am Sever amenable. At dinner M. de 1'Esto- 
 rade reverted to the subject of the elections, disapproving 
 more than ever of M. Dorlange as a candidate, though no 
 longer thinking it ridiculous ; this led to a political discus- 
 sion. Armand, who is a very serious person, and reads the 
 newspapers, joined in the conversation. Unlike most lads of 
 the present day, he shares his father's opinions, that is to say, 
 he is strongly Conservative indeed, rather in excess of that v \ 
 wise moderation which is very rare, no doubt, at sixteen. 
 
 Without being rude, M. Dorlange seemed to scorn the idea 
 of discussing the matter with the poor boy, and he rather 
 sharply reminded him of his school uniform ; so much so, 
 that I saw Armand ready to lose his temper and answer 
 viciously. As he is quite well bred, I had only to give him 
 a look, and he controlled himself; but seeing him turn 
 crimson and shut himself up in total silence, I felt that his 
 pride had been deeply wounded, and thought it ungenerous 
 of M. Dorlange to have crushed him by his superiority. I 
 know that in these days all children want to be of importance 
 too soon, and that it does them no harm to interfere now and 
 then and hinder them from being men of forty. But Armand 
 really has powers of mind and reason beyond his age. 
 
 Do you want proof? 
 
 Until last year I would never part from him ; he went to 
 the College Henri IV. as a day scholar. Well, it was he who, 
 for the benefit of his studies, begged to be placed there as a 
 boarder, since the constant going to and fro inevitably inter- 
 fered with his work ; and to be allowed, as a favor, to shut him- 
 self up under the ferule of an usher, he exhausted more argu- 
 ments, and wheedled me with more coaxing, than most boys 
 would have used to obtain the opposite result. Thus the
 
 158 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 grown-up manner, which in many schoolboys is intolerably 
 absurd, in him is the evident result of natural precocity, and 
 this precocity ought to be forgiven him, since it is the gift of 
 God. M. Dorlange, owing to the misfortune of his birth, is 
 less able than most men to enter into the feelings of boys, so, 
 of course, he is deficient in indulgence. But he had better 
 be careful ! This is a bad way of paying his court to me, 
 even on the most ordinary footing of friendship. 
 
 Being so small a party, I could not, of course, revert to the 
 history ne had to tell me ; but I did not think that he was 
 particularly anxious to recur to the subject. In fact, he was 
 less attentive to me than to Na'is, for whom he cut out black 
 paper figures during an hour or more. It must also be said 
 that Madame de Rastignac came in the way, and that I had 
 to give myself up to her visit. While I was talking to her by 
 the fire, M. Dorlange, at the other end of the room, was 
 making Na'is and Rene stand for their portraits, and they 
 presently came exultant to show me their silhouettes, wonder- 
 fully like, snipped out with the scissors. 
 
 "Do you know," said NaYs in a whisper, "M. Dorlange 
 says he will make a bust of me in marble ? " 
 
 All this struck me as in rather bad taste. I do not like to 
 see artists who, when admitted to a drawing-room, still carry 
 on the business, as it were. They thus justify the aristocratic 
 arrogance which sometimes refuses to think them worthy to 
 be received for their own sake. 
 
 M. Dorlange went away early; and M. de 1'Estorade got 
 on my nerves, as he has done so many times in his life, when 
 he insisted on showing out his guest, who had tried to steal 
 away unperceived, and I heard him desire him to repeat his 
 visits less rarely, that I was always at home in the evening. 
 
 The result of this family dinner has been civil war among 
 the children. NaYs, lauding her dear deliverer to the skies, in 
 which she is supported by Ren, who is completely won over 
 by a splendid lancer on horseback, cut out for him by M. Dor-
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 159 
 
 lange. Armand, on the contrary, says he is ugly, which is 
 indisputable ; he declares he is just like the portraits of Danton 
 in the illustrated history of the Revolution, and there is some 
 truth in it. He ajso says that in the statuette he has made me 
 look like a milliner's apprentice, which is not true at all. 
 
 DORLANGE TO MARIE-GASTON. 
 
 PARIS, April, 1839. 
 
 Why do I give up my art, and what do I expect to find in 
 that " galley " called politics? 
 
 That is what comes, my dear fond lover, of shutting yourself 
 up for years in conventual matrimony. The world, mean- 
 while, has gone on. Life has brought fresh combinations to 
 those whom you shut out, and the less you know of them, the 
 readier you are to blame those you have forgotten. Every one 
 is clever at patching other people's affairs. 
 
 You must know, then, my inquisitive friend, that it was not 
 of my own accord that I took the step for which you would 
 call me to account. My unforeseen appearance in the electoral 
 breach was in obedience to the desire of a very high personage. 
 A father has at last allowed a gleam of light to shine in the 
 eternal darkness; he has three parts revealed himself; and, if 
 I may trust appearances, he fills a place in society that might 
 satisfy the most exacting conceit. 
 
 I spend the evening two or three times a week at the Cafe 
 Greco, the favored haunt of artists, and meet there several 
 Roman students, my contemporaries. They have made me 
 acquainted with some journalists and men of letters, agreeable 
 and superior men, with whom it is both pleasant and profitable 
 to exchange ideas. There is a particular corner where we con- 
 gregate, and where every question of a serious character is 
 discussed and thrashed out ; but, as having the most living 
 interest, politics especially give rise to the most impassioned 
 arguments. In our little club democratic views predominate;
 
 160 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 they are represented in the most diverse shades, including the 
 Utopia or phalanstery of workers. This will show you that the 
 proceedings of the Government are often severely handled, 
 and that unlimited freedom of language characterizes our 
 
 verdicts. 
 
 Rather more than a year ago the waiter said to me : 
 
 "You are watched by the police, sir, and you will be wise 
 not to talk always open-mouthed like St. Paul." 
 
 " By the police, my good fellow ! Why, what on earth can 
 it find to watch ? All I can say, and a great deal more, is 
 printed every morning in the newspapers." 
 
 "That has nothing to do with it. They have an eye on you. 
 I have seen it. There is a little old man who takes a great deal 
 of snuff, and who always sits where he can hear you. When 
 you are speaking he listens much more attentively than to any 
 of the others, and I even caught him once writing something 
 in his pocket-book in signs that were not the alphabet." 
 
 "Very good ; then, next time he comes, show him to me." 
 
 The next time was no further off than the morrow. 
 
 The man pointed out was small and gray-haired, untidy in 
 his appearance, and his face, deeply marked by the smallpox, 
 was, I thought, that of a man of fifty. And he certainly very 
 often took a pinch out of a large snuff-box, and seemed to 
 honor my remarks with a degree of attention which I could, 
 as I chose, regard as highly complimentary or extremely im- 
 pertinent. But of the two alternatives I was inclined to the 
 more charitable by the air of honesty and mildness that per- 
 vaded this supposed emissary of the police. When I remarked 
 on this reassuring aspect to the waiter, who flattered himself 
 that he had scented out a secret agent 
 
 "Oh, yes, indeed ! " said he. "Those are the sweet man- 
 ners the rats, for so we mostly call them, always put on to 
 hide their game." 
 
 Two days after, one Sunday, at the hour of vespers, in the 
 course of one of those long walks all across Paris, which you
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 161 
 
 know I always loved, mere chance led me into the church of 
 Saint-Louis en 1'Ile, the parish church of that God-forsaken 
 quarter. The building is not particularly interesting, in spite 
 of what some historians have said, and following them, every 
 "Stranger's Guide "to Paris." I should only have walked 
 through it, but that the wonderful talent of the organist who 
 was playing the service irresistibly held me. When I tell you 
 that the performer came up to my ideal, you will know that is 
 high praise ; for you will, I daresay, remember that I draw a 
 distinction between organ players and organists a rank of 
 the superior nobility to whom I grant the title only on the 
 highest grounds. 
 
 But are not great artists, after all, the real kings by divine 
 right? Imagine my amazement when, after waiting a few 
 minutes, instead of a perfectly strange face, I saw a man whom 
 I at once vaguely recognized, and knew at a second glance 
 for my watchful listener of the Cafe des Arts. Nor was this 
 all : at his heels came a sort of spoilt attempt at humanity ; 
 and in this misshapen failure, with crooked legs and a thicket 
 of unkempt hair, I discerned our old quarterly providence, 
 my banker, my money-carrier in short, our respected friend 
 the mysterious dwarf. 
 
 I, you may be sure, did not escape his sharp eye, and I saw 
 him eagerly pointing me out to the organist. He instinc- 
 tively, and not probably calculating all that would come of 
 it, turned quickly to look at me, and then, taking no further 
 notice of me, went on his way. The dwarf, meanwhile 
 whom I might recognize as his master's servant by this single 
 detail went familiarly up to the man who distributed holy 
 water and offered him a pinch of snuff; then he hobbled 
 away, never looking at me again, and vanished through a door 
 in a corner under one of the side-aisles. 
 
 I acted on the spur of the moment and rushed after the 
 organist. By the time I had got out of the church door he 
 was out of sight, but chance favored me and led me in the 
 11
 
 162 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 direction he had taken ; as I came out on the Quai de Bethune, 
 
 I saw him in the distance knocking at a door. 
 I boldly followed and said to the gate-porter 
 "Is the organist of Saint-Louis en 1'Ile within?" 
 "M. Jacques Bricheteau?" 
 
 "Yes, M. Jacques Bricheteau; he lives here, I think?" 
 " On the fourth floor above the entresol, the door on the 
 
 left. He has just come in ; you may catch him up on the 
 
 stairs." 
 
 Run as fast as I could, by the time I reached my man his 
 key was in the lock. 
 
 " M. Jacques Bricheteau? " I hastily exclaimed. " I have 
 the honor, I think ?" 
 
 " I know no such person," said he coolly, as he turned the 
 key. 
 
 "I may be mistaken in the name; but M. the organist of 
 Saint-Louis en 1'Ile?" 
 
 "I never heard of any organist living in this house." 
 
 "I beg your pardon, monsieur: there certainly is, for the 
 concierge has just told me so. Beside, you are undoubtedly 
 the gentleman I saw coming out of the organ loft, accompa- 
 nied by a man I may say " 
 
 But before I had finished speaking, this strange individual 
 had balked me of his company and shut his door in my face. 
 
 I proceeded to pull his bell with some energy, quite deter- 
 mined to persist till I knew the reason of this fixed purpose of 
 ignoring me. For some little time the besieged party put up 
 with the turmoil I was making ; but I suddenly remarked that 
 the bell had ceased to sound. It had evidently been muffled; 
 the obstinate foe would not come to the door, and the only 
 way of getting at him would be to beat it in. That, however, 
 is not thought mannerly. 
 
 I went down again to the door-porter, who informed me 
 that M. Bricheteau was a quiet resident, polite but not com- 
 municative ; punctual in paying his rent, but not in easy cir-
 
 THE DEPUTY fOR ARCIS. 163 
 
 cumstances, for he kept no servant not even a maid to clean 
 for him, and he never took a meal at home. He was always 
 out by ten in the morning, and never came in till the evening, 
 and was probably a clerk in an office, or perhaps a music- 
 master giving lessons. 
 
 On my return home I persuaded myself that a pathetic 
 epistle addressed to my recalcitrant friend would induce him 
 to admit me. Seasoning my urgent supplication with a spice 
 of intimidation, I gave him to understand that I was im- 
 movably bent on penetrating, at any cost, the mystery of my 
 birth, of which he seemed to be fully informed. Now that I 
 had some clue to the secret, it would be his part to consider 
 whether my desperate efforts, blindly rushing against the dark 
 unknown, might not entail much greater trouble than the 
 frank explanation I begged him to favor me with. 
 
 My ultimatum thus formulated, to the end that it should 
 reach the hands of M. Jacques Bricheteau as soon as possible, 
 on the following morning, before nine, I arrived at the door. 
 But, in a frenzy of secrecy unless he has some really inex- 
 plicable reason for avoiding me at daybreak that morning, 
 after paying the rent for the current term and for a term's 
 notice, the organist had packed off his furniture ; and it is to 
 be supposed that the men employed in this sudden flitting 
 were handsomely bribed for their silence, since the concierge 
 could not discover the name of the street whither his lodger 
 was moving. The men did not belong to the neighborhood, 
 so there was not a chance of unearthing them and paying 
 them to speak. 
 
 Still, and in spite of the obstinacy and cleverness of this 
 unattainable antagonist, I would not be beaten. I felt there 
 was still a connecting thread between us in the organ of Saint- 
 Louis' ; so on the following Sunday, before the end of high 
 mass, I took up a post at the door of the organ loft, fully de- 
 termined not to let the sphinx go till I had made it speak. 
 Here was a fresh disappointment : M. Jacques Bricheteau was
 
 164 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 represented by one of his pupils, and for three Sundays in 
 succession it was the same. On the fourth I ventured to 
 speak to the substitute and ask him if the maestro were ill. 
 
 " No, monsieur. M. Bricheteau is taking a holiday ; he will 
 be absent for some time, and is away on business." 
 
 " Where then can I write him ? " 
 
 "I do not exactly know. Still, I suppose that you can 
 write and send to his lodgings, close at hand, Quai de 
 Bethune." 
 
 " But he has moved. Did you not know ? " 
 
 " No. Indeed ! and where is he now living ? " 
 
 I was out of luck asking for information from a man who, 
 when I questioned him, questioned me. And as if to drive 
 me fairly beside myself, while investigating matters under 
 such hopeful conditions, I saw in the distance that confounded 
 deaf and dumb dwarf, who positively laughed as he looked at 
 me. 
 
 Happily for my impatience and curiosity, which were en- 
 hanced by every defeat, and rising by degrees to an almost 
 intolerable pitch, daylight presently dawned. A few days 
 after this last false scent, a letter reached me ; and I, a better 
 scholar than the concierge of the Quai de Bethune, at once 
 saw that the postmark was Stockholm, Sweden, which did not 
 excessively astonish me. When in Rome, I had the honor 
 of being kindly received by Thorwaldsen, the great sculptor, 
 and I had met many of his fellow-countrymen in his studio 
 some commission perhaps, for which he had recommended 
 me so imagine my surprise and emotion when, on opening 
 it, the first words I read were 
 
 " Monsieur monfils" (my son). 
 
 The letter was long, and I had not patience enough to read 
 it through before looking to see whose name I bore. So I 
 turned at once to the signature. This beginning, Monsieur 
 monfils, which we often find in history as used by kings when 
 addressing their scions, must surely premise aristocratic par-
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 165 
 
 entage ! My disappointment was great : there was no signa- 
 ture. 
 
 "Monsieur mon^fils," my anonymous father wrote, "I 
 cannot regret that y6ur inveterate determination to solve the 
 secret of your birth should have compelled the man who 
 watched over your youth to come here and confer with me as 
 to the steps to which we should be compelled by this danger- 
 ous and turbulent curiosity. I have for a long time cherished 
 an idea which has now come to maturity, and it has been far 
 more satisfactorily discussed in speech than it could have been 
 by correspondence. 
 
 " Being obliged to leave France almost immediately after 
 your birth, which cost your mother her life, I made a large 
 fortune in a foreign land, and I now fill a high position in the 
 Government of this country. I foresee a time when I may 
 be free to give you my name, and at the same time to secure 
 for you the reversion of the post I hold. But, to rise so high 
 as this, the celebrity which, with my permission, you promise 
 to achieve in Art would not be a sufficient recommendation. 
 I therefore wish you to enter on a political career ; and in 
 that career, under the existing conditions in France, there are 
 not two ways of distinguishing yourself you must be elected 
 a member of the Chamber. You are not yet, I know, of the 
 required age, and you have not the necessary qualification. 
 But you will be thirty next year, and that is just long enough 
 to enable you to become a landed proprietor and prove your 
 possession for more than a twelvemonth. On the day after 
 receiving this you may call on the Brothers Mongenod, 
 bankers, Rue de la Victoire ; they will pay you a sum of two 
 hundred and fifty thousand francs. This you must at once 
 invest in the purchase of a house, and devote any surplus to 
 the support of some newspaper which, in due course, will 
 advocate your election after another outlay is met which I 
 shall presently explain.
 
 166 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "Your aptitude for politics is vouched for by the friend 
 who has watched over you in your deserted existence, with a 
 zeal and disinterestedness that I can never repay. He has for 
 some time followed you and listened to you, and he is con- 
 vinced that you would make a creditable appearance in the 
 Chamber. Your opinions Liberal, and at once moderate 
 and enthusiastic meet my views, and you have, unconsciously, 
 hitherto played into my hand very successfully. 
 
 " I cannot at present reveal to you the place of your prob- 
 able election. It is being prepared with a deep secrecy and 
 skill which will be successful in proportion as they are wrapped 
 in silence and darkness. However, your success may be, 
 perhaps, partly insured by your carrying out a work which I 
 commend to your notice, advising you to accept its apparent 
 singularity without demur or comment. For the present you 
 must still be a sculptor, and you are to employ the talent of 
 which you have given evidence in the execution of a statue of 
 Sainte-Ursule. The subject does not lack poetry or interest ; 
 Sainte-Ursule, virgin and martyr, was, it is generally believed, 
 the daughter of a prince of Great Britain. She was martyred 
 in the fifth century at Cologne, where she had founded a con- 
 vent of maidens known to popular superstition as the Eleven 
 Thousand Virgins. She was subsequently taken as the patron 
 saint of the Ursuline Sisters, who adopted her name ; also of 
 the famous house of the Sorbonne. 
 
 "An artist so clever as you are may, it seems to me, make 
 something of all these facts. 
 
 " Without knowing the name of the place you are to repre- 
 sent, it is desirable that you should at once make due profes- 
 sion of your political tendencies and proclaim your intention 
 of standing for election. At the same time, I cannot too 
 earnestly impress on you the need for secrecy as to this commu- 
 nication, and for patience in your present position. Leave 
 my agent in peace, I beg of you, and setting aside a curiosity 
 which, I warn you, will involve you in the greatest disasters,
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 167 
 
 await the slow and quiet development of the splendid future 
 that lies before you. By not choosing to conform to my 
 arrangement, you will deprive yourself of every chance of being 
 initiated into the mystery you are so eager to solve. However, 
 I will not even suppose that you can rebel ; I would rather be- 
 lieve in your perfect deference to the wishes of a father who 
 feels that the happiest day of his life will be that when he is at 
 last able to make himself known to you. 
 
 "P. S. As your statue is intended for the chapel of an 
 Ursuline convent, it must be in white marble. The height of 
 the figure is to be 1.706 metre, or, in other words, five feet 
 three inches. As it will not stand in a niche, it must be 
 equally well finished on all sides. The cost to be defrayed 
 out of the two hundred and fifty thousand francs advised by 
 the present letter." 
 
 Of course curiosity took me to the bankers ; and, on finding 
 at Messrs. Mongenod's, in hard and ready cash, the two hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand francs promised me, I was, I confess, 
 pleased. It struck me that the determination which began by 
 advancing so large a sum must in fact be serious ; since that 
 power knew all, and I knew nothing, it seemed to me unrea- 
 sonable and inopportune to attempt to struggle. 
 
 I bought the house, I took shares in the " National," and I 
 found ample encouragement in my political schemes, as well 
 as the certainty of a keen contest whenever I should reveal the 
 name of the place I meant to stand for hitherto I have had 
 no difficulty in keeping that secret. 
 
 I also executed the Sainte-Ursule, and I am now waiting for 
 further instructions, which certainly seem to me to be a long 
 time coming, now that I have loudly proclaimed my ambitions 
 and that the stir of a general election is in the air a fight to 
 which I am by no means equal. To obey the instructions of 
 paternal caution I need not, I know, ask you to be absolutely 
 secret about all I confide to you. Reserve is a virtue which I
 
 168 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 know you to have brought to such perfection that I need not 
 preach it to you. The duel fought on your behalf has found 
 me favor in the democracy. 
 
 DORLANGE TO MARIE-GASTON^ 
 
 PARIS, April, 1839. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND : I am still playing my part as best I 
 may of a candidate without a constituency. My friends are 
 puzzled, and I must confess that I am worried, for there are 
 but a few weeks now till the election ; and if all these myste- 
 rious preparations end in smoke, a pretty figure I shall cut in 
 the eyes of M. Bixiou, whose spiteful comments you reported 
 to me not long ago. Still, one thought supports me : It 
 seems hardly likely that anybody should sow two hundred and 
 fifty thousand francs in my furrow without the definite pur- 
 pose of gathering some sort of crop. Possibly, indeed, if I 
 could see the thing more clearly, this absence of hurry on the 
 part of those who are working for me in such a deliberate and 
 underground manner may, in fact, be the result of perfect 
 confidence in my success. 
 
 In one word I will paint M. Bixiou he is envious. There 
 was in him unquestionably the making of a great artist ; but 
 in the economy of his individuality the stomach has killed 
 the heart and head, and by sheer subjection to sensuous appe- 
 tite he is now for ever doomed to remain no more than a 
 caricaturist, a man, that is to say, who lives from hand to 
 mouth, discounts his talent in frittered work, real penal servi- 
 tude which enables the man to live jovially, but brings him 
 no consideration, and promises him no future ; a man whose 
 talent is a mere feeble abortion ; his mind as much as his face 
 is stamped with the perpetual, hopeless grimace which human 
 instinct has always ascribed to the fallen angels. And just as 
 the Prince of Darkness attacks by preference the greatest 
 saints, as reminding him most sternly of the angelic heights
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 169 
 
 from which he fell, so M. Bixiou sheds his venom on every 
 talent and every character in whose strength, and spirit, and 
 purpose he feels the brave resolve not to waste itself as his 
 has been wasted. But there is one thing which may reassure 
 you as to the outcome of his slander and his abuse for from 
 M. de 1'Estorade's report to you I perceive that he indulges 
 in both : namely, at the very time when he fancies he is most 
 successfully occupied in a sort of burlesque autopsy of my 
 person, he is but a plastic puppet in my hands, a jumping- 
 jack of which I hold the string, and into whose mouth I can 
 put what words I please. 
 
 Feeling sure that a little advertisement should prepare the 
 way for my appearance as a statesman, I looked about me for 
 some public criers, deep-mouthed, as Mme. Pernelle would 
 say, and well able to give tongue. If among blatant trump- 
 eters I could have found one more shrill, more deafeningly 
 persistent than the great Bixiou, I would have preferred him. 
 I took advantage of the malignant inquisitiveness that takes 
 that amiable pest into every studio in turn, to fill himself up 
 with information. I told him everything, of my good luck, 
 of the two hundred and fifty thousand francs, ascribing them 
 to a lucky turn on 'Change, of all my parliamentary schemes, 
 to the very number of the house I had purchased. And I am 
 much mistaken if that number is not written down somewhere 
 in his note-book. 
 
 This, I fancy, is enough to reduce the admiration of his 
 audience at the Montcornets', and prove that this formidable 
 magpie is not quite so miraculously and truthfully informed 
 on all points. 
 
 As to my political horoscope, which he condescended to 
 cast, I cannot say that his astrology, strictly speaking, is far 
 from the truth. It is quite certain that by announcing my 
 intention of never attempting to keep step with other men's 
 opinions I shall attain to the position so clearly set forth by a 
 pleader worthy to be the successc^of M. de la Palisse: "What
 
 170 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 do you do, gentlemen, to a man whom you place in solitary 
 confinement? You isolate him." Isolation, in fact, must at 
 first be my lot ; and the life of an artist, a solitary life, in 
 which a man spins everything out of himself, has predisposed 
 me to accept the situation. And if I find myself in conse- 
 quence especially as a beginner exempt from all lobby and 
 backstairs influences, this may do me good service as a speaker; 
 for I shall be able to express myself with unbiased strength 
 and freedom. Never being bound by any pledge, by any 
 trumpery party interest, there will be nothing to hinder me 
 from being myself, or from expressing in their sacred crudity 
 any ideas I think wholesome and true. 
 
 I know full well that in the face of an assembled multitude 
 these poor truths for truth's sake do not always get their 
 chance of becoming infectious, or even of being respectfully 
 welcomed. But have you not observed that by knowing how 
 to snatch an opportunity we sometimes hit on a day which 
 seems to be a sort of festival of sense and intelligence, when the 
 right thing triumphs almost without an effort ? On those days, 
 in spite of the utmost prejudice in the hearers, the speaker's 
 honesty makes them generous and sympathetic, at any rate 
 for the moment, with all that is upright, true, and magnani- 
 mous. At the same time, I do not deceive myself; though 
 this system of mine may win me some consideration and noto- 
 riety as an orator, it is of very little avail in the pursuit of 
 office, nor will it gain me the reputation as a practical man 
 for which it is now the fashion to sacrifice so much. But if 
 my influence at arm's length should be inconsiderable, I shall 
 be heard at a distance, because I shall, for the most part, 
 speak out of the window outside the narrow and suffocating 
 atmosphere of parliamentary life, and over the head of its 
 petty passions and mean interests. 
 
 This kind of success will be all I need for the purposes my 
 benevolent parent seems to have in view. What he appears 
 to aim at is that I should make a noise and be heard afar ;
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC IS. 171 
 
 and from that side, political life has, I declare, its artistic 
 aspect which will not too monstrously jar with my past life. 
 
 Now, to come to another matter that of my actual or pos- 
 sible passion for ^Jme. de 1'Estorade. This is your very 
 judicial epitome of fhe case: In 1837, when you set out for 
 Italy, Mme, de 1'Estorade was still in the bloom of her beauty. 
 Leading a life so calm, so sheltered from passion as hers has 
 always been, it is probable that the lapse of two years has left 
 no deep marks on her ; and the proof that time has stood still 
 for that privileged beauty you find in my strange and audacious 
 persistency in deriving inspiration from it. Hence, if the mis- 
 chief is not already done, at any rate you will give me warn- 
 ing ; there is but one step from the artist's admiration to the 
 man's, and the story of Pygmalion is commended to my pru- 
 dent meditation. 
 
 In the first place, most sapient and learned mythologist, I 
 may make this observation : The person principally interested 
 in the matter, who is on the spot and in a far better position 
 than you to estimate the perils of the situation, has no anxiety 
 on the subject. M. de 1'Estorade's only complaint is that 
 my visits are not more frequent, and my reticence is, in his 
 eyes, pure bad manners. "To be sure!" you exclaim, "a 
 husband any husband is the last to suspect that his wife is 
 being made love to ! " So be it. But what about Mme. de 
 1'Estorade, with her high reputation for virtue, and the cold, 
 almost calculating reasonableness which she so often brought 
 to bear on the ardent and impassioned petulance of another 
 lady known to you ? And will you not also allow that the 
 love of her children, carried to the last degree of fervor, I 
 had almost said fanaticism, that we see in women, must in 
 her be an infallible protection ? So far, and for her, well and 
 good. 
 
 But it is not her peace of mind, but mine, that concerns 
 your friendship ; for if Pygmalion had failed to animate his 
 statue, much good his love would have done him ! I might,
 
 172 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 in reply to your charitable solicitude, refer you to my princi- 
 ples though the word and the thing alike are completely out 
 of fashion to a certain very absurd respect that I have al- 
 ways professed for conjugal fidelity, to the very natural obstacle 
 to all such levity of fancy raised in my mind by the serious 
 responsibilities on which I am embarking. And I might also 
 say that, though not indeed by the superiority of my genius, 
 at least by every tendency of mind and character, I am one 
 of that earnest and serious school of a past time who, regard- 
 ing Art as long and Life as short Ars longa et vita brevis 
 did not waste their time and their creative powers in silly, 
 dull intrigues. 
 
 I will here explain the enigma as to Mme. de 1'Estorade: 
 In 1835, the last year I spent in Rome, I was on terms of con- 
 siderable intimacy with a French Academy student named 
 Desroziers. He was a musician, a man of distinguished and 
 observant mind, who would probably have made a mark in 
 his art if he had not been carried off by typhoid fever the 
 year after I left. 
 
 One day when we had taken it into our heads that we would 
 travel as far as Sicily, an excursion allowed by the rules, of the 
 Academy, we found ourselves absolutely penniless, and we 
 were wandering about the streets of Rome considering by 
 what means we could repair the damage to our finances, when 
 we happened to pass by the Braschi palace. The doors stood 
 wide open, admitting an ebb and flow of people of all classes 
 in an endless tide. 
 
 "By the mass ! " cried Desroziers, "this is the very thing 
 for us!" 
 
 And without any explanation as to whither he was leading 
 me, we followed in the stream and made our way into the 
 palace. 
 
 After going up a magnificent marble staircase, and through 
 a long suite of rooms,' poorly enough furnished as is usual in 
 Roman palaces, where all the luxury consists in fine ceilings,
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 173 
 
 pictures, statues, and other works of art we found ourselves 
 in a room hung with black and lighted with many tapers. It 
 was, as you will have understood, a body lying in state. In 
 the middle, on a jraised bed covered with a canopy, lay the 
 most hideous and grotesque thing you can conceive of. Im- 
 agine a little old man, with a face and hands withered to such 
 a state of desiccation that a mummy by comparison would 
 seem fat and well-looking. Dressed in black satin breeches, 
 a violet velvet coat of fashionable cut, a white vest embroid- 
 ered with gold, and a full shirt frill of English point-lace, this 
 skeleton's cheeks were thickly coated with rouge, which en- 
 hanced the parchment yellow of the rest of the skin ; and 
 crowning a fair wig, tightly curled, it had a huge hat and 
 feathers tilted knowingly over one ear, and making the most 
 reverent spectator laugh in spite of himself. After glancing 
 at this ridiculous and pitiable exhibition, the indispensable 
 preliminary to a funeral according to the aristocratic etiquette 
 of Rome 
 
 "There you see the end," said Desroziers. "Now, come 
 and look at the beginning." 
 
 So saying, and paying no heed to my questions, because he 
 wanted to give me a dramatic surprise, he led me off to the 
 Albani gallery, and placing me in front of a statue of Adonis 
 reclining on a lion's skin 
 
 "What do you think of that?" said he. 
 
 "That!" cried I at a first glance; "it is as fine as an 
 antique." 
 
 " It is as much an antique as I am," replied Desroziers, and 
 he pointed to a signature on the plinth: " Sarrasine, 1758." 
 
 "Antique or modern, it is a masterpiece," I said, when I 
 had studied this delightful work from all sides. " But how 
 is this fine statue and the terrible caricature you took me to 
 see just now to help us on our way to Sicily ? " 
 
 "In your place, I should have begun by asking who and 
 what was Sarrasine."
 
 174 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "That was unnecessary," replied I. "I had already 
 heard of this statue. I had forgotten it again, because when 
 I came to see it the Albani gallery was closed for repairs as 
 they say of the theatres. Sarrasine, I was informed, was a 
 pupil of Bouchardon's, and, like us, a pensioner on the King 
 of Rome, where he died within six months of his arrival." 
 
 " But who or what caused his death ? " 
 
 " Some illness probably," replied I, never dreaming that 
 my reply was prophetic of the end of the man I was addressing. 
 
 "Not a bit of it," said Desroziers. "Artists don't die in 
 such an idiotic way." 
 
 And he gave me the following details : 
 
 Sarrasine, a youth of genius, but of ungovernable passions, 
 almost as soon as he arrived in Rome, fell madly in love with 
 the principal soprano at the Argentina, whose name was Zam- 
 binella. At that time the pope would not allow women to 
 appear on the stage in Rome. The difficulty was overcome 
 by means well known, and imported from the East. Sarrasine, 
 in his fury at finding his love thus cheated, having already 
 executed an imaginary statue of this imaginary mistress, was 
 on the point of killing the castrate and himself. But the 
 singer was under the protection of a great personage, who, to 
 be beforehand with him, had cooled the sculptor's blood by a 
 few pricks of the stiletto. Zambinella had not approved of 
 this violence, but nevertheless continued to sing at the Argen- 
 tina and on every stage in Europe, amassing an enormous 
 fortune. 
 
 When too old to remain on the stage, the singer shrank 
 into a little old man, very vain, very shy, but as willful and 
 capricious as a woman. All the affection of which he was 
 capable he bestowed on a wonderfully beautiful niece, whom 
 he placed at the head of his household. She was the Madame 
 Denis of this strange ^Voltaire, and he intended that she should 
 inherit his vast wealth. The handsome heiress, in love with 
 a Frenchman named the Comte de Lanty, who was supposed
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 175 
 
 to be a highly skilled chemist, though, in fact, little was 
 known of his antecedents, had great difficulty in obtaining 
 her uncle's consent to her marriage with the man of her 
 choice. And when, weary of disputing the matter, he gave 
 in, it was on condition of not parting from his niece. The 
 better to secure the fulfillment of the bargain, he gave her 
 nothing on her marriage, parting with none of his fortune, 
 which he spent liberally on all who were about him. 
 
 Bored wherever he found himself, and driven by a perpetual 
 longing for change, the fantastic old man had at different 
 times taken up his abode in the remotest parts of the world, 
 always dragging at his heels the family party whose respect 
 and attachment he had secured at least for life. 
 
 In 1829, when he was nearly a hundred years old, and had 
 sunk into a sort of imbecility though still keenly alive when 
 he listened to music a question of some interest to the Lantys 
 and their two children brought them to settle in a splendid 
 house in the Faubourg Saint-Honore. They there received 
 all Paris. The world was attracted by the still splendid beauty 
 of Madame de Lanty, the innocent charm of her daughter 
 Marianina, the really royal magnificence of their entertain- 
 ments, and a peculiar flavor of mystery in the atmosphere 
 about these remarkable strangers. With regard to the old 
 man particularly, comments were endless ; he was the object 
 of so much care and consideration, but at the same time so 
 like a petted captive, stealing out like a spectre into the midst 
 of the parties, from which such obvious efforts were made to 
 keep him away, while he seemed to find malicious enjoyment 
 in scaring the company, like an apparition. 
 
 The gunshots of July, 1830, put this phantom to flight. 
 On leaving Paris, to the great annoyance of the Lantys, he 
 insisted on returning to Rome, his native city, where his 
 presence had revived the humiliating memories of the past. 
 But Rome was his last earthly stage ; he*had just died there, 
 and it was he whom we had seen so absurdly dressed out and
 
 176 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 lying in state in the Braschi palace he also on whom we 
 now looked, in all his youthful beauty, in the Albani collec- 
 tion. 
 
 " You have skill enough to make a copy of this statue, I 
 suppose?" said Desroziers. 
 
 " At any rate, I like to think so." 
 
 " Well, I am sure of it. Get leave from the curator, and 
 set to work forthwith. I know of a purchaser for such a 
 copy. ' ' 
 
 "Why, who will buy it ?" 
 
 "The Comte de Lanty, to be sure. I am giving his 
 daughter lessons in harmony; and when I mention in his 
 house that I know of a fine copy of this Adonis, they will 
 never rest till it belongs to them." 
 
 " But does not this savor somewhat of extortion ? " 
 
 " Not in the least. Some time since the Lantys had a 
 painting done of it by Vien, as they could not purchase the 
 marble; the Albani gallery would not part with it at any 
 price. Various attempts have been made at reproducing it in 
 sculpture, but all have failed. You have only to succeed, and 
 you will be paid enough for forty trips to Sicily, for you will 
 have gratified a whim which has become hopeless, and which, 
 when the price is paid, will still think itself your debtor." 
 
 Two days later I had begun the work ; and as it was quite 
 to my mind, I went on so steadily that, three weeks later, the 
 Lanty family, all in deep mourning, invaded my studio, under 
 Desroziers' guidance, to inspect a sketch in a forward stage 
 of completion. 
 
 Marianina was at that time one-and-twenty. I need not 
 describe her, since you know Mine, de 1'Estorade, whom she 
 strikingly resembles. This charming girl, already an accom- 
 plished musician, had a remarkable talent for every form of 
 art. Coming from time to time to my studio to follow the 
 progress of my work which, after all, was never finished, as 
 it happened she, like Princess Marguerite d' Orleans, took a
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 177 
 
 fancy for sculpture, and until the family left Rome some 
 months before I had to come away Mile, de Lanty came to 
 me for lessons. Nothing could be further from my thoughts 
 than any idea of playing the part of Abelard or Saint-Pruex, 
 but I may say I was"Vnost happy in my teaching. My pupil 
 was so intelligent, and so apt to profit by the slightest hint ; 
 she had at once such a bright temper and such ripe judgment; 
 her voice, when she sang, went so straight to the heart ; and 
 I heard so constantly from the servants, who adored her, of. 
 her noble, generous, and charitable actions, that, but for my 
 knowing of her vast fortune, which kept me at a distance, I 
 might have run into the danger you are warning me to avoid 
 now. 
 
 On my return to Paris, my first visit was to the Hotel 
 Lanty. 
 
 Marian ina was too well bred, and too sweet by nature, ever 
 to make herself disagreeable or to be scornful ; but I at once 
 perceived that a singularly cold reserve had taken the place 
 of the gracious and friendly freedom of her manner. It 
 struck me as probable that the liking she had shown me not, 
 indeed, for my person, but for my mind and conversation 
 had been commented on by her family. She had no doubt 
 been lectured, and she seemed to me to be acting under strict 
 orders, as I could easily conclude from the distant and 
 repellent manner of M. and Mme. de Lanty. 
 
 A few months later, at the Salon of 1837, I fancied I saw a 
 corroboration of my suspicions. I had exhibited a statue which 
 made some sensation ; there was always a mob round my 
 Pandora. Mingling with the crowd I used to stand incognito, 
 to enjoy my success and gather my laurels fresh. One Friday, 
 the fashionable day, I saw from afar the approach of the 
 Lanty family. The mother was on the arm of a well-known 
 " buck," Comte Maxime de Trailles ; Marianina was with her 
 brother ; M. de Lanty, who looked anxious, as usual, was alone ; 
 and, like the man in the song of Malbrouck, " ne portait 
 12
 
 178 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 ricn" (wore nothing), carried nothing. By a crafty manoeuvre, 
 while the party were pushing their way through the crowd, I 
 slipped behind them so as to hear what they thought, without 
 being seen. Nil admirari think nothing fine is the natural 
 instinct of every man of fashion ; so, after a summary inspec- 
 tion of my work, M. de Trailles began to discover the most 
 atrocious faults, and his verdict was pronounced in a loud 
 and distinct voice, so that his dictum could not be lost on 
 anybody for some little distance round. Marianina, thinking 
 differently, listened to this profound critic with a shrug or 
 two of her shoulders ; then when he ceased 
 
 " How fortunate it is ! " said she, " that you should have 
 come with us ! But for your enlightened judgment I should 
 have been quite capable, like the good-natured vulgar, of 
 thinking this statue beautiful. It is really a pity that the 
 sculptor should not be here to learn his business from you." 
 
 " But that is just where he is, as it happens, behind you," 
 said a stout woman, with a loud shout of laughter an old 
 woman who kept carriages for hire, and to whom I had just 
 nodded as the owner of the house in which I have my studio. 
 
 Instinct was prompter than reflection ; Marianina involun- 
 tarily turned round. On seeing me, a faint blush colored her 
 face. I hastily made my escape. 
 
 A girl who could so frankly take my part, and then betray 
 so much confusion at being discovered in her advocacy, would 
 certainly not be displeased to see me ; and though at my first 
 visit I had been so coldly received, having now been made 
 chevalier of the Legion of Honor, in recognition of my ex- 
 hibited work, I determined to try again. The distinction 
 conferred on me might possibly gain me a better reception 
 from the haughty Comte de Lanty. 
 
 I was admitted by an old servant for whom Marianina had 
 great regard. 
 
 "Ah, monsieur," said he, " terrible things have been hap- 
 pening here ! "
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 179 
 
 " Why what ? " cried I anxiously. 
 
 "I will take in your name, sir," was his only reply. 
 
 A minute later I was shown into M. de Lanty's study. 
 
 The man received me without rising, and greeted me with 
 these words 
 
 " I admire your courage, monsieur, in showing yourself in 
 this house ! " 
 
 " But I have not been treated here, as yet, in a way that 
 should make me need any great courage." 
 
 "You have come, no doubt," M. de Lanty went on, "to 
 fetch the object you so clumsily allowed to fall into our hands. 
 I will return you that elegant affair." 
 
 He rose and took out of his writing-table drawer a dainty 
 little pocket-book, which he handed to me. 
 
 As I looked at it in blank amazement 
 
 "Oh, the letters, to be sure, are not there," he said. "I 
 supposed that you would allow me to keep them." 
 
 " This pocket-book letters? The whole thing is a riddle 
 to me, monsieur." 
 
 At this moment Mme. de Lanty came in. 
 
 "What do you want?" asked her husband roughly. 
 
 "I heard that M. Dorlange was here," said she, "and I 
 fancied that there might be some unpleasant passages between 
 you and him. I thought it my duty, as a wife, to interpose." 
 
 "Your presence, madame," said I, " is not needed to im- 
 pose perfect moderation on me ; the whole thing is the result 
 of some misunderstanding." 
 
 "Oh, this is really too much ! " cried M. de Lanty, going 
 again to the drawer from which he had taken the pocket- 
 book. And rudely pushing into my hands a little packet of 
 letters tied up with pink ribbon, he went on : " Now, I im- 
 agine the misunderstanding will be cleared up." 
 
 I looked at the letters ; they had not been through the 
 post, and were all addressed "A Monsieur Dorlange" in a 
 woman's writing perfectly unknown to me.
 
 180 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " Indeed, monsieur," said I coldly, " you are better in- 
 formed than I am. You have in your possession letters which 
 seem to belong to me, but which have never reached me." 
 
 "On my word ! " cried M. de Lanty, " it must be con- 
 fessed that you are an admirable actor. I never saw inno- 
 cence and amazement more successfully assumed." 
 
 But, while he was speaking, Mme. de Lanty had cleverly 
 contrived to place herself behind her husband; and by a 
 perfectly intelligible pantomime of entreaty, she besought me 
 to accept the situation I was so strenuously denying. My 
 honor was too deeply implicated, and I really saw too little 
 of what I might be doing, to feel inclined to surrender at 
 once. So, with the hope of feeling my way a little, I said 
 
 " But, monsieur, from whom are these letters ? Who ad- 
 dressed them to me?" 
 
 "From whom are the letters?" exclaimed M. de Lanty, 
 in a tone in which irony was merged in indignation. 
 
 "Denial is useless, monsieur," Madame de Lanty put in. 
 " Marianina has confessed everything." 
 
 "Mademoiselle Marianina wrote those letters to me?" 
 replied I. "Then there i5 a simple issue to the matter; con- 
 front her with me. From her lips I will accept the most 
 improbable statements as true." 
 
 "The trick is gallant enough," retorted M. de Lanty. 
 " But Marianina is no longer here ; she is in a convent, shel- 
 tered for ever from your audacity and from the temptations of 
 her ridiculous passion. If this is what you came to learn, 
 now you know it. That is enough, for I will not deny that 
 my patience and moderation have limits, if your impudence 
 knows none." 
 
 " Monsieur ! " cried I, in great excitement. 
 
 The next day I received a visit from the Abbe Fontanon, 
 the comtesse's confessor. 
 
 As soon as he was seated, he began 
 
 " Monsieur, Mme. la Comtesse de Lanty does me the
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 181 
 
 honor of accepting me as the keeper of her conscience. 
 From her I have heard of a scene that took place yesterday 
 between you and her husband. Prudence would not at the 
 time allow of her giving some explanations to which you 
 have an undoubted right, and I have undertaken to commu- 
 nicate them to you that is the reason of my presence here." 
 
 " I am listening, sir," was all I replied. 
 
 "Some weeks ago," the priest went on, " M. de Lanty 
 purchased an estate in the neighborhood of Paris, and took 
 advantage of the fine weather to go thither with his family. 
 M. de Lanty sleeps badly ; one night when he was lying 
 awake in the dark, he fancied he heard footsteps below his 
 window, which he at once opened, calling out : ' Who's 
 there ? ' in emphatic tones, to the nocturnal visitor he sus- 
 pected. Nor was he mistaken, there was somebody there 
 somebody who made no answer, but took to his heels, two 
 pistol-shots fired by M. de Lanty having no effect. At first 
 it was supposed that the stranger was bent on robbery ; this, 
 however, did not seem likely ; the house was not furnished, 
 the owners had only the most necessary things for a short 
 stay ; thieves, consequently, who generally are well-informed, 
 could not expect to find anything of value ; and beside, some 
 information reached M. de Lanty which gave his suspicions 
 another direction. He was told that, two days after his 
 arrival, a fine young man had taken a bedroom in an inn at 
 the neighboring village ; that this gentleman seemed anxious 
 to keep out of sight, and had several times gone out at night ; 
 so not a robber evidently but a lover." 
 
 "I have never met with a romancer, M. 1'Abbe," said I, 
 " who told his story in better style." 
 
 By this not very complimentary insinuation, I hoped to in- 
 duce the speaker to abridge his story ; for, as you may suppose, 
 I wanted to hear the end. 
 
 " My romance is, unfortunately, painful fact," replied he. 
 " You will see. M. de Lanty had for some time been watching
 
 182 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 his daughter, whose vehement passions must, he feared, ere 
 long, result in an explosion. You yourself, monsieur, had in 
 Rome given him some uneasiness " 
 
 "Quite gratuitous, M. 1'Abbe," I put in. 
 
 " Yes. I know that in all your acquaintance with Mile, de 
 Lanty your behavior has been perfectly correct. And, in- 
 deed, their leaving Rome put an end to this first ground for 
 uneasiness ; but in Paris another figure seemed to fill her young 
 mind, and day after day M. de Lanty purposed coming to 
 some explanation with his daughter. 
 
 "A maid, accused of receiving a young man who had been 
 prowling around, was desired to leave the house at once. 
 This woman's father is a violent-tempered man, and if she 
 returned home charged with anything so disgraceful she would 
 meet with ruthless severity of treatment. Mile, de Lanty 
 that much justice I must do her had a Christian impulse ; 
 she could not allow an innocent person to be punished in her 
 stead ; she threw herself at her father's feet, and confessed 
 that the nocturnal visit had been for her ; and though she had 
 not authorized it, she was not altogether surprised. 
 
 " M. de Lanty at once named the supposed culprit ; but 
 she would not admit that he had guessed rightly, though she 
 refused to mention any other name instead. 
 
 "What, then, was to be done? It was the imprudent girl 
 herself who suggested the idea of giving a name which, while 
 justifying M. de Lanty's fury, would not cry to him for ven- 
 geance." 
 
 "I understand," I interrupted. "The name of a man of 
 no birth, a person of no consequence, an artist perhaps, a 
 sculptor, or some such low fellow " 
 
 " I think, monsieur," said the abbe, " that you are ascribing 
 to Mademoiselle de Lanty a feeling to which she is quite a 
 stranger. In my opinion her love of the arts is only too 
 strongly pronounced, and that perhaps is what has led to this 
 unfortunate laxity of imagination."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 183 
 
 "And then, M. 1'Abbe, what about the pocket-book the 
 letters which played so strange a part in yesterday's 
 scene?" 
 
 " That again was^a device of Marianina's ; and though, as it 
 has turned out, the strange inventiveness of her wit has had a 
 good result, it was this in her character which, if she had re- 
 mained in the world, would have given cause for uneasiness. 
 When once she and Mme. de Lanty had agreed that you were 
 to be the night-prowler, the statement had to be supported by 
 evidence to favor its success. Instead of words, this terrible 
 young lady determined to act in that sense. She spent the 
 night in writing the letters you saw. She used different kinds 
 of paper, ink of which she altered the tone, and she carefully 
 varied the writing ; she forgot nothing. Having written them, 
 she placed them in a pocket-book her father had never seen ; 
 and then, after having made a hunting-dog smell it all over 
 a dog noted for its intelligence and allowed in the house 
 she threw the whole thing into a clump of shrubs in the park, 
 and came back to endure her father's angry cross-examina- 
 tion. 
 
 "The same sharp contest had begun once more when the dog 
 came in carrying the pocket-book to his young mistress. She 
 acted agonized alarm ; M. de Lanty pounced on the object, 
 and to him everything was clear he was deluded, as had been 
 intended." 
 
 "And all these details," said I, with no great air of cre- 
 dulity, "were reported to you by Mme. de Lanty?" 
 
 " Confided to me, monsieur, and you yourself had proof 
 yesterday of their exactitude. Your refusal to recognize the 
 situation might have undone everything, and that was why 
 Mme. de Lanty interposed." 
 
 "And Mademoiselle Marianina?" I asked. 
 
 "As M. de Lanty told you, she was immediately sent away 
 to a convent in Italy." 
 
 Even if my self-respect had not been so aggrieved by this
 
 184 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 story if it were true I should have felt some doubts, for does 
 it not strike you as rather too romantic ? However, an ex- 
 planation has since offered itself, which may afford a clue to 
 the facts. Not long ago Marianina's brother married into the 
 family of a German grand-duke. The Lantys must have had 
 to sacrifice immense sums to achieve such an alliance. May 
 not Marianina have paid the expenses of this royal alliance, 
 since she, by her grand-uncle's will, had the bulk of his for- 
 tune, and was disinherited by taking the veil ? Or, again, 
 may she not have really felt for me the affection expressed in 
 her 'letters, and have been childish enough to write them, 
 though she would not go so far as to send them ? 
 
 I can believe anything of these Lantys. The head of the 
 family has always seemed to me a very deep and crafty char- 
 acter, capable at a pinch of the blackest designs ; and then, if 
 you remember that these people have all their lives slept, as 
 it were, on the secret knowledge of a fortune so ignobly 
 earned, is it not conceivable that they should be ripe for any 
 kind of intrigues, or can you imagine them dainty in their 
 choice of means to an end ? 
 
 And I may add that the official intervention of the Abbe 
 Fontanon justifies the worst imputations. I have made in- 
 quiries about him ; he is one of those mischief-making priests 
 who are always eager to have a finger in private family affairs; 
 and it was he who helped to upset the home of M. de Gran- 
 ville, attorney-general in Paris under the Restoration. 
 
 And is it not a really diabolical coincidence that my chisel 
 should be called upon to execute a pale daughter of the clois- 
 ter? Under these circumstances was not my imagination 
 inevitably memory ; could I invent any image but that which 
 possesses my soul and is so deeply graven on my brain ? And 
 behold ! a second Marianina rises up before me in the flesh ; 
 and when, for the better furtherance of the work, the artist 
 takes advantage of this stroke of fortune, he must be supposed, 
 forsooth, to have transferred his affections. Could that frigid
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 185 
 
 Mme. de 1'Estorade ever fill the place of my enchanting pupil 
 with the added charm and halo of forbidden fruit and of mys- 
 tery? In short, you must give up all your imaginings. 
 
 The other day I was within an ace of relating the whole 
 romance of Mademoiselle de Lanty to her supposed rival. 
 And if I really aspired to this woman's favor but she can 
 love no one but her children a pretty way of courting her it 
 would be, I may say, to tell her that little tale. And "so, to 
 return to our starting-point, I care no more for M. Bixiou's 
 opinion than for last year's roses. And so, I really do not 
 know whether I am in love with Marianina ; but I am quite 
 sure that I am not in love with Madame de 1'Estorade. This, 
 it seems to me, is a plain and honest answer. 
 
 Now, let us leave things to the future, who is the master of 
 us all. 
 
 THE COMTESSE DE L*ESTORADE TO MADAME OCTAVE DE CAMPS. 
 
 PARIS, April, 1839. 
 
 MY DEAR MADAME: M. Dorlange came last evening to 
 take leave of us. He is starting to-day for Arcis-sur-Aube, 
 where he is to see his statue set up in its place. That also is 
 the town where the opposition are about to propose him as 
 their candidate. M. de 1'Estorade declares that no worse 
 choice could have been made, and that he has not a chance 
 of being elected but this is not what I have to write 
 about. 
 
 M. Dorlange called early after dinner. I was alone, for M. 
 de 1'Estorade was dining with the minister of the Interior ; 
 and the children, who had been on a long excursion in the 
 afternoon, had of their own accord begged to go to bed before 
 the usual hour. Thus the conversation previously interrupted 
 by Madame de la Bastie was naturally reopened ; and I was 
 about to ask M. Dorlange to finish the story, of which he had 
 only given me a hint of the end, when old Lucas came in,
 
 186 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 bringing me a letter. It was from my Armand, to tell me 
 that he had been in the sick-room all day, very unwell. 
 
 " I want the carriage," said I to Lucas, with such agitation 
 as you may suppose. 
 
 " Well, madame, but monsieur ordered it to fetch him at 
 half-past eight, and Tony is gone," replied Lucas. 
 
 " Then get me a hackney-coach." 
 
 " I am sure I don't know whether I can find one," said 
 the old man, who always raises difficulties. " It has just be- 
 gun to rain." 
 
 Without noticing this objection, and quite forgetting M. 
 Dorlange, whom I left somewhat embarrassed, not liking to 
 leave without saying adieu, I went to my room to put on my 
 bonnet and shawl. Having done so in great haste, I returned 
 to the drawing-room, where I still found my visitor. 
 
 " You must excuse me, monsieur," said I, " for leaving you 
 so abruptly ; I am hurrying off to the College Henri IV. I 
 could not endure to spend the night in such anxiety as I am 
 feeling in consequence of a note from my son, who tells me 
 that he has been in the sick-room all day." 
 
 " But surely," said M. Dorlange, "you are not going alone 
 in a hackney-coach to such an out-of-the-way part of the 
 town?" 
 
 " Lucas will come with me." 
 
 At this moment Lucas came in again. His words were ful- 
 filled ; there was not a hack to be had, and it was pouring in 
 torrents. Time was flying ; it was almost too late already to 
 visit the school, where everybody would be in bed by nine 
 o'clock. 
 
 " I must go," said I to Lucas. "Go and put on your thick 
 shoes, and we will go on foot with umbrellas." 
 
 I saw the man's face lengthen ; he is no longer young ; he 
 likes his ease, and he complains of rheumatism in the winter. 
 He suddenly found a number of objections ; it was very late ; 
 we should revolutionize the school ; I should certainly catch
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 187 
 
 cold ; M. Armand could not be very ill since he had written 
 himself my plan of campaign was evidently not at all to my 
 old man's mind. 
 
 Then M. Dorlange very obligingly offered to go for me and 
 come back to report the invalid, but such half-measures will 
 not do for me I wanted to see, and satisfy myself. So, with 
 many thanks to him, I said to Lucas in an authoritative 
 tone 
 
 " Come, go and get ready, and be quick, for one thing you 
 have said that is perfectly true it is growing late." 
 
 Thus nailed to the point, Lucas boldly hoisted the flag of 
 rebellion. 
 
 " It is simply impossible, madame, that you should go out 
 in such weather, and I do not want to get a scolding from the 
 master for giving in to any such idea." 
 
 "Then you simply do not mean to obey me? " 
 
 "You know, madame, that for anything useful or reason- 
 able I would do whatever you might order, even if it were to 
 walk through fire." 
 
 " To be sure, warmth is good for the rheumatism, and rain 
 is bad for it." 
 
 Then I turned to M. Dorlange without listening to the old 
 rebel's reply, and said to him 
 
 " Since you were good enough to offer to go alone on this 
 errand, I venture to hope that you will not refuse me the sup- 
 port of your arm." 
 
 "Like Lucas," said he, "I do not see that this expedition 
 is indispensable ; however, as I have no fear of being scolded 
 by M. de 1'Estorade, I will, of course, have the honor of 
 escorting you." 
 
 We set out. The weather really was horrible ; we had not 
 gone fifty yards when we were already drenched, in spite of 
 Lucas' vast umbrella, held by M. Dorlange so as to shelter me 
 by sacrificing himself. Then a new complication arose. A 
 hackney-coach went past ; my companion hailed the driver ;
 
 188 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 it was empty. To tell my escort that I could not allow him 
 to get in with me was out of the question. Not only would 
 such an implied doubt have been grossly uncivil, but it would 
 have been derogatory to myself even to suggest it. And yet, 
 you see, my dear friend, what slippery ways we tread, and 
 how true it is that from the time of Dido and ./Eneas rain has 
 always served the turn of lovers ! 
 
 When we reached the school, M. Dorlange, after handing 
 me out, understood that he could not go in with me ; he got 
 into the coach again to wait for me. 
 
 Master Armand's indisposition was somewhat of a practical 
 joke so far as I was concerned. His illness was no more than 
 a headache, which since his note was written had completely 
 disappeared. The doctor, who had seen him in the morning, 
 to order something, had prescribed lime-flower tea, and told 
 him he could return to the class-room next day. So I had 
 taken a sledge-hammer to kill a flea, and committed a pre- 
 posterous blunder in arriving at an hour when all the staff 
 were in bed, to find my young gentleman still up and playing 
 a game of chess with one of the attendants. 
 
 By the time I went out again the rain had ceased, and 
 bright moonlight silvered the pavement, which the rain had 
 so thoroughly washed that there was not a sign of mud. I 
 was so oppressed and vexed that I longed for the fresh air. 
 So I begged M. Dorlange to send away the coach, and we 
 walked home. 
 
 "Come," thought I, "we must come to an end of this 
 story, which is always interrupted, like the famous anecdote 
 of Sancho's goatherd which could never be told." 
 
 So, cutting short the theories of education, which he had 
 advanced : 
 
 "It seems to me," said I to my earnest companion, " that 
 this would be a good opportunity for going on with the con- 
 fidential narrative in which you were interrupted. Here we 
 are quite safe from any intrusion."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 189 
 
 "I am afraid," said M. Dorlange, "that I am but a bad 
 narrator. I exhausted all my genius the other day in com- 
 municating the history to Marie-Gaston." 
 
 "That," said I, with a laugh, "is against your principles 
 of secrecy, in wrfich a third person is one too many." 
 
 "Oh, Marie-Gaston and I are but one person. Beside, I 
 had to give some answer to the odd fancies he had formed as 
 to you and me." 
 
 "What as to me ! " 
 
 " Yes. He opines that by staring too hard at the sun one 
 may be dazzled by its rays." 
 
 "Which, in less metaphorical language, means? " 
 
 " That seeing how strange the circumstances were that led 
 to my having the honor of your acquaintance, I might possi- 
 bly, madame, in your society, fail to preserve my common- 
 sense and self-possession." 
 
 "And your story answers this hypothesis of M. Marie- 
 Gaston's?" 
 
 "You shall judge," said M. Dorlange. 
 
 And then, without further preamble, he told me a rather 
 long story, which I do not repeat to you, my dear madame, 
 because on the one hand it has really nothing to do with your 
 functions as keeper of my conscience, and on the other it is 
 mixed up with a family secret which demands more discretion 
 on my part than I could have anticipated. 
 
 The upshot of the matter is that M. Dorlange is in love 
 with the womanwho had sat in his imagination for the Sainte- 
 Ursule. Still, as it must be said that she is apparently for 
 ever out of his reach, it did not seem to me quite impossible 
 that he might sooner or later transfer to me the feeling he still 
 preserves for her. Hence, when, having finished his narra- 
 tive, he asked me whether I did not take it as a triumphant 
 refutation of our mutual friend's absurd and groundless fears, 
 I could but reply 
 
 " Modesty makes it incumbent on me to share your con-
 
 190 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 fidence. At the same time, a cannon-ball often kills by rico- 
 chet." 
 
 "And you believe me guilty of the audacity which Marie- 
 Gaston fears may be so fatal to me?" 
 
 " I do not know that it would be audacity," said I, rather 
 harshly ; " but if you had such a fancy and took it to heart, 
 I should, I own, think you greatly to be pitied." 
 
 His reply was a home-thrust 
 
 " Well, madame, you need not pity me. In my opinion, 
 first love is a kind of vaccination which saves a man from 
 catching the complaint a second time." 
 
 This closed the conversation ; the story had been a long 
 one, and we were at home. I asked M. Dorlange to come 
 upstairs, a politeness he accepted, remarking that M. de 1'Es- 
 torade had probably come in, and he could, therefore, say 
 adieu to nim. 
 
 My husband was in fact at home. I do not know whether 
 Lucas, to anticipate the blame I should have cast on him, had 
 done his best to misrepresent my proceedings, or whether my 
 maternal exploit prompted M. de 1'Estorade, for the first time 
 in his life, to a spasm of je.alousy of which he was unable to 
 conceal the unfamiliar symptoms; at any rate, he received 
 me with an indignant rating, saying that nothing was so un- 
 heard of as the idea of going out at this hour, and in such 
 weather, to inquire after an invalid who, by announcing his 
 illness himself, showed it was not in the least serious. 
 
 After allowing him to go on for some time in a highly un- 
 becoming manner, I thought it was time to put an end to the 
 scene. 
 
 " Well," said I sharply, " I wish to get some sleep to-night ; 
 I went to the school in pouring rain. Now I have come back 
 in beautiful moonlight, and I beg to remind you that after 
 kindly consenting to escort me, M. Dorlange, who leaves 
 Paris to-morrow, came upstairs to bid you farewell." 
 
 I have habitually too much influence over M. de 1'Estorade
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 191 
 
 for this call to order to fail of its effect ; still, I could see that 
 there was something of the aggrieved husband in his tone' 
 for, having brought in M. Dorlange to divert his thoughts, I 
 soon perceived that I had but made him a victim to my ogre's 
 ill-temper, which "tyas now vented on him. 
 
 "Listen to me, my dear sir," said M. de 1'Estorade to his 
 victim, "when a man rushes into a parliamentary career, he 
 must remember that he has to show every card his public 
 and his private life. His adversaries overhaul his past and 
 present with merciless hands, and woe to him whose life has 
 the shadow of a stain ! Well, I may tell you painly, this 
 evening a little scandal was raked up a very little one in the 
 life of an artist, but one which, as affecting a representative of 
 the people, assumes far more serious proportions. You under- 
 stand me. I am alluding to the handsome Italian woman who 
 lives under your roof. Take care; you may be called to 
 account by some puritan voter for the more or less doubtful 
 morality of her connection with you." 
 
 M. Dorlange's reply was very dignified 
 
 " I can have but one wish for those who choose to question 
 me on that detail of my domestic life," said he, " and that is 
 that they may have nothing worse to look back upon in theirs. 
 If I had not already bored Madame la Comtesse with one 
 interminable story during our walk home, I would tell you 
 that of the pretty Italian, and you would see that her presence 
 in my house need deprive me of none of the esteem you have 
 kindly honored me with." 
 
 "But indeed," said M. de 1'Estorade, suddenly mollified 
 by hearing that our long walk had been spent in narrating 
 history, " you take my remarks far too seriously ! As I said 
 but just now, an artist needs a handsome model, nothing can 
 be more natural ; but it is a piece of furniture that is of no 
 use to gentlemen engaged in politics." 
 
 "What appears to be of more use to them," retorted M. 
 Dorlange, with some vivacity, "is the advantage that may be
 
 192 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 taken of a calumny greedily accepted with evil haste, and 
 with no effort to verify it." 
 
 "So you are going to-morrow?" asked M. de 1'Estorade, 
 finding that he had started on a path where, instead of bring- 
 ing M. Dorlange to confusion, he had afforded him an oppor- 
 tunity of answering with no little haughtiness of tone and 
 phrase. 
 
 "Yes, and early in the day, so that I will have the honor 
 now of wishing you good-night, for I still have some packing 
 to finish." 
 
 With these words M. Dorlange rose, and after bowing to 
 me rather formally, he left the room, not shaking hands with 
 my husband, who, indeed, did not offer him the opportunity. 
 
 M. de 1'Estorade, to avoid the impending and inevitable 
 explanation, at once exclaimed 
 
 " Well, and what was the matter with Armand ? " 
 
 "What was the matter with Armand matters little?" re- 
 plied I, "as you may suppose from my having returned with- 
 out him and showing no anxiety ; what is a far more interest- 
 ing question is what is the matter with you, for I never saw 
 you so out of tune, so bitter and cross-grained." 
 
 " What ! Because I told that ridiculous candidate that he 
 might go into mourning at once over his chances? " 
 
 " In the first place, it was not complimentary, and at any 
 rate the time was ill-chosen, when my motherly alarms had 
 just inflicted an odious amount of trouble on the man you 
 attacked." 
 
 "I cannot stand officious people," retorted M. de 1'Esto- 
 rade, in a higher tone than he usually adopts with me. "And, 
 after all, if this gentleman had not been on the spot to offer 
 you his escort, you would not have set out on this unseemly 
 expedition." 
 
 " You are mistaken. I should have gone in a still more 
 unseemly manner; for I should have gone alone, as your 
 servants are the masters here, and refused to escort me."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 193 
 
 " But, after all, you must confess that if any one had met 
 you at half-past nine at night, walking arm in arm with M. 
 Dorlange, out by the Pantheon, it would have been thought 
 strange, to say the least." 
 
 Then, affecting to have just discovered what I had known 
 for an hour past 
 
 "Bless me, monsieur!" cried I, "after fifteen years of 
 married life are you doing me the honor of being jealous for 
 the first time ? Then, indeed, I can understand that, in 
 spite of your regard for the proprieties, you took advantage 
 of my being present to question M. Dorlange on the not very 
 proper subject of the woman who is supposed to be his mis- 
 tress. It was neither more nor less than very basely perfidi- 
 ous ; you were trying to lower him in my eyes." 
 
 Thus riddled with shot, my hapless husband tried indeed to 
 beat about the bush, and at last found no better alternative 
 than to ring for Lucas, whom he lectured pretty sharply ; and 
 there the matter ended. 
 
 But, then, what is to be said of the conjugal tact which, 
 while trying to make the man of whom I had really been 
 thinking too much commit himself in my presence, gave 
 him an opportunity of appearing in a better light than ever, 
 and to the greatest advantage ? For there is no doubt what- 
 ever that the indignation with which M. Dorlange retaliated 
 on the malignancy of which he was the object was the answer 
 of an easy conscience, sure, too, of being able to refute the 
 calumny. 
 
 Are there, then, in the midst of our small and colorless 
 society still some characters so strongly tempered that they 
 can walk on the very precipice of opportunity and never fall ! 
 What a nature must that be that can plunge through thorns 
 and leave no wool ! I had fancied I could make a friend of 
 him ! 
 
 Nay, I will not play at that game. Supposing this Dante 
 Alighieri of the chisel to be convinced at last that his Beatrice 
 13.
 
 194 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 will never return to him ; supposing that he should again, as 
 he has done once already, look round on me what could I 
 do ? Is a woman ever safe against the powerful fascination 
 that such a man must exert ? As M. de Montriveau said to the 
 poor Duchesse de Langeais, not only must she never touch the 
 axe, but she must keep as far from it as she can, for fear that 
 a beam reflected from such polished steel should blind her 
 eyes. 
 
 Happily, M. de 1'Estorade is already hostile to this dan- 
 gerous man ; but my husband may be quite easy, I shall take 
 care to encourage and cultivate this germ of enmity. And, 
 beside this, if M. Dorlange should be elected, he and my hus- 
 band will be in opposite camps ; and political passions thank 
 heaven ! have often cut short older and better established 
 intimacies than this. 
 
 "But he saved your little girl," you will say, "you were 
 afraid of his loving you, and he does not think of you at all ; 
 he is a man of cultivated intellect and magnanimous feeling, 
 with whom there is not a fault to be found ! " 
 
 What arguments are these, my dear lady? He frightens 
 me, and that is enough. And when I am frightened, I neither 
 argue nor reason ; I only consider whether I have legs and 
 breath, and simply run and run till I feel myself in safety. 
 
 DORLANGE TO MARIE-GASTON. 
 
 PARIS, April, 1839. 
 
 On coming in from taking leave of the Estorades, I find 
 your letter, my dear friend, announcing your immediate ar- 
 rival. I will wait here all to-morrow ; but in the evening, 
 without any further delay, I must set out for Arcis-sur-Aube, 
 where, within a week, the end of my political struggle is to be 
 fought out. What supporters and abettors I have in that town 
 which as I am informed I am so anxious to represent ; on 
 whose help or opposition I ana to build my hopes ; in one
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 195 
 
 word, who it is that is making this electoral bed for me to lie 
 in of all this I know no more than I did a year ago when I 
 was first apprised of my parliamentary vocation. 
 
 Only a few dajs since did I receive a communication 
 emanating from the paternal office, not from Stockholm this 
 time, but with the Paris postmark. 
 
 The note has a title or heading ; as thus : 
 
 WHAT MY SON IS TO DO. 
 
 On receipt of " these presents " I am to send off the " Sainte- 
 Ursule," to see it packed myself in a case, and address it, by 
 quick goods wagon, to Mother Marie des Anges, superior of 
 the house of the Ursuline Sisters at Arcis-sur-Aube, AUBE 
 you understand? In fact, but for this added information I 
 might have fancied that Arcis-sur-Aube was situated in the de- 
 partment of the Gironde or of Finisterre. I am there to make 
 an arrangement with the carrier's agents to insure the delivery 
 of the parcel my " Sainte-Ursule " a parcel ! at the door of 
 the convent chapel. I am then commanded to start in a very 
 few days later, so as to reach the aforenamed town of Arcis- 
 sur-Aube by the second of May at latest. You see, these are 
 military orders ; so much so that I half thought of taking out a 
 soldier's pass instead of an ordinary permit to travel, and 
 of taking my journey at the regulation fare of three sous per 
 league. 
 
 The hotel I am to put up at is expressly mentioned : I am 
 to stay at the Hotel de la Poste ; hence, if I should happen to 
 prefer the Three Blackamoors or the Silver Lion, which are 
 to be found there, no doubt, as in every country town, I must 
 not indulge the fancy. Finally, on the day before I start, I 
 am to announce, in any newspapers I can work upon, the fact 
 of my intending to stand as a candidate for election in the 
 electoral district of Arcis-sur-Aube (Aube), but not to put 
 forward any declaration of my political creed, which would
 
 196 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 be useless and premature. And the whole concludes with 
 instructions a little humiliating perhaps, but giving me some 
 faith in the progress of affairs to call on the morning of the 
 day when I set out on Mongenod Brothers, where I can again 
 draw a sum of two hundred and fifty thousand francs, which 
 ought to be lying there in my name. " I am to take the 
 greatest care," the document goes on, "that in conveying 
 this sum from Paris to Arcis-sur-Aube it is neither lost nor 
 stolen." 
 
 What, my good sir, do you make of this last clause? The 
 money "ought to be lying there " then it may not be; and 
 if not, what then ? What am I to do with it at Arcis ? Am 
 I to work my election in the English fashion ? that, no doubt, 
 is why a profession of faith would be " useless and premature." 
 As to the advice not to lose the money or allow myself to be 
 robbed don't you think it makes me wonderfully young 
 again ? Since reading it I have quite longed to suck my 
 thumb and get a padded cap. 
 
 However, as to my lord and father, though he puts my 
 mind on the rack by all these queer ways of his, I could ex- 
 claim but for the respect I owe him like Don Basilio in 
 speaking of Almaviva: "That devil of a man has his pockets 
 full of irresistible arguments ! " 
 
 So I shut my eyes and give myself up to the stream that is 
 carrying me on ; and in spite of the news of your early advent, 
 I must call to-morrow morning on Mongenod Brothers, and 
 set forth with a brave heart, picturing to myself the amaze- 
 ment of the good people of Arcis when they see me drop into 
 their midst, as sudden and as startling an apparition as a Jack- 
 in-the-box. 
 
 I have already made my mark in Paris. The " National " 
 announced me as a candidate yesterday morning in the most 
 flaming terms ; and this evening it would seem that I was the 
 subject of much discussion at the house of the minister of the 
 Interior, where M. de 1'Estorade was dining. I must in
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 197 
 
 honesty add that, according to M. de 1'Estorade, the general 
 impression was that I must inevitably fail. In the district of 
 Arcis, it would seem, the worst the Government had to fear 
 was a Left-Centre candidate ; the democratic party, which I 
 am by way of representing, can hardly be said to have any 
 existence there. The Left-Centre candidate has already been 
 brought to his senses by the dispatch of a particularly alert 
 and skillful canvasser; and at this moment, when I am flinging 
 my name to the winds, the election of the Conservative is 
 already a certainty. 
 
 Added to these elements of inevitable failure, M. de 1'Esto- 
 rade was good enough to speak of a circumstance as to which, 
 my dear fellow, I am surprised that you should never have 
 given me a sermon, for it is one of the most pleasing of the 
 calumnies set rolling in the Montcornet drawing-room by the 
 honorable and highly honored Monsieur Bixiou. It has to 
 do with a very handsome Italian woman whom I am supposed 
 to have brought with me from Rome, and to be living with in 
 most uncanonical relationship. 
 
 Pray tell me what has kept you from asking for explanations 
 of the matter ? Did you think the case so atrocious that you 
 were shy of offending my sense of decency by alluding to it in 
 any way ? Or is it that you have such confidence in my high 
 moral sense that you need no certificate on that point ? I had 
 not time to go into the necessary explanations with M. de 
 1'Estorade, nor have I time now, nor inclination, to volun- 
 teer them to you. 
 
 I have a strong notion that M. de 1'Estorade would not be 
 best pleased at my succeeding in this electoral campaign. He 
 has never expressed much approbation of my plans, and has 
 constantly done his utmost to divert me from them always 
 indeed by urging considerations in my own interest. But 
 now that the idea has taken shape, and is even discussed in 
 Ministerial circles, my gentleman has turned sour ; and while 
 finding malicious pleasure in promising me defeat, he brings
 
 198 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 up the pretty little activity under which he hopes to smother 
 and bury me as a friendly act. Now, why ? 
 
 I will tell you. The fact is, that though he is under an 
 obligation to me, the good man by his high social position 
 feels himself my superior in a way which my election to the 
 Chamber would nullify, and he does not like the notion of 
 renouncing it. For, after all, what is an artist even if he be 
 a genius in comparison with a peer of France, a bigwig who 
 has a finger in the supreme direction of great political and 
 social questions a man who can button-hole the ministers and 
 the King, who, if he were capable of such an audacious flight, 
 has a right to blackball the Appropriations ? And is it con- 
 ceivable that I, in my turn, should want to be such a privi- 
 leged person, with even greater importance and authority as 
 being a member of the elective body ? Is it not a trying piece 
 of insolence and conceit. Hence is M. le Comte furious ! 
 
 Nor is this all. These politicians by right divine have a 
 fixed idea : they believe themselves to have been initiated by 
 long study into a science supposed to be very abstruse, which 
 they call Statecraft, and which they alone have a right to 
 know and practice, as none but physicians may practice medi- 
 cine. So they cannot endure that without having taken out 
 a license, any low fellow such as a journalist, for instance, 
 or, lower still, an artist, an image-maker should dare to 
 poach on their domain and speak as they do. A poet, an 
 artist, a writer may have great gifts that they are ready to 
 grant ; in fact, their business requires it ; but they cannot 
 be statesmen. Chateaubriand himself, though naturally in a 
 position which justified him in making a place for himself in 
 the Olympus of Government, was nevertheless shown the door, 
 and one morning a very brief note, signed "Joseph Villele," 
 sent him packing as was but proper! back to "Rene," 
 "Atala," and other literary trivialities. 
 
 I know that time, and that stalwart posthumous daughter 
 of us all whom we call Posterity, will in the long run do us
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 199 
 
 all full justice and put every man in his right place. In 2039, 
 if the world holds out so long, most men will still know who, 
 in 1839, were Canalis, Joseph Bridau, Daniel d'Arthez, Stid- 
 mann, and Leon de Lora; while only an infinitely small 
 number will be aw'a.r-e that at the same time M. le Comte de 
 1'Estorade was a peer of France and president of the Court of 
 Exchequer ; that M. le Comte de Rastignac was minister of 
 Public Works, and M. le Baron Martial de la Roche-Hugon, 
 his brother-in-law, a diplomatist and privy councilor on special 
 service more or less extraordinary. Still, pending this post- 
 poned resifting and far-off justice, I do not think it a bad 
 thing that these great men in office should have a reminder to 
 the effect that, short of being a Richelieu or a Colbert, they 
 are subject to competition, and must take the consequences. 
 
 Well, I might say of your great griefs what I said just now 
 of the great men in office : they must be regarded in their, 
 place in time and space, and then they are intangible, imper- 
 ceptible, they are held of no more account in a man's life 
 when his biography is written than the hairs he combs out of 
 his head every morning. That charming lunatic with whom 
 you spent three years of matrimonial ecstasy put out a hand, 
 as she thought, where Death was and Death, mocking at her 
 schemes, her plans, at the refinement and graces she added to 
 life, snatched at her suddenly and brutally. You remain : 
 You, with youth on your side and the gifts of intellect, and 
 with what is, believe me. an element of power deep and 
 premature disgust ot things. Now, why not do as I am doing ? 
 Why not join me in the political arena ? Then there would 
 be two of us to carry out my plans, and the world would see 
 what can be done by two determined and energetic men, 
 yoked together, as it were, and both pulling at the heavy 
 collar of justice and truth. 
 
 But if you think that I am too much bent on becoming 
 infectious, or inoculating all and sundry with my parliamen- 
 tary yellow-fever, return at least to the world of letters where
 
 200 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 you have already made your mark, and exert your imagination 
 to enable you to ignore your heart, which speaks too con- 
 stantly of the past. I, for my part, will make as much stir for 
 you as I can ; and even if it should cost me part of my sleep 
 to keep up our correspondence to divert your mind whether 
 you will or not, I shall take care to keep you informed of all 
 the vicissitudes of the drama I am about to play a part in. 
 
 P. S. You have not arrived, my dear friend, and I must 
 close my letter, which will be handed to you by my house- 
 keeper when you call for, of course, your first visit will be 
 to me. Till then you cannot know that I am gone. 
 
 I went this morning to the bankers Mongenod : the two 
 hundred and fifty thousand francs were ready, but with the 
 most extraordinary directions in the name of M. le Comte 
 de Sallenauve, known as M. Dorlange, sculptor, Rue de t Quest, 
 No. 42. And in spite of this designation, which has never been 
 mine, the money was handed over to me without demur. 
 Under the eyes of the cashier I had presence of mind enough 
 not to seem utterly amazed by my new name and title; but I 
 had a private interview with M. Mongenod, senior, a man of 
 the highest character in the banking world, and to him I con- 
 fessed my surprise, begging for any explanation he might be 
 able to afford me. He could give me none : the money was 
 forwarded to him through a Dutch bank, his correspondent at 
 that is all he knows. 
 
 Bless me ! whaTrieftiJKQttter -? f .Am I now to be a noble- 
 man? Has the moment arrived when~*rhy fe&ti wAl 
 himself? 
 
 DORLANGE TO MARIE-GASTON. 
 
 ARCIS-SUR-AUBE, May 3, 1839. 
 
 MY DEAR OLD FRIEND : Last evening, at seven o'clock, 
 in the presence of Maitre Achille Pigoult, notary to the King 
 in the town of Arcis-sur-Aube, the obsequies were solemnized
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 201 
 
 of Charles Dorlange, who, presently, like a butterfly emerging 
 from the larva, fluttered out on the world under the name and 
 person of Charles de Sallenauve, son of Frangois-Henri-Panta- 
 leon Dumirail, Marquis de Sallenauve. Hereinafter are set 
 forth the recorded fatft which preceded this great and glorious 
 metempsychosis. 
 
 On the evening of May ist I left Paris in all the official 
 revelry of St. Philip's Day ; and on the following afternoon, 
 in obedience to paternal instructions, I made my entry into 
 the good town of Arcis-sur-Aube. On getting out of the 
 chaise my amazement was considerable, as you may imagine, 
 on discerning, in the street where the diligence had just 
 arrived, that evasive Jacques Bricheteau whom I had never 
 seen since our strange meeting in the He Saint-Louis. But 
 this time, instead of behaving like Jean de Nivelle, behold 
 him coming toward me with a smile on his face ; and, holding 
 out his hand, he said : 
 
 " At last, my dear sir, we are almost at an end of these 
 mysteries, and you will soon, I hope, find no further reason 
 to complain of me." 
 
 At the same time, with an air of anxious solicitude that was 
 too much for him, he added : 
 
 " You have brought the money ? " 
 
 "Yes," I replied. " Neither lost nor stolen," and I tooK 
 out the pocket-book that contained the two hundred and fifty 
 thousand francs in bank-notes. 
 
 "That is well," said Jacques Bricheteau. " Now we will 
 go to the Hotel de la Poste. You doubtless know who is 
 waiting for you ? " 
 
 "No, indeed," said I. 
 
 " Then you did not observe the name under which the 
 money was made payable ? " 
 
 " On the contrary and anything so strange could not fail 
 to strike me and set my imagination working." 
 
 " Well, presently the veil will be removed of which, so far,
 
 202 THE DEPUTy FOR ARCIS. 
 
 a corner has just been lifted that you might not be too sud- 
 denly startled by the great and happy event that is about to 
 take place in your life." 
 
 "Is ray father here?" 
 
 I asked the question eagerly, and yet without the deep 
 emotion I should probably have felt at the thought of em- 
 bracing my mother. 
 
 " Yes," replied Jacques Bricheteau. "But I think it well 
 to warn you of a possible chill on your meeting. The 
 marquis has gone through much suffering. The Court life to 
 which he has since been accustomed has made him unready to 
 display any expression of feeling ; beside, he has a perfect 
 horror of anything suggesting bourgeois manners ; so you 
 must not be surprised at the aristocratically cold and dignified 
 reception you may meet with. He is kind at heart, and you 
 will appreciate him more as you know him better." 
 
 "These preliminaries are highly encouraging," thought I. 
 And as I myself did not feel any very ardent predispositions, 
 I augured that this first interview would be at a temperature 
 of some degrees below zero. 
 
 On going into the room where the marquis awaited me, I 
 saw a very tall, very thin, very bald man, seated at a table on 
 which he was arranging papers. On hearing the door open, 
 he pushed his spectacles up on his forehead, rested his hands 
 on the arms of his chair, and looking round at us he waited. 
 
 "Monsieur le Comte de Sallenauve," said Jacques Briche- 
 teau, announcing me with the solemnity of an usher of am- 
 bassadors or a groom of the Chambers. 
 
 But in the presence of the man to whom I owed my life the 
 ice in me was instantly melted ; I stepped forward with an 
 eager impulse, feeling the tears rise to my eyes. He did not 
 move. There was not the faintest trace of agitation in his 
 face, which had that peculiar look of high dignity that used 
 to be called " the grand air ; " he merely held out his hand, 
 limply grasped mine, and then said
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 203 
 
 " Be seated, monsieur for I have not yet the right to call 
 you my son." 
 
 When Jacques Bricheteau and I had taken chairs 
 
 " Then you have*' .no objection," said this strange kind of 
 father, "to assuming the political position we are trying to 
 secure for you ? ' ' 
 
 "None at all," said I. "The notion startled me at first, 
 but I soon grew accustomed to it ; and, to insure success, I 
 have punctually carried out all the instructions that were con- 
 veyed to me." 
 
 "Excellent," said the marquis, taking up from the table a 
 gold snuff-box which he twirled in his fingers. 
 
 Then, after a short silence, he added 
 
 " Now I owe you certain explanations. Our good friend 
 Jacques Bricheteau, if he will have the kindness, will lay 
 them before you." A sort of echo of the royal formula, 
 " My chancellor will tell you the rest." 
 
 "To begin at the beginning," said Jacques Bricheteau, 
 accepting the task thus thrust upon him, " I ought to tell you, 
 monsieur, that you are not a Sallenauve in the direct line. 
 On his return from the emigration, about the year 1808, 
 M. le Marquis here present made the acquaintance of your 
 mother, and you are the issue of that connection. Your 
 mother, as you already know, died at your birth ; and as mis- 
 fortunes never come singly, shortly after this terrible sorrow 
 M. de Sallenauve, being implicated in a plot against the Im- 
 perial throne, was obliged to fly the country. M. le Marquis, 
 like myself, a native of Arcis, honored me with his confidence, 
 and on the eve of this second exile he placed your young life 
 in my charge. I accepted the responsibility, I will not say 
 gladly, but with sincere gratitude." 
 
 At these words the marquis held out his hand to Jacques 
 Bricheteau, who was sitting near him, and after a silent pres- 
 sure which, I may say, did not seem to agitate them deeply 
 Jacques Bricheteau went on
 
 204 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " The elaborate and mysterious precautions I so carefully 
 contrived, in order to conceal the functions I had accepted, 
 may be accounted for by many reasons. I might say that 
 every change of government that we have lived under since 
 your birth has indirectly reacted on you. While the Empire 
 lasted, I feared lest a power which was not reputed indulgent 
 to those who attacked it might not include you in your 
 father's banishment, and that first suggested the idea of giving 
 you a sort of anonymous identity. Under the Restoration, I 
 had reason to fear another form of hostility. The Sallenauve 
 family, of which M. le Marquis here present is the sole sur- 
 viving representative, was then all-powerful. The circum- 
 stances of your birth had got wind, and it had not escaped 
 their perspicacity that monsieur your father had taken care 
 not to admit his paternity, so as to be able to leave you his 
 whole fortune, of which, as a recognized natural child, the 
 law would only have allowed a fixed portion. 
 
 "The obscurity that surrounded you seemed to me the best 
 protection against the investigations of your money-seeking 
 relations ; and certain suspicious proceedings on their part to 
 spy on me at different times showed that my anticipations 
 were justified. Finally, after the Revolution of July, I was 
 afraid for you of your connection with me. I had seen the 
 change of dynasty with deep regret ; and having allowed 
 myself to become involved in some overt acts of rebellion, 
 since I had no belief in its stability for men are always 
 ready to fight a government that is forced upon them, and to 
 which they are averse I found myself on the black-list of the 
 police " 
 
 On this, remembering that at the Cafe des Arts Jacques 
 Bricheteau had been the object of very different suspicions, 
 I could not help smiling, and the chancellor, pausing, said 
 with extreme solemnity 
 
 " Do these details that I have the honor of giving you by 
 any misfortune appear to you doubtful ? ' '
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 205 
 
 When I had accounted for the expression of my face 
 
 "The waiter," said Jacques Bricheteau, "was not alto- 
 gether in the wrong. I have for many years been employed 
 by the police in the public health department ; but I am not 
 a spy on the contrary, I have more than once very nearly 
 been a victim. Now, to return to the secrecy I still preserved 
 as to our connection, though I did not apprehend positive 
 persecution as resulting to you from knowing me, it seemed to 
 me that such an acquaintance might be detrimental to your 
 career. 'Sculptors,' I reflected, 'cannot get on without 
 the support of Government. I might possibly prevent his 
 getting commissions.' I ought also to say that at the time 
 when I gave you notice that your allowance was to cease, I 
 had for some years lost track of Monsieur le Marquis. Of 
 what use was it, then, to tell you the history of the past, 
 since it apparently could have no effect on your future pros- 
 pects ? 
 
 " I decided that it was best to leave you in complete igno- 
 rance, and busied myself in inventing some fiction which 
 might mislead your curiosity, and at the same time relieve me 
 from the long privation I endured by avoiding any direct 
 intercourse with you " 
 
 " The man you employed as your representative," said I, 
 interrupting him, "was well chosen, no doubt, from the 
 point of view of secrecy, but you must admit that he is not 
 attractive." 
 
 " Poor Gorenflot ! " said the organist, laughing. " He is 
 simply one of the parish bell-ringers, and I employ him to 
 blow the organ. I do not know whether the author of 
 ' Notre-Dame de Paris ' had ever seen him when he invented 
 Quasimodo." 
 
 During this parenthesis an absurd sound fell on our ear ; a 
 distinct snore from my father gave us to understand that 
 either he took very little interest in all these explanations 
 given in his name, or that he thought them too prolix.
 
 206 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Whether it was his conceit as an orator that was nettled, or 
 what else it was that roused Jacques Bricheteau's temper, I 
 know not, but he started to his feet with annoyance, and 
 violently shook the sleeper's arm, exclaiming 
 
 " What, marquis ! if you sleep like this when sitting in 
 Council, my word ! the country must be well governed ! " 
 
 M. de Sallenauve opened his eyes, shook himself, and, speak- 
 ing to me, he said 
 
 " Excuse me, M. le Comte, but I have traveled post for 
 ten days and nights without stopping, in order to be in time 
 to meet you here ; and though I spent last night in a bed, I 
 am still rather tired." 
 
 He then rose, took a large pinch of snuff, and paced the 
 room, while Jacques Bricheteau went on 
 
 "It is rather more than a year since I first heard again 
 from your father. He explained his long silence and his pur- 
 poses for you, saying that, perhaps for some years to come, it 
 was absolutely necessary that he should still maintain the 
 strictest incognito. It was just then that chance threw you 
 in my way. I found you prepared to rush into any folly to 
 get to the bottom of the secret of which you could no longer 
 doubt the existence ' 
 
 "You are good at a quick removal ! " said I, with a laugh 
 to the erewhile lodger of the Quai de Bethune. 
 
 " I did better than that. Tormented by the idea that, in 
 spite of my efforts, you would succeed in piercing the darkness 
 I had so elaborately left you in, and at the very moment when 
 M. le Marquis might think it most indispensable 
 
 " You set out for Stockholm ? " 
 
 "No, for your father's residence; but I posted at Stockholm 
 the letter he gave me for you." 
 
 "But I do not quite understand " 
 
 "Nothing can be simpler," said the marquis decisively. 
 " I do not live in Sweden, and we wished to put you off the 
 scent,"
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 207 
 
 "Would you wish to tell the rest of the story yourself?" 
 said Jacques Bricheteau, though not seeming anxious to be 
 superseded in his narrative ; for, as you see, he has an easy 
 and elegant flow of language. 
 
 "Not at all, not at all go on," said the marquis; "you 
 are doing it admirably." 
 
 "The presence here of M. le Marquis," Jacques Bricheteau 
 went on, " will not, as I must warn you, immediately clear up 
 all the mysteries which have hitherto complicated your rela- 
 tions. For the furtherance of your future prospects, and of 
 his own, he reserves the right of leaving you in ignorance for 
 some time yet of the name of the country where he hopes to 
 see you invited to succeed him, and of certain other details of 
 his biography. In fact, he is here this day chiefly with a view 
 to avoiding further explanations, and to renew the lease, so to 
 speak, of your patient curiosity. 
 
 " The recognition and legitimization of a natural son is a 
 serious matter, surrounded by legal complications. An au- 
 thenticated affidavit must be taken in the presence of a notary ; 
 and even though the father's personal deposition can be 
 represented by a specially prepared document, M. le Mar- 
 quis thought that the formalities indispensable to make this 
 power of attorney effective might divulge the secret of his 
 identity, not only to your disadvantage, but in the foreign 
 land where he is married, and to some extent naturalized ; 
 and that secret it is still incumbent on him to keep for a time. 
 This decided him. He made an excuse to take a few weeks' 
 absence, arrived, posting all the way, and, taking me by sur- 
 prise, arranged for our meeting here. 
 
 " In the course of such a long and hurried journey he feared 
 that the considerable sum of money he is devoting to secure 
 your election might not be quite safe in his keeping, and he 
 therefore transmitted it through his bankers, to be drawn on a 
 certain day. That is why, on your arrival, I asked you the 
 question which may have surprised you. Now I have t;o ask
 
 208 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 you another of far greater importance : Do you consent to take 
 M. de Sallenauve's name and be acknowledged by him as his 
 son?" 
 
 " I am no lawyer," said I ; " but it seems to me that, even 
 if I did not feel highly honored by it, it does not lie in my 
 hands to decline such a recognition." 
 
 "I beg your pardon," said Jacques Bricheteau ; "you 
 might be the son of a very undesirable father, and find it to 
 your interest to dispute the relationship ; in the case as it 
 stands you could plead, probably with success, to decline the 
 favor proposed. I ought also to tell you and I know that I 
 am expressing the intentions of M. le Marquis that if you do 
 not think a man who has already spent half a million of francs 
 out of pocket with a view to your election a father altogether 
 to your mind, we leave you perfectly free, and have no wish 
 to coerce you." 
 
 "Quite so, quite so," said M. de Sallenauve, in a short, 
 sharp tone and the thin high pipe which is peculiar to these 
 relics of the old aristocracy. 
 
 Mere politeness required me to say that I was only too 
 happy to accept the parentage thus pressed on me ; and in 
 reply to the few words I spoke to that effect, Jacques Briche- 
 teau went on 
 
 "And we do not ask you to 'buy a father in a poke.' Not 
 so much with a view to command your confidence, which he 
 believes he has won, as to enable you to judge of the family 
 whose name you will bear, M. le Marquis will place before 
 you all the title-deeds and parchments that are in his posses- 
 sion ; and beside this, though it is a long time since he left 
 France, he can prove his identity by the evidence of his still 
 living contemporaries, which will serve to corroborate the 
 validity of the act he will put his name to. For instance, 
 among the persons of unimpeachable honor who have already 
 recognized him, I may mention the venerable mother superior 
 of the Ursuline Sisters here, Mother Marie des Anges for
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 209 
 
 whom, I may add, you have executed a most glorious master- 
 piece." 
 
 "Yes, on my honor, a very pretty thing," said the mar- 
 quis. "If you are.as strong in politics " 
 
 "Well, then, marquis," said Jacques Bricheteau, who 
 seemed to me a little overbearing, "will you and our young 
 friend proceed to verify those family papers?" 
 
 " It is quite unnecessary," said I. 
 
 But my father would not let me off; for more than two 
 hours he spread before me deeds, pedigrees, settlements, 
 letters-patent, a thousand documents, to prove that the Salle- 
 nauves are, with the exception of the Cinq Cygnes, one of the 
 oldest families in the Province of Champagne generally, and 
 of the department of the Aube in particular. I may add that 
 this display of archives had a running accompaniment of end- 
 less details in words, which certainly gave the identity of the 
 last Marquis de Sallenauve a very convincing semblance of 
 genuineness. 
 
 On all other subjects my father is apt to be laconic ; his 
 mind is not, I should say, remarkably open, and he is always 
 ready to leave his chancellor to speak for him. But on the 
 subject of his family papers he was bewilderingly full of anec- 
 dotes, reminiscences, and heraldic information ; in short, the 
 complete gentleman of an older time, ignorant or superficial 
 on most subjects, but a Benedictine for erudition on everything 
 connected with his ancestors. 
 
 We dined, not at the table (Thdte, but in a private room. 
 There was nothing remarkable about the meal, unless it were 
 the length of time it lasted in consequence of the absorbed 
 silence and slowness of the marquis' deglutition, in conse- 
 quence of the loss of all his teeth. 
 
 So by seven o'clock we were at Maitre Pigoult's 
 
 But it is near on two in the morning, and I am dropping 
 asleep; so, till to-morrow when, if I have time, I will go on with 
 this letter and the circumstantial account of all that took place 
 14
 
 210 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 in the notary's office. However, you know the upshot of it 
 all, like a man who turns to the page of a novel to see whether 
 Evelina marries her Arthur, and you may let me off the de- 
 tails. As I step into bed I shall say to myself: Good-night, 
 M. de Sallenauve. 
 
 In fact, that old rascal Bricheteau was clumsy enough in 
 foisting on me such a name as Dorlange ; it was only fit for 
 some hero of romance under the Empire, or one of the pro- 
 vincial tenors on the lookout for an engagement under the 
 meagre shade of the Palais-Royal. 
 
 May 4, jive in the morning. 
 
 Arrived at Maitre Pigoult's a maidservant, a country wench 
 of the purest breed, led us through an office of the most ven- 
 erably antique type where, however, no clerks were to be 
 seen working in the evening, as in Paris she showed us into 
 her master's private room, a large room, cold and damp, and 
 barely lighted by two composition candles on the desk. 
 
 Maitre Achille Pigoult, a feeble little man, much marked 
 with smallpox, and afflicted with green spectacles, over which, 
 however, he can flash a look of great keenness and intelligence, 
 asked us if we found the room warm enough. On our reply- 
 ing in the affirmative which he must have seen was a mere 
 form of politeness he had carried his incendiary purpose so 
 far as to strike a match, when, from one of the darkest corners 
 of the room, a broken and quavering voice, whose owner we 
 had not yet discerned, opposed this lavish extravagance. 
 
 "No, no, Achille, do not light the fire," cried the old 
 man. " There are five of us in the room ; the candles 
 give a good deal of heat, and we shall be suffocated before 
 long." 
 
 To these words of this hot-blooded Nestor, the marquis ex- 
 claimed : 
 
 "Why, it is worthy M. Pigoult, the old justice of the 
 peace ! "
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 211 
 
 The old man, thus recognized, rose and came up to my 
 father, whom he examined narrowly. 
 
 "To be sure ! " said he. " And I know you for a native 
 of the province, of^the old block; Achille told me the truth 
 when he promised me that I should meet two old acquaint- 
 ances. You," said he to the organist, "are little Bricheteau, 
 nephew to the good Mother-superior Marie des Anges. But 
 that tall fellow, with his face like a duke I cannot put a 
 name to him and you must not be too hard on my memory, 
 for after eighty-six years of hard service it has a right to be 
 a little stiff in the joints." 
 
 "Now, then, grandfather," said Achille Pigoult, "try to 
 furbish up your recollections and you, gentlemen, not a 
 word, not a hint. I want to enlighten my faith. I have not 
 the honor of knowing the client on whose behalf I am about 
 to act, and, to be strictly regular, proof of his identity is re- 
 quired. The act of Louis XII., passed in 1498, and Francois 
 I. confirming it, in 1535, make this imperative on notaries 
 gardes-notes as they were called to forefend any substitution 
 of parties to such deeds.* The law is too reasonable to have 
 fallen into desuetude; and, for my part, I should not have 
 the smallest respect for the validity of an act if it could be 
 proved that such identification had been neglected." 
 
 While his son was speaking, old Pigoult had been racking 
 his memory. My father, by good luck, has a queer nervous 
 twitch of his features, which was naturally aggravated under 
 the steady gaze of the certifier. On seeing this muscular 
 movement, the old lawyer at last spotted his man. 
 
 " Ah, I have it ! " he exclaimed. " Monsieur is the Mar- 
 quis de Sallenauve the man we used to call the Grimacier 
 who would, at this day, be the master of the Chateau d'Arcis 
 if he had but married his pretty cousin, who had it for her 
 marriage-portion, instead of going off with the rest of the 
 madmen as an emigre." 
 
 * Notaries public must do the same in this country.
 
 212 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " Still a bit of a sans-culottc, it would seem," said the mar- 
 quis, laughing. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said the notary impressively, "the test I 
 had planned seems to me to be decisive. This evidence, and 
 the papers which M. le Marquis has been good enough to sub- 
 mit to me, leaving them in my hands, together with the cer- 
 tificate of identity forwarded to me by Mother Marie des 
 Anges, who is prohibited by the rules of her house from com- 
 ing to my office, certainly justify us in completing the deeds 
 which I have already prepared. One of them requires the 
 signature of two witnesses. For one, we have here M. Briche- 
 teau ; for the other, my father, if you will accept him, and 
 the honor, it seems to me, is his by right, for we may say he 
 has won it at the point of his memory." 
 
 " Well, then, gentlemen, let us take our seats ! " exclaimed 
 Bricheteau enthusiastically. 
 
 The notary seated himself at his table ; we made a semi- 
 circle, and he began to read the deeds. The object in view 
 was set forth to authenticate the recognition by Fransois- 
 Henri-Pantaleon Dumirail, Marquis de Sallenauve, of his son, 
 in my person ; but here a difficulty arose. Deeds under a 
 notary's certificate must mention the place of residence of the 
 contracting parties, otherwise they are void. Now, where 
 did my father reside ? A blank space had been left by the 
 notary, who wished to fill it up before proceeding any further. 
 
 " In the first place," said Pigoult, " it would seem that M. 
 le Marquis has no place of residence in France, since, in fact, 
 he does not reside in the country, and has for many years 
 owned no land in it." 
 
 "That is true," said the marquis, in a graver tone than 
 the remark seemed to call for ; " i.% France I am but a vaga- 
 bond." 
 
 "Aha!" said Jacques Bricheteau, "but vagabonds like 
 you, who can hand over on the nail such gifts to a son as the 
 sum needed to purchase a mansion, are not beggars we need
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 213 
 
 waste our pity on. At the same time, what you say is true 
 equally true in France or elsewhere for, with your mania for 
 eternally wandering, it seems to me pretty difficult to name 
 your place of residence." 
 
 "Well, well," ll^id Achille Pigoult, "we will not be 
 brought to a standstill by such a trifle as that. Monsieur," 
 and he turned to me, " is now the owner of the Chateau 
 d'Arcis, for an agreement to sell is equivalent to a sale when 
 the parties are agreed as to the terms and price. Then, what 
 can be more natural than that the father's domicile should be 
 stated as at one of his son's estates ; especially when it is 
 family property recovered to the original owners by purchase 
 for that son's benefit, though paid for by the father; when, 
 moreover, that father was born in the place where the said 
 residence or domicile is situated, and is known and recognized 
 by residents of standing whenever, at long intervals, he 
 chooses to visit it?" 
 
 "Quite right," said old Pigoult, yielding without hesita- 
 tion to the argument set forth by his son, in that emphatic tone 
 peculiar to men of business when they believe they have laid 
 their finger on a conclusive opinion. 
 
 "Certainly," said Jacques Bricheteau, "if you think the 
 thing can be worked so " 
 
 "You see that my father, a man of great experience, does 
 not hesitate to support my opinion. So we will say," added 
 the notary, taking up his pen : " ' Fran^ois-Henri-Pantaleon 
 Dumirail, Marquis de Sallenauve, residing with M. Charles 
 de Sallenauve, his natural son legitimized by this act, in the 
 house known as the Chateau d'Arcis in the district of Arcis- 
 sur-Aube, department of the Aube.' " And the rest of the 
 deed was read without any hitch. 
 
 Then followed a very ridiculous little scene. 
 
 All having signed, while we were still standing there, Jacques 
 Bricheteau said 
 
 "Now, M. le Comte, embrace your father."
 
 214 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 My father opened his arms with no small indifference, and 
 I coldly fell into them, vexed with myself, however, for not 
 being more deeply moved or feeling in my heart the glow of 
 kindred blood. 
 
 The importance of this property as bearing on my election, 
 even if I had not been instinctively aware of it, would have 
 been made clear to me by a few words that passed between 
 the notary and Jacques Bricheteau. After the manner of sellers, 
 who will still run up the value of their goods even after they 
 have parted with them 
 
 "You may think yourselves lucky," said Achille Pigoult; 
 " you have got that estate for a mere song." 
 
 "Stuff and nonsense! " retorted Bricheteau. " How long 
 have you had it on your hands? To anybody else your 
 client would have sold it for fifty thousand crowns, but as a 
 family property you made us pay for the chance of having it. 
 We shall have to spend twenty thousand francs in making it 
 habitable ; the ground will hardly return four thousand francs 
 a year ; so our money, including expenses, will not bring in 
 two and a half per cent." 
 
 "What have you to complain of?" replied the notary; 
 " you will have to employ labor, and that is not bad luck for 
 a candidate." 
 
 "Ah, that election," said Jacques Bricheteau. "We will 
 talk that over to-morrow when we come to pay over the 
 money for the house, and our debt to you." 
 
 I will now give my ideas some little order ; I begin at that 
 half-million of francs spent, as you must allow, on a somewhat 
 nebulous dream that of one day possibly seeing me a minis- 
 ter to some imaginary court heaven knows where, the name 
 being carefully concealed. 
 
 Why does the man who recognizes me as his son conceal 
 the name of the place he lives in, and that by which he him- 
 self is known in the unknown northern land where he is said 
 to hold office ? Why so little confidence and so many sacri-
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 215 
 
 fices on my behalf? And does it seem to you that, in spite 
 of his lengthy explanations, Jacques Bricheteau has satis- 
 factorily accounted for the mystery in which he has wrapped 
 my life? Why his dwarf? Why his impudent denial of his 
 own identity the first time I addressed him ? Why that 
 frantic flitting? 
 
 All this, my dear fellow, whirling in my brain and cul- 
 minating in the five hundred thousand francs paid over to 
 me by the Brothers Mongenod, seems to lend substance to a 
 queer notion, at which you will laugh perhaps, but which is 
 not without foundation in the annals of crime. As I said at 
 first, I was invaded by. it, and its suddenness seems to give it 
 the character of an instinctive apprehension. One thing is cer- 
 tain : If I had had the most distant inkling of it last evening, 
 I would have had my hand cut off sooner than sign that deed, 
 binding up my life and fortunes with those of a stranger whose 
 destiny may be as dark as a canto of Dante's " Inferno," and 
 who may drag me with him into the blackest depths. 
 
 As you may suppose, I have represented to myself every 
 argument that can tell against this gloomy view of the case ; 
 and if I do not state them here, it is because I wish to have 
 them from you, and so give them a value which they would 
 cease to have if I had inspired them. Of one thing I am 
 certain : I am living in an unwholesome atmosphere, thick 
 and heavy ; I want air I cannot breathe. 
 
 Still, if you can, reassure me, convince me ; I shall be only 
 glad, as you may well suppose, to find it all a bad dream. 
 But, at any rate, no later than to-morrow I mean to have an 
 explanation with both these men, and get a little more light 
 on the subject than has as yet been vouchsafed me. 
 
 Here is a new aspect to the story : While I was writing I 
 heard the clatter of horses in the street. Having grown dis- 
 trustful, and inclined to take a serious view of every incident, 
 I opened my window, and by the pale light of daybreak I saw
 
 216 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 at the inn door a post-chaise horses, postillion, and all 
 ready to start, and Jacques Bricheteau talking to somebody 
 inside, whose face was hidden by the peak of his traveling 
 cap. I acted at once : I ran downstairs ; but before I reached 
 the bottom, I heard the dull clatter of wheels and the ringing 
 cracks of the whip a sort of parting song with all postillions. 
 
 At the foot of the stairs I stood face to face with Jacques 
 Bricheteau. 
 
 Not in the least embarrassed, he said, with perfect simplicity: 
 " What ! up already, my dear boy ? " 
 
 " Of course," said I, " the least I could do was to say fare- 
 well to my most kind father." 
 
 " He did not wish it," said the confounded musician, with 
 a cool solemnity that made me long to thrash him. " He 
 was afraid of the agitation of a parting." 
 
 "He is in a devil of a hurry," said I, "if he could not 
 spare one day to his brand-new paternity." 
 
 " What can I say ? He is an oddity. He has done what 
 he came to do, and he saw no reason to remain any longer." 
 
 "To be sure, the high functions he fulfills in that northern 
 court " 
 
 There could be no mistake as to the deeply ironical tone 
 with which I spoke. 
 
 "Till now," said Bricheteau, "you have put more trust 
 in us." 
 
 " Yes, but I confess that my confidence is beginning to be 
 shaken by the ponderous mysteries that are so unmercifully 
 and incessantly piled upon it." 
 
 "I should really be most distressed," said Jacques Briche- 
 teau, " at seeing you give way, at this critical moment, to 
 these doubts, which are certainly justified by the way you have 
 been dealt with during so many years, if I had none but per- 
 sonal arguments or statements to countervail them. But you 
 may remember that old Pigoult, last evening, spoke of an aunt 
 of mine in these parts, and you will see before long that she
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 217 
 
 is a person of considerable importance. I may add that her 
 sacred dignity gives absolute authority to her word. I had 
 arranged that we should see her in any case to-day ; but give 
 me only time to shave myself, and in spite of its being so 
 early we will go 2L-once to the Ursuline convent. You can 
 then question Mother Marie des Anges, who is regarded as 
 a saint throughout the department of the Aube, and by the 
 end of the interview, I fancy, no cloud will hang between 
 us." 
 
 All the time this strange man was talking his countenance 
 was so unmistakably honest and benevolent ; his language 
 always calm, elegant, and moderate is so persuasive to his 
 audience, that I felt the tide of my wrath ebbing and my con- 
 fidence reviving. 
 
 In fact, the answer was final. The Ursuline convent, bless 
 me ! cannot be a mint for false coin ; and if Mother Marie des 
 Anges will answer for my father, as it would seem she has 
 already done to the notary, I should be mad to feel any further 
 doubts. 
 
 "Very well," said I, "I will go upstairs for my hat and 
 wait for you on the bank of the river." 
 
 " Do so. And keep an eye on the door of the inn, for fear 
 I should make a bolt, as I did from the Quai de Bethune ! " 
 
 MARIE-GASTON TO MADAME LA COMTESSE DE I/ESTORADE. 
 
 ARCIS-SUR-AUBE, May 6, 1839. 
 
 MADAME: I should in any case have availed myself with 
 pleasure of your commands that I should write you during 
 my stay here ; but you have no idea how great was your kind- 
 ness in granting me so precious a favor. 
 
 Dorlange, whom I shall not continue to call by that name 
 you shall presently learn why is so much absorbed in the 
 cares of his canvass that I scarcely ever see him. I told you, 
 madame, that I was about to join our friend here in conse-
 
 218 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 quence of some disturbance of mind that I was aware of in a 
 letter telling me of a great change in his life and prospects. I 
 am now allowed to be more explicit on the subject Dorlange 
 at last knows his father. He is the natural son of the Marquis 
 de Sallenauve, the last survivor of one of the oldest families of 
 this province. The marquis, though giving no explanation 
 of the reasons that led to his keeping his son's birth so pro- 
 foundly secret, has just acknowledged him with every legal 
 formality. At the same time, he has purchased for him an 
 estate which had long since ceased to belong to the Salle- 
 nauves, and which will now again be a family possession. It 
 is actually in Arcis, and it seems probable that it may be 
 advantageous to the electoral schemes just now under discus- 
 sion. 
 
 What the ultimate purpose may be of such considerable 
 expenditure the marquis has never explained to Charles de 
 Sallenauve ; and it was this still, hazy horizon to his sky that 
 led the poor fellow to such apprehensions that, as a friend, I 
 could do no less than hasten to alleviate them. Another 
 whim of my lord marquis is having selected as his son's 
 chief elector an old Ursuline nun, by a sort of bargain in 
 which subsequently you, madame, were a factor. Yes ; for 
 the " Sainte-Ursule," for which you unaware were the model, 
 will probably have no little influence over our friend's return 
 to the Chamber. 
 
 This is what happened : For many years Mother Marie des 
 Anges, superior of the Ursuline Sisters at Arcis-sur-Aube, had 
 dreamed of erecting a statue of the patron saint in the con- 
 vent chapel. But the abbess, being a woman of taste and cul- 
 ture, would have nothing to do with the hawker's images of 
 saints, sold ready-made by the dealers ; on the other hand, 
 she could not in conscience rob the poor of a sum so consid- 
 erable as would pay for a work of art on commission. This 
 excellent lady's nephew is an organist in Paris, and the Mar- 
 quis de Sallenauve while he was traveling all over the world
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 219 
 
 had confided his son to this man's care ; for all these years his 
 first object has been to keep the poor boy in absolute igno- 
 rance of his birth. When it occurred to him to make Salle- 
 nauve a deputy, Arcis was naturally thought of as the place 
 where his family *\yas still remembered, and every way and 
 means was considered of making acquaintance, and utilizing 
 all possible aids to his election. 
 
 Then the organist remembered his aunt's long-cherished 
 ambition ; he knew her to have influence in the district, 
 where she is in great odor of sanctity, and also a touch of the 
 spirit of intrigue, ever ready to rush into an affair that may 
 be difficult and arduous. He went to see her with the Marquis 
 de Sallenauve's concurrence, and told her that one of the 
 most eminent of Paris sculptors was prepared to offer her a 
 statue of the most masterly execution, if she, on her part, 
 would undertake to secure his return as deputy for the district 
 of Arcis at the next election. 
 
 The old abbess did not think this at all beyond her powers. 
 So now she is the proud possessor of the object of her pious 
 ambition ; it came safely to hand a few days since, and is 
 already in its place in the convent chapel, where, ere long, it 
 will be solemnly dedicated. Now it remains to be seen how 
 the good mother will perform her share of the bargain. 
 
 Well, madame, strange to say, all things weighed and con- 
 sidered, I should not at all wonder if this singular woman 
 were to succeed. From the description given me by Charles, 
 Mother Marie des Anges is a little woman, short but thick-set, 
 with a face that still contrives to be attractive in spite of her 
 wrinkles and the saffron-tinted pallor induced by time and by 
 the austerities of a cloister. She carries the burden of a stout 
 figure and seventy-six years with ease, and is as quick, bright, 
 and spirited as the youngest of us. A thoroughly capable 
 woman, she has governed her house for fifty years, and it has 
 always been the best regulated, the most efficient, and at the 
 same time the richest convent in the whole diocese of Troyes.
 
 220 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 No less well qualified for educating girls the great end, as 
 you know, of the Ursuline Sisterhoods she has for the same 
 length of time, through varying fortunes, managed a lay 
 school which is famous in the department and in all the 
 country round. Having thus presided over the education of 
 almost all the daughters of the better families in the province, 
 it is easy to understand that she has ubiquitous influence in 
 the aristocratic circles of Champagne, for a well-conducted 
 education always leads to permanent friendship between the 
 teacher and the pupils. She probably knows very well how 
 to turn these family connections to the best advantage in the 
 contest she has pledged herself to engage in. 
 
 It would seem, too, that, on the other hand, this remarkable 
 woman can absolutely command all the democratic votes in 
 the district. So far, indeed, on the scene of the struggle, 
 this party has but a sickly and doubtful existence ; still, it is by 
 nature active and busy, and it is under that flag, with some little 
 modifications, that our candidate comes forward. Hence, any 
 support from that side is useful and important. You, madame, 
 like me, will certainly admire the bicephalous powers, so to 
 speak, of this old abbess, who contrives at the same time to 
 be in good odor with the nobility and the secular clergy, while 
 wielding the conductor's stick for the radical party, their per- 
 ennial foes. 
 
 Her great influence over the popular party is based on a 
 little contest she once had with them. About the year '93 
 that amiable faction proposed to cut off her head. Turned 
 out of her convent, and convicted of having sheltered a con- 
 tumacious priest, she was imprisoned, brought before the rev- 
 olutionary tribunal, and condemned to the guillotine. The 
 thing came to Danton's knowledge ; he was then a member of 
 the Convention. Danton had been acquainted with Mother 
 Marie des Anges ; he believed her to be the most virtuous and 
 enlightened woman he had ever seen. On hearing of her 
 sentence he flew into a terrific rage, wrote a letter from his
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 221 
 
 "high horse" to the revolutionary municipality, and com- 
 manded a respite with such authority as no man in Arcis 
 would have dreamed of disputing. He stood up in the tribune 
 that very day ; and after alluding in general terms to certain 
 sanglants imbeciles \*hose insane folly was damaging the pros- 
 pects of the Revolution, he explained who and what Mother 
 Marie des Anges was, spoke of her wonderful gifts for the 
 training of the young, and laid before the meeting a sketch 
 for a decree by which she was to be placed at the head of a 
 Great National Gynecseum, the details to be regulated by sub- 
 sequent enactment. 
 
 Robespierre, who would have regarded the Ursuline nun's 
 superior intelligence as an additional qualification for the scaf- 
 fold, was not that day present at the sitting ; the motion was car- 
 ried with enthusiasm. As Mother Marie des Anges could not 
 possibly carry out the decree thus voted without a head on her 
 shoulders, she was allowed to retain it, and the executioner 
 cleared away his machinery. And though the former decree, 
 authorizing the Grand National Gynecaeum, was presently for- 
 gotten, the Convention having quite other matters to occupy 
 it, the good sister carried it out on her own lines ; and instead 
 of something Grand, Greek, and National, with the help of 
 some of her former associates she started a simple lay school at 
 Arcis, to which, as soon as order was to some degree restored 
 in the land and in men's minds, pupils flocked from all the 
 neighboring country. 
 
 Under the Emperor, Mother Marie des Anges reconstituted 
 her house, ana her first act of government was a signal piece 
 of gratitude. She decided that on the 5th of April every 
 year, the anniversary of Danton's death, mass should be said 
 in the convent chapel for the repose of his soul. 
 
 To some who objected to this service for the dead 
 
 "Do you know many persons," she would reply, "for 
 whom it is more necessary to implore Divine mercy?" 
 
 After the Restoration, the performance of this mass became
 
 222 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 a matter of some little difficulty ; but Mother Marie des Anges 
 would never give it up, and the veneration with which she was 
 regarded even by those who were most set against what they 
 called a scandal, ended in their making the best of it. Under 
 the July Revolution, as you may suppose, this courageous 
 perversity had its reward. Mother Marie des Anges is now 
 in high favor at Court ; there is nothing she cannot obtain 
 from the most august persons in command ; still, it is but fair 
 to add that she asks for nothing, not even to help the poor ; 
 she finds the means of supplying most of their wants by her 
 judicious economy in dealing with the funds of the community. 
 What is even more obvious is that her gratitude to the great 
 revolutionary leader is a strong recommendation to that party ; 
 this, however, is not the whole secret of her influence with 
 them. The representative in Arcis of the Extreme Left is a 
 wealthy miller, named Laurent Goussard, who owns two or 
 three mills on the river Aube. It was this man, formerly a 
 member of the revolutionary municipality of Arcis, and a par- 
 ticular friend of Danton's, who wrote that terrible Cordelier 
 to tell him of the axe that hung over the Ursuline prioress' 
 head, though this did not hinder that worthy sans-culotte from 
 purchasing a large part of the convent lands when they were 
 sold as nationalized property. 
 
 Then, when Mother Marie des Anges was enabled to re- 
 constitute her sisterhood, Laurent Goussard, who had not as 
 it happened found the estate very profitable, came to the 
 worthy abbess and proposed to reinstate her in the former 
 possessions of the abbey. The goodman was not making a 
 bad bargain ; the mere difference of value between silver and 
 the assignats he had paid in was a handsome turn of profit. 
 But Mother Marie des Anges, who had not forgotten that but 
 for his intervention Danton could have known nothing, de- 
 termined to do better than that for the man who had really 
 saved her life. The Ursuline sisterhood, when Laurent Gous- 
 sard proposed this arrangement, was, financially speaking, in
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 223 
 
 a flourishing position. Since its reestablishment it had come 
 in for some liberal donations, and the mother superior had 
 put away a considerable sum during her long management of 
 the lay school ; this she generously handed over for the use of 
 the convent. Laurent Goussard was, no doubt, somewhat 
 amazed when she spoke to this effect : 
 
 " I cannot accept your offer ; I cannot buy at the lowest 
 price ; my conscience forbids it. Before the Revolution the 
 convent lands were valued at so much; this is the price I 
 propose to pay, not that to which they were brought down as 
 a result of the general depreciation in value of all the national- 
 ized lands. In short, my good sir, I mean to pay more if 
 that meets your views." 
 
 Laurent Goussard thought at first that he misunderstood 
 her, or had been misunderstood ; but when it dawned upon 
 him that the mother superior's scruples of conscience would 
 bring him a profit of about fifty thousand francs, he had no 
 wish to coerce so delicate a conscience, and pocketing this god- 
 send, which had really fallen from heaven, he made the aston- 
 ishing facts known far and wide ; and this, as you may suppose, 
 madame, raised Mother Marie des Anges to such estimation 
 in the eyes of every buyer of nationalized lands that she will 
 never have anything to fear from any revolution. Personally, 
 Laurent Goussard is her fanatical adorer ; he never does a 
 stroke of business or moves a sack of corn without consulting 
 her ; and, as she said jestingly the other day, if she had a 
 mind to treat the sub-prefect like John the Baptist, in a 
 quarter of an hour Laurent Goussard would bring her that 
 official's head in a sack. Does not that sufficiently prove, 
 madame, that at a nod from our abbess he will vote, and get 
 all his friends to vote, for the candidate of her choice? 
 
 Mother Marie des Anges has, of course, a wide connection 
 among the clergy, both by reason of her habit and her reputa- 
 tion for distinguished virtue; and among her most devoted 
 allies may be numbered Monseigneur Troubert, the bishop of
 
 224 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 the diocese, who, though formerly an adherent of the Con- 
 gregation, would, under the dynasty of July, put up with an 
 archbishopric as preliminary to the cardinal's hat. Now if, 
 to assist him in this ambition justified, it must be said, by 
 great and indisputable capabilities Mother Marie des Anges 
 were to write a few lines to the Queen, it is probable that his 
 promotion would not be too long deferred. But it will be 
 give and take. If the Ursuline abbess works for the arch- 
 bishopric, Monseigneur de Troyes will work the election. 
 
 Winning the clergy almost certainly secures the Legitimist 
 vote, for that party is no less passionately bent on freedom in 
 teaching ; and, out of hatred for the new (Orleans) dynasty, 
 does not even take fright at seeing that principle in monstrous 
 alliance with radical politics. The head of that party in this 
 district is the family of Cinq-Cygne. The old marquise, 
 whose haughty temper and determined will are known to you, 
 madame, never comes to the Chateau of Cinq-Cygne without 
 visiting Mother Marie des Anges, whose pupil her daughter 
 Berthe formerly was now the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse ; as 
 to the duke, he will certainly support us, for, as you know, 
 Daniel d' Arthez is a great friend of mine, and through Arthez 
 we are certain to secure the interest of the Princesse de 
 Cadignan, our handsome duke's mother, so we may count on 
 him. 
 
 If we now turn to a more obdurate party the Conserva- 
 tives, who must not be confounded with the Ministerialists 
 their leader is the Comte de Gondreville, your husband's 
 colleague in the Upper Chamber. At his heels comes a very 
 influential voter, his old friend, the former mayor and notary 
 of Arcis, who in his turn drags in his train a no less important 
 elector, Maitre Achille Pigoult, to whom, on retiring, he 
 sold his connection. But Mother Marie des Anges has a 
 strong hold on the Comte de Gondreville through his daugh- 
 ter, the Marechale de Carigliano. This great lady, who, as 
 you are aware, is immensely devout, comes every year to the
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 225 
 
 Ursuline convent for a penitential retreat. Mother Marie des 
 Anges says, moreover, though she gives no explanations, that 
 she has a hold on the old count through some circumstances 
 known only to herself; and, in fact, this regicide's career 
 becoming a senator) a count of the Empire, and now a peer 
 of France must have led him through devious and subterra- 
 nean ways, making it probable that there have been secret 
 passages which he would not care to have brought to light. 
 Now, Gondreville is one with Grevin, for fifty years his second 
 self and active tool ; and even supposing that by some impos- 
 sible chance their long union should be severed, at least we 
 should be sure of Achille Pigoult, Grevin' s successor as notary 
 to the Ursuline sisterhood ; indeed, at the time of the acqui- 
 sition of the estate in Arcis by the Marquis de Sallenauve, 
 which was effected through him, the purchaser took care to 
 pay him a honorarium so large so electoral that he pledged 
 himself merely by accepting it. 
 
 As to the ruck of the voters, our friend is certain to recruit 
 a strong force, since he is about to give them employment on 
 the important repairs he proposes to begin at once ; for the 
 castle, nf which he is now the proprietor, is, fortunately, fall- 
 ing into ruin in many places. We may also trust to the effect 
 of a magniloquent profession of principles which Charles de 
 Sallenauve has just had printed, setting forth in lofty terms 
 that he will accept neither favors nor office from the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 You have some kind feeling for me, because the fragrance 
 still clings to me of our beloved Louise ; have then some little 
 regard for the man whom I have dared to speak of throughout 
 this letter as our friend. If indeed, do what he will, he be- 
 trays a sort of insufferable greatness, should we not rather pity 
 him than call him to a strict account ? Do we not know, you 
 and I, by cruel experience, that the noblest and most glorious 
 lights are those which first sink into the extinction of eternal 
 darkness? 
 15
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS, 
 
 MARIE-GASTON TO THE COMTESSE DE L ESTORADE. 
 
 ARCIS-SUR-AUBE, May 13, 1839. 
 
 MADAME : You, too, have the election fever, and you 
 have been good enough to transmit as a message from M. de 
 1'Estorade a certain list of discouragements, which no doubt 
 deserve consideration. I may, however, say at once that this 
 communication does not seem to me to be so important as 
 you, perhaps, think ; and even before your official warning 
 reached us, the difficulties in our course had not failed to 
 occur to us. We knew already of the confidential mission 
 undertaken by M. de Trailles, though for some days he tried, 
 not very successfully, to disguise it under a pretense of com- 
 mercial business. We even knew what you, madame, do not 
 seem to have known, that this ingenious instrument of the 
 ministerial mind had contrived to combine the care of his 
 personal interests with that of party politics. 
 
 M. Maxime de Trailles, if we are correctly informed, was 
 not long since on the point of sinking under the last and 
 worst attack of a chronic malady from which he has long 
 suffered. This malady is Debt for we do not speak of M. 
 de Trailles' debts, but of his Debt, as of the National Debt of 
 England. In extremis, the gentleman, bent on some desperate 
 remedy, seems to have hoped for a cure in marriage a mar- 
 riage in extremis, as it might well be called, since he is said 
 to be very near fifty. Being well known that is to say, in 
 his case, much depreciated in Paris, like trades-people whose 
 goods are out of date, he packed himself off to the country, 
 and unpacked himself at Arcis-sur-Aube just as the fun of the 
 election was beginning, wisely supposing that the rather up- 
 roarious tumult of this kind of political scrimmage might favor 
 the slightly shady character of his proceedings. 
 
 From the point of view of public affairs, M. Beauvisage, 
 whose name, madame, you will certainly remember, has the
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 227 
 
 immense advantage of having thoroughly beaten and crushed 
 the nomination of a little attorney named Simon Giguet, who, 
 to the great indignation of the Government, wanted to take 
 his seat with the Left Centre. This ousting of a pert upstart 
 on the side of the Opposition was thought such an inestimable 
 boon, that it led folk to overlook the notorious and indis- 
 putable ineptitude of this Beauvisage, and the ridicule which 
 his return could not fail to bring on those who should vote 
 for his election. 
 
 But then we appeared on the scene. We are of the province ; 
 Champions by the name that dropped on us one morning 
 from the skies ; we make ourselves even more so by acquiring 
 land in the district ; and, as it happens, the country is bent 
 at this election on sending no one to the Chamber but a 
 specimen of its own vintage ! 
 
 We are not quite so idiotic as Beauvisage ; we do not in- 
 variably make ourselves ridiculous ; we do not, indeed, make 
 cotton night-caps, but we make statues for which we have 
 earned the Legion of Honor ; religious statues, to be dedi- 
 cated with much pomp in the presence of Monseigneur the 
 Bishop, who will condescend to give an address, and of the 
 municipal authorities ; statues which the whole of the town 
 that part of it which is not admitted to the ceremony is 
 crowding to admire at the house of the Ursulines, who are 
 vain enough of this magnificent addition to their gem of a 
 chapel, and threw open their public rooms and oratory to all 
 comers for the whole day and this you may be sure tends to 
 make us popular. 
 
 What contributes even better to this popularity is that we 
 are not mean like Beauvisage, and do not hoard our income 
 sou by sou ; that we are employing thirty workmen at the 
 castle painters, masons, glaziers, gardeners, trellis-makers ; 
 and that while the mayor of the town trudges shabbily on 
 foot, we are to be seen driving through Arcis in an elegant 
 open chaise with two prancing steeds, which our father not
 
 228 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 in heaven, but in Paris anxious to be even more delightful 
 at a distance than on the spot, sent hither post-haste, with a 
 view, I believe, to snuffing out M. de Trailles' tilbury and 
 tiger. These, I may tell you, before our arrival were the talk 
 of the town. 
 
 Yesterday, madame, we drove out in our chaise to the 
 Chateau of Cinq-Cygne, where Arthez introduced us to the 
 Princesse de Cadignan. That woman is really miraculously 
 preserved ; she seems to have been embalmed by the happi- 
 ness of her liaison with the great writer. " They are the 
 prettiest picture of happiness ever seen," you said, I remem- 
 ber, of M. and Mme. de Portenduere ; and you might say the 
 same of Arthez and the princess, altering the wo:d "pretty" 
 in consideration of their Indian summer. 
 
 Mme. de Maufrigneuse and the old Marquise de Cinq- 
 Cygne were wonderfully kind in their reception of Dorlange 
 Sallenauve, I should say, but I find it difficult to remem- 
 ber ; as they are less humble than you are, they were not 
 frightened at any loftiness they might meet with in our 
 friend, and he, in an interview which was really rather diffi- 
 cult, behaved to perfection. It is very strange that after 
 living so much alone, he should at once have turned out per- 
 fectly presentable. Is it perhaps that the Beautiful, which 
 has hitherto been the ruling idea of his life, includes all that 
 is pleasing, elegant, and appropriate things which are gen- 
 erally learned by practice as opportunity offers? But this 
 cannot be the case, for I have seen very eminent artists, 
 especially sculptors, who, outside their studios, were simply 
 unendurable. 
 
 May 10. 
 
 Yesterday we gave a notable dinner, dear madame ; it was 
 a magnificent affair, and will, I fancy, be long talked of in 
 Arcis. Sallenauve has in the organist who, by the way, at 
 the ceremony of the statue yesterday, displayed his exquisite
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 229 
 
 talent on the good sister's organ a sort of steward and fac- 
 totum transcending all the Vatels that ever lived. He is not 
 the man to fall on his sword because the fish is late. Colored 
 lamps, transparencies, garlands, and drapery to decorate the 
 dining-room, even a little packet of fireworks which had been 
 stowed in the boot of the chaise by that surly and invisible 
 father who has his good side, however nothing was wanting 
 to the festivities. They were kept up till a late hour in the 
 gardens of the castle, to which the plebs were admitted to 
 dance and drink copiously. 
 
 Almost all our guests appeared, excepting those whom we 
 had asked merely to compromise them. The invitation was 
 so short a difficulty inevitable and pardonable under the 
 circumstances that it was quite amusing to see notes of 
 excuse arriving up to the very dinner hour, for Sallenauve had 
 ordered that they should all be brought to him as soon as 
 they arrived. And as he opened each letter he took care to 
 say quite audibly: " M. le Sous-prefet M. le Procureur du 
 Roi-r-The Deputy Judge expresses his regrets at being unable 
 to accept my invitation. 
 
 All these "refusals of support" were listened to with sig- 
 nificant smiles and whispering ; but when a note was brought 
 from Beauvisage, and Dorlange read aloud that M. le Maire 
 " found it impossible to correspond to his polite invitation," 
 laughter was loud and long, as much at the matter as the 
 manner of the refusal. It ended only on the arrival of a M. 
 Martener, examining judge here, who showed the highest 
 courage in accepting this dinner. At the same time, it may 
 be noted that an examining judge is in his nature a divisible 
 entity. As a judge he is a permanent official ; all the change 
 he can be subject to is that of his title, and the loss of the 
 small additional salary he is allowed, with the right to issue 
 summonses and catechise thieves, grand privileges of which 
 he may be deprived by the fiat of the keeper of the seals. 
 
 In the presence of the Due de Maufrigneuse, of Arthez,
 
 230 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 and, above all, of Monseigneur the Bishop, who is spending a 
 few days at Cinq-Cygne, one absentee was much commented 
 on, though his reply, sent early in the day, was not read to 
 the company. This was the old notary Grevin. As to the 
 Comte de Gondreville, also absent, nothing could be said > 
 the recent death of his grandson Charles Keller prohibited his 
 presence at this meeting ; and Sallenauve, by making his invi- 
 tation in some sort conditional, had been careful to suggest 
 the excuse; but Grevin, the Comte de Gondreville's right 
 hand, who has certainly made greater and more compromising 
 efforts for his friend than that of dining out Grevin's absence 
 seemed to imply that his patron was still a supporter of Beau- 
 visage, now almost deserted. And this influence lying low, in 
 sporting phrase is really of no small importance to us. Maitre 
 Achille Pigoult, Grevin's successor, explained, it is true, that 
 the old man lives in complete retirement, and can hardly be 
 persuaded to dine even with his son-in-law two or three times 
 a year ; but the retort was obvious that when the sub-prefect 
 had lately given a dinner to introduce the Beauvisage family 
 to M. Maxime de Trailles, Grevin had been ready to accept 
 his invitation. So there will be some little pull from the 
 Gondreville party, and Mother Marie des Anges will, I believe, 
 have to bring her secret thrust into play. 
 
 The pretext for the dinner being the dedication of the 
 Sainte-Ursule, an event which the sisterhood could not cele- 
 brate by a banquet, Sallenauve had a fine opportunity at dessert 
 for proposing a toast 
 
 " To the mother of the poor ; to the noble and saintly spirit 
 which for fifty years has shone on our Province, and to whom 
 is due the prodigious number of cultivated and accomplished 
 women who adorn this beautiful land ! " 
 
 You yourself mentioned to me that your son Armand saw a 
 strong resemblance in Sallenauve to the portraits of Danton ; 
 it would seem that the remark is true, for I heard it on all 
 sides, applied not to the portraits, but to the man himself, by
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 231 
 
 guests who had known the great revolutionary well. Laurent 
 Goussard, as the head of a party, had of course been invited. 
 He was not only Danton's friend, he was in a way his brother- 
 in-law ; Danton, wtyo was a scapegrace wooer, having paid his 
 court for several years to one of the honest miller's sisters. 
 Well, the likeness must in fact be striking ; for after dinner, 
 while we were drinking our coffee, the wine of the country 
 having mounted a little to the good man's brain for there 
 had been no stint, as you may suppose he went up to Salle- 
 nauve and asked him point-blank if he could by any chance 
 be mistaken as to his father, and if he were sure that Danton 
 had had nothing to do with the begetting of him. 
 
 Sallenauve laughed at the idea, and simply did a little sum 
 
 " Danton died on April 5, 1793. To be his son I must 
 have been born in 1 794 at the latest, and should be five-and- 
 forty now. Now, as the register in which my birth was 
 entered father and mother unknown is dated 1809, that 
 and I hope my face as well prove me to be but just thirty." 
 
 "Quite true," said Laurent Goussard, "the figures bowl 
 me over. Never mind; we will elect you all the same." 
 
 And I believe the man is right ; this whimsical likeness will 
 be of immense weight in turning the scale of the election. 
 And it must not be supposed that Danton is an object of 
 execration and horror to the citizens of Arcis, in spite of the 
 dreadful associations that surround his memory. In the first 
 place, time has softened them, and there yet remains the rec- 
 ollection of a strong mind and great brain that they are proud 
 of owning in a fellow-countryman. At Arcis curiosities and 
 notabilities are scarce ; here the people speak of Danton as at 
 Marseilles they would speak of the Cannebiere. 
 
 These voters, extra muros, are sometimes amusingly art- 
 less ; a little contradiction does not stick in their throat. 
 Some agents sent out into the neighboring country have already 
 made good use of this resemblance; and as in canvassing the 
 rustics it is more important to strike hard than to strike
 
 232 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 straight, Laurent Goussard's explanation, apocryphal as it is, 
 has gone the round of the rural hamlets with a precision that 
 has met with no contradiction. And while this revolutionary 
 parentage, though purely imaginary, is serving our friend 
 well, on the other hand we say to those worthy voters who 
 are to be caught by something at once more accurate and not 
 less striking 
 
 " He is the gentleman who has just bought the Chateau 
 d'Arcis." 
 
 And as the Chateau d'Arcis towers above the town and is 
 known to everybody for miles round, it is a sort of landmark ; 
 and at the same time, with a perennial instinct of reversion to 
 old-world traditions, less dead and buried than might be sup- 
 posed. 
 
 "Oho ! he is the lord of the chateau," they say, a free but 
 respectful version of the idea suggested to them. 
 
 So this, madame, saving your presence, is the procedure in 
 the electoral kitchen, and the way to dress and serve up a 
 Deputy of the Chamber. 
 
 MARIE-GASTON TO MADAME DE I/ESTORADE. 
 
 ARCIS-SUR-AUBE, May II, 1839. 
 
 MADAME: Since you do me the honor to say that my 
 letters amuse you, I am bound not to be shy of repeating 
 them. But is not this a little humiliating? and when I think 
 of the terrible grief which was our first bond of union, is it 
 possible that I should be an amusing man all the rest of my 
 days? Here, as I have told you, I am in an atmosphere that 
 intoxicates me. I have made a passion of Sallenauve's 
 success, and being, as I am, of a gloomy and hopeless nature, 
 an even greater passion perhaps of the wish to hinder the 
 triumph of ineptitude and folly under the patronage of base 
 interest and intrigue. 
 
 To-day, madame, the grotesque is paramount ; we are on
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 233 
 
 full parade. Notwithstanding M. de 1'Estorade's discouraging 
 warnings, we are led to suppose that the Ministry has not very 
 exultant tidings from its agent ; and this is what makes us think 
 so : We are no longer at the Hotel de la Poste ; we have left 
 it for our castle. But, thanks to a long-standing rivalry 
 between the two inns, la Poste and le Mulct where M. de 
 Trailles has his headquarters we still have ample information 
 from our former residence ; and our host there is all the more 
 zealous and willing because I strongly suspect that he had a 
 hand, greatly to his advantage I should think, in arranging 
 and furnishing the banquet. 
 
 From this man, then, we learn that immediately after our 
 departure, a journalist from Paris put up at the hotel. This 
 gentleman, whose name I have forgotten which is well for 
 him, considering how glorious a mission he bears also an- 
 nounced that he came as a champion to lend the vis of his 
 Parisian wit to the war of words to be opened on us by the 
 local press, subsidized by the "office of public spirit." So 
 far there is nothing very droll or very depressing in the pro- 
 ceedings ; ever since the world began Governments have been 
 able to find pens for hire, and have never been shy of hiring 
 them. Where the comedy begins is at the co-arrival at the 
 Hotel de la Poste of a damsel of very doubtful virtue, who is 
 said indeed to have accompanied his excellency the Ministerial 
 newsmonger. The young lady's name, by the way, I happen 
 to remember : she is designated on her passport as Mademoi- 
 selle Chocardelle, of independent means ; but the journalist 
 in speaking of her never calls her anything but Antonia, or, 
 if he yearns to be respectful, Mademoiselle or Miss Antonia. 
 
 But what has brought Mile. Chocardelle to Arcis? A little 
 pleasure trip, no doubt ; or perhaps to serve as an escort to 
 Monsieur the Journalist, who is willing to give her a share in 
 the credit account opened for him on the secret-service fund 
 for the daily quota of defamation to be supplied by contract ? 
 No, madame. Mile. Chocardelle has come to Arcis on busi-
 
 234 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 ness to recover certain moneys. It would seem that before 
 leaving for Africa, where he has met a glorious death, young 
 Charles Keller signed a bill in favor of Mile. Antonia, an 
 order for ten thousand francs, value received in furniture, a 
 really ingenious quibble, the furniture having obviously been 
 received by Mile. Chocardelle, who thus priced the sacrifice 
 she made in accepting it at ten thousand francs. At any rate, 
 the bill being nearly due, a few days after hearing of the death 
 of her debtor Mile. Antonia called at the Kellers' office to 
 know whether it would be paid. The cashier, a rough cus- 
 tomer, as all cashiers are, replied that he did not know how 
 Mile. Antonia could have the face to present such a claim ; 
 but that in any case the Brothers Keller, his masters, were at 
 present at Gondreville, where all the family had met on hear- 
 ing the fatal news, and that he should not pay without refer- 
 ring the matter to them. 
 
 "Very well, I will refer it myself," said the young lady, 
 who would not leave her bill to run beyond its date. 
 
 Thereupon, just as she was arranging to set out alone for 
 Arcis, the Government suddenly felt a call to abuse us, if not 
 more grossly, at any rate more brilliantly than the provincials 
 do ; and the task of sharpening these darts was confided to a 
 journalist of very mature youth, to whom Mile. Antonia had 
 been kind in the absence of Charles Keller ! 
 
 "I am off to Arcis ! " the scrivener and the lady said at 
 the same moment ; the commonest and simplest lives offjr 
 such coincidences. So it is not very strange that, having set 
 out together, they should have arrived together, and have put 
 up at the same inn. 
 
 And now I would beg you to admire the concatenation of 
 things. Mile. Chocardelle, coming here with an eye solely 
 to finance, the lady has suddenly assumed the highest political 
 importance ! And, as you will see, her valuable influence will 
 amply compensate for the stinging punishment to be dealt us 
 by her gallant fellow-traveler.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 235 
 
 In the first place, it appears that on learning that M. de 
 Trailles was in Arcis, Mile. Chocardelle's remark was 
 
 " What ! he here that horrid rip? " 
 
 The expression is not parliamentary, and I blush as I write 
 it. But it refers to previous relations business relations 
 again between Mile. Antonia and the illustrious confidant of 
 the Ministerial party. M. de Trailles, accustomed as he is to 
 pay t his court only to ladies of position who help to reduce 
 his debt rather than to add to the burden once in his life 
 took it into his head to be loved not "for himself alone," 
 and to be useful rather than expensive. He consequently 
 bought a circulating library for Mademoiselle Antonia in the 
 Rue Coquenard, where for some time she sat enthroned. But 
 the business was not a success ; a sale became necessary ; and 
 M. Maxime de Trailles, with an eye to business as usual, com- 
 plicated matters by the purchase of the furniture, which 
 slipped through his fingers by the cleverness of a rascal more 
 rascally than himself. By these manoeuvres Mile. Antonia 
 lost all her furniture, which the vans were waiting to remove ; 
 and another young lady Hortense, also " of private means," 
 and attached to old Lord Dudley gained twenty-five louis by 
 Antonia's mishap. 
 
 The journalist has much to do : to write his articles in the 
 first place, and to do various small jobs for M. de Trailles, at 
 whose service he is to be. Hence Mile. Antonia is often left 
 to herself, and, idle and bored as she is, so bereft of any kind 
 of opera, Ranelagh, Boulevard des Italiens, she has found for 
 herself a really desperate pastime. Incredible as it seems, 
 this amusement is not, after all, utterly incomprehensible, as 
 the device of a Parisienne of her class exiled to Arcis. Quite 
 close to the Hotel de la Poste is a bridge over the Aube. 
 Below the bridge, down a rather steep slope, a path has been 
 made leading to the water's edge, and so far beneath the high 
 road which, indeed, is not much frequented as to promise 
 precious silence and solitude to those who choose to go there
 
 236 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCJS. 
 
 and dream to the music of the waters. Mile. Antonia at first 
 betook herself to sit there with a book ; but perhaps, from a 
 painful association with the remembrance of her reading-room, 
 "books," as she says, "are not much in her line;" and at 
 last the landlady of the inn, seeing how tired the poor soul 
 was of herself, happily thought of offering her guest the use 
 of a very complete set of fishing-tackle belonging to her hus- 
 band, whose multifarious business compels him to leave it for 
 the most part idle. 
 
 The fair exile had some luck with her first attempts, and 
 took a great liking for the pastime, which is evidently very 
 fascinating, since it has so many fanatical devotees ; and now 
 the few passers-by, who cross the bridge, may admire, on the 
 banks of the Aube, a charming water-nymph in flounced 
 skirts and a broad-brimmed straw hat, casting her line with the 
 conscientious gravity of the most sportsmanlike Paris arab, in 
 spite of the changes of our yet unsettled temperature. 
 
 So far so good, and at present the lady's fishing has not 
 much to do with our election ; but if you should happen to 
 remember in " Don Quixote" a book you appreciate, mad- 
 ame, for the sake of the good sense and mirthful philosophy 
 that abound in it a somewhat unpleasant adventure that be- 
 falls Rosinante among the muleteers, you will anticipate, be- 
 fore I tell you, the good luck to us that has resulted from 
 Mademoiselle Antonia's suddenly developed fancy. Our 
 rival, Beauvisage, is not merely a hosier (retired) and an ex- 
 emplary mayor, he is also a model husband, never having 
 tripped in the path of virtue, respecting and admiring his 
 wife. Every evening, by her orders, he is in bed by ten 
 o'clock, while Madame Beauvisage and her daughter go into 
 what Arcis is agreed to call Society. But silent waters are 
 the deepest, they say, and nothing could be less chaste and 
 well regulated than the calm and decorous Rosinante in the 
 meeting I have alluded to. In short, Beauvisage, making the 
 rounds of his town his laudable and daily habit standing
 
 !* 
 
 ' ^ -3$ 
 
 
 3&Z
 
 BEAUVISACE STANDING ON THE BRIDGE, HAPPENED 
 TO REMARK THE DAMSEL.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 237 
 
 on the bridge, happened to remark the damsel, her arm ex- 
 tended with manly vigor, her figure gracefully balanced, ab- 
 sorbed in her favorite sport. A bewitching, impatient jerk 
 as the fair fisher-maiden drew up the line when she had not a 
 nibble, was, perhaps, the electric spark which fired the heart 
 of the hitherto blameless magistrate. None, indeed, can tell 
 how the matter came about, nor at what precise moment. 
 
 I may, however, observe that in the interval between his 
 retirement from the cotton night-cap trade and his election 
 as mayor, Beauvisage himself had practiced the art of angling 
 with distinguished skill, and would do so still but for his 
 higher dignity, which unlike Louis XIV. keeps him from 
 the shore. It struck him, no doubt, that the poor girl, with 
 more good-will than knowledge, did not set to work the right 
 way ; and it is not impossible that, as she is temporarily under 
 his jurisdiction, the idea of guiding her into the right way was 
 the origin of his apparent misconduct. This alone is certain : 
 crossing the bridge with her mother, Mile. Beauvisage, like an 
 enfant terrible, suddenly exclaimed 
 
 " Why, papa is talking to that Paris woman ! " 
 
 To make sure, by a glance, of the monstrous fact ; to rush 
 down the slope ; to face her husband, whom she found beam- 
 ing with smiles and the blissful look of a sheep in clover ; to 
 crush him with a thundering "Pray, what are you doing 
 here? " to leave him no retreat but into the river, and issue 
 her sovereign command that he should go this, madame, was 
 the prompt action of Mme. Beauvisage nee Grevin ; while 
 Mile. Chocardelle, at first amazed, but soon guessing what 
 had happened, went into fits of the most uncontrollable 
 laughter. And though these proceedings may be regarded as 
 justifiable, they cannot be called judicious, for the catastrophe 
 was known to the whole town by the evening, and M. Beau- 
 visage, convicted of the most deplorable laxity, saw a still 
 further thinning of his reduced phalanx of followers. 
 
 However, the Gondreville-Grevin faction still held its own,
 
 238 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 till would you believe it? Mile. Antonia once more was 
 the means of overthrowing their last defenses. 
 
 This is the history of the marvel : Mother Marie des Anges 
 wished for an interview with the Comte de Gondreville ; but 
 she did not know how to manage it, as she thought it an ill- 
 timed request. Having some severe remarks to make, it 
 would seem, she would not ask the old man to visit her on 
 purpose ; it was too cruel an offense to charity. Beside, com- 
 minations fired point-blank at the culprit miss their aim quite 
 as often as they frighten him ; whereas observations softly in- 
 sinuated are far more certain to have the desired effect. Still, 
 time was fleeting ; ^he election takes place to-morrow Sun- 
 day and to-night the preliminary meeting is to be held. The 
 poor, dear lady did not know which way to turn, when some 
 information reached her which was not a little flattering. A 
 fair sinner, who had come to Arcis intending to get some 
 money out of Keller, Gondreville's son-in-law, had heard of 
 the virtues of Mother Marie des Anges, of her indefatigable 
 kindness and her fine old age in short, all that is said of her 
 in the district where she is, next to Danton, the chief object 
 of interest; and this minx's great regret was that she dared 
 not ask to be admitted to her presence. 
 
 An hour later, this note was delivered at the H6tel de la 
 Poste : 
 
 " MADEMOISELLE : I am told that you wish to see me, and 
 do not know how. Nothing can be easier: ring at the door 
 of my solemn dwelling, ask the sister who opens it for me, do 
 not be overawed by my black dress and grave face, nor fancy 
 that I force my advice on pretty girls who do not ask it, and 
 may one day be better saints than I am. 
 
 "That is the whole secret of an interview with Mother Marie 
 des Anges, who greets you in the Lord Jesus Christ. i*" 
 
 As you may suppose, madame, there was no refusing so
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 239 
 
 gracious an invitation, and before long Mile. Antonia, in the 
 soberest garb at her command, was on her way to the convent. 
 I much wish I could give you authentic details of the meeting, 
 which must have been a curious one ; but nobody was present, 
 nor have I been able to hear what report of it was given by 
 the wandering lamb, who came away moved to tears. 
 
 When the journalist tried to make fun of her converted 
 airs 
 
 "There, hold your tongue !" said Mile. Antonia. "You 
 never in your life wrote such a sentence ! " 
 
 "What was the sentence, come?" 
 
 "'Go, my child,' said the good old lady, 'the ways of 
 God are beautiful and little known ; there is more stuff to 
 make a saint of in a Magdalen than in many a nun.' " 
 
 And I may add, madame, that as she repeated the words 
 the poor girl's voice broke, and she put her handkerchief to 
 her eyes. The journalist a disgrace to the press, one of 
 those wretches who are no more typical of the press than a 
 bad priest is of religion the journalist began to laugh, but 
 scenting danger, he added: "And, pray, when do you mean 
 really to go to Gondreville to speak to Keller, whom I shall 
 certainly end by kicking in a corner of some article in 
 spite of all Maxime r s instructions to the contrary?" 
 
 "Am I going to meddle with any such dirty tricks?" 
 asked Antonia, with dignity. 
 
 " What ? So now you do not mean to present your bill ! " 
 
 "I!" replied the devotee of Mother Marie des Anges, 
 probably echoing her sentiments, but in her own words. "/ 
 try to blackmail a family in such grief? Why, the recollection 
 of it would stab me on my death-bed, and I could never hope 
 that God would have mercy upon me." 
 
 "Well, then, become an Ursuline and have done with it." 
 
 "If only I had courage enough, I should perhaps be hap- 
 pier ; but, at any rate, I will not go to Gondreville. Mother 
 Marie des Anges will settle everything."
 
 240 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " Why, most wretched child, you never left the bill with 
 her, eh?" 
 
 " I was going to tear it up, but she stopped me, and told 
 me to give it to her, and that she would manage to pull me 
 through by hook or by crook." 
 
 " Oh, very well ! You were a creditor you will be a 
 beggar " 
 
 " No, for I am giving alms. I told Madame the Abbess to 
 keep the money for the poor." 
 
 " Oh, if you are going to be a benefactress to convents 
 with your other vice of angling, you will be pleasant com- 
 pany ! " 
 
 " You will not have my company for long, for I am off this 
 evening, and leave you to your dirty job." 
 
 " Halloo ! Going to be a Carmelite ? ' ' 
 
 "Carmelite is good," retorted Antonia sharply; "very 
 good, old boy, when I am leaving a Louis XIV." 
 
 For even the most ignorant of these girls all know the 
 story of la Valliere, whom they would certainly adopt as 
 their patron saint, if Sainte-Louise of mercy had ever been 
 canonized. 
 
 Now, how Mother Marie des Anges worked the miracle I 
 know not, but the Comte de Gondreville's carriage was stand- 
 ing this morning at the convent gate ; the miracle, be it under- 
 stood, consisting not in having brought that old owl out, for 
 he hurried off, you may be sure, as soon as he heard of ten 
 thousand francs to be paid, though the money was not to 
 come out of his purse, but Keller's it was the family's, and 
 such misers as he have a horror of other people spending when 
 they do not think the money well laid out. But Mother 
 Marie des Anges was not content with having got him to the 
 convent ; she did our business too. On leaving, the peer 
 drove to see his friend Grevin ; and in the course of the day 
 the old notary told a number of persons that really his son-in- 
 law was too stupid by half, that he had got himself into ill
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 241 
 
 odor through this affair with the Parisian damsel, and that 
 nothing could ever be made of him. 
 
 Meanwhile, it was. rumored that the priests of the two 
 parishes had each received, by the hand of Mother Marie 
 des Anges, a sum of a thousand crowns for distribution among 
 the poor, given to her by a benevolent person who wished to 
 remain unknown. Sallenauve is furious because some of our 
 agents are going about saying that he is the anonymous bene- 
 factor, and a great many people believe it, though the story 
 of Keller's bill has got about, and it would be easy to trace 
 this liberality to the real donor. 
 
 M. Maxime de Trailles cannot get over it, and there is 
 every probability that the defeat, which he must now see is 
 inevitable, will wreck his prospects of marriage. All that can 
 be said with regard to his overthrow is what we always say of 
 an author who has failed he is a clever man, and will have 
 his revenge. 
 
 MARIE-GASTON TO THE COMTESSE DE I/ESTORADE. 
 
 ARCIS-SUR-AUBE, Sunday, May 12, 1839. 
 
 MADAME: Yesterday evening the preliminary meeting was 
 held, a somewhat ridiculous business, and uncommonly dis- 
 agreeable for the candidates ; however, it had to be faced. 
 When people are going to pledge themselves to a representa- 
 tive for four or five years, it is natural that they should wish 
 to know something about him. Is he intelligent ? Does he 
 really express the opinions of which he carries the ticket ? 
 Will he be friendly and affable to those persons who may have 
 to commend their interests to his care ? Has he determina- 
 tion ? Will he be able to defend his ideas if he has any ? 
 In a word, will he represent them worthily, steadily, and 
 truly ? 
 
 But every medal has its reverse ; and on the other side we 
 may see the voter at such meetings puffed up with arrogance, 
 16
 
 242 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 eager to display the sovereign authority which he is about to 
 transfer to his deputy, selling it as dear as he is able. From 
 the impertinence of some of the questions put to the candi- 
 date, might you not suppose that he was a serf, over whom 
 each voter had the power of life and death? There is not a 
 corner of his private life which the unhappy mortal can be 
 sure of hiding from prying curiosity ; as to merely stupid 
 questions, anything is conceivable as " Does he prefer the 
 wines of Champagne to those of Bordeaux? " At Bordeaux, 
 where wine is the religion, such a preference would prove a 
 lack of patriotism, and seriously endanger his return. Many 
 voters attend solely to enjoy the confusion of the nominees. 
 They cross-examine them, as they call it, to amuse themselves, 
 as children spin a cockchafer ; or as of yore old judges 
 watched the torture of a criminal, and even nowadays young 
 doctors enjoy an autopsy or an operation. Many have not 
 even so refined a taste ; they come simply for the fun of the 
 hubbub, the confusion of voices which is certain to arise 
 under such circumstances ; or they look forward to an oppor- 
 tunity for displaying some pleasing accomplishment ; for in- 
 stance, at the moment when as the reports of the sittings in 
 the Chamber have it the tumult is at its height, it is not un- 
 common to hear a miraculously accurate imitation of the 
 crowing of a cock, or the yelping of a dog when his foot is 
 trodden on. Intelligence, which alone should be allowed to 
 vote, having, like d'Aubigne Mme. de Maintenon's brother 
 taken its promotion in cash, we cannot be surprised to find 
 stupid people among the electors, and indeed they are numer- 
 ous enough in this world to have a claim to be represented. 
 
 The meeting was held in a good-sized hall, where a restau- 
 rant-keeper gives a dance every Sunday. There is a raised 
 gallery for the orchestra, which was reserved as a sort of plat- 
 form, to which a few non-voters were admitted ; I was one of 
 these privileged few. Some ladies occupied front seats : Mme. 
 Marion, the aunt of Giguet the advocate, one of the candi-
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 243 
 
 dates; Mme. and Mile. Mollot, the wife and daughter of the 
 clerk of assize ; and a few others whose names and position I 
 have forgotten. Mme. and Mile. Beauvisage, like Brutus and 
 Cassius, were conspicuous by their absence. 
 
 Giguet was the first candidate to address the meeting, his 
 father, the colonel, being in the chair ; his speech was long, 
 a medley of commonplace ; very few questions were put to 
 him to be recorded in this report. Every one felt that the 
 real battle was not to be fought here. 
 
 Then M. Beauvisage was called for. Maitre Achille Pigoult 
 rose and begged to be allowed to speak, and said 
 
 " M. le Maire has been very unwell since yesterday " 
 
 Shouts and roars of laughter interrupted the speaker. 
 
 Colonel Giguet rang the bell, with which he had been duly 
 provided, for a long time before silence was restored. At the 
 first lull, Maitre Pigoult tried again 
 
 "As I had the honor of saying, gentlemen, M. le Maire, 
 suffering as he is from an attack, which, though not serious, 
 may " 
 
 A fresh outbreak, more noisy than the first. Like all old 
 soldiers, Colonel Giguet's temper is neither very long-suffering 
 nor altogether parliamentary. He started to his feet, exclaim- 
 ing 
 
 "Gentlemen, this is not one of Frappart's balls" (the 
 name of the owner of the room) ; " I must beg you to behave 
 with greater decency, otherwise I shall resign the chair." 
 
 It is supposed that a body of men prefer to be rough-ridden, 
 for this exhortation was received with applause, and silence 
 seemed fairly well restored. 
 
 "As I was saying, to my regret," Maitre Achille began 
 once more, varying his phrase each time, " having a tiresome 
 indisposition which, though not serious, will confine him to 
 his room for some days " 
 
 "Loss of voice ! " said somebody. 
 
 "Our excellent and respected mayor," Achille Pigoult
 
 244 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 went on, heedless of the interruption, "could not have the 
 pleasure of attending this meeting. However, Madame Beau- 
 visage, whom I had the honor of seeing but just now, told me, 
 and commissioned me to tell you, that for the present M. 
 Beauvisage foregoes the honor of claiming your suffrages, beg- 
 ging such gentlemen as had expressed their interest in his 
 election to transfer their votes to M. Simon Giguet." 
 
 This Achille Pigoult is a very shrewd individual, who had 
 very skillfully brought about the intervention of Mrae. Beau- 
 visage, thus emphasizing her conjugal supremacy. The as- 
 sembly were, however, too thoroughly provincial to appreciate 
 this dirty little trick. In the country women are constantly 
 mixed up with their husbands' concerns, even the most mas- 
 culine; and the old story of the priest's housekeeper, who 
 replied quite seriously: "We cannot say mass so cheap as 
 that," has to us a spice of the absurd which in many small 
 towns would not be recognized. 
 
 Finally, Sallenauve rose, and after briefly enumerating the 
 facts which tie him to the district, and alluding with skill and 
 dignity to his birth, as " not being the same as most people's," 
 monsieur set forth his political views. He esteems a republic 
 as the best form of government, but believes it impossible to 
 maintain in France; hence he cannot wish for it. He believes 
 that really representative government, with the politics of the 
 camarilla so firmly muzzled that there is nothing to be feared 
 from its constant outbreaks and incessant schemes, may tend 
 largely to the dignity and prosperity of a nation. Liberty 
 and Equality, the two great principles which triumphed in 
 '89, have the soundest guarantees from that form of govern- 
 ment. As to the possible trickery that kingly power may 
 bring to bear against them, institutions cannot prevent it. 
 Men and the moral sense, rather than the laws, must be on 
 the alert in such a case ; and he, Sallenauve, will always be 
 one of these living obstacles. He expressed himself as an 
 ardent supporter of freedom in teaching, said that in his opin-
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC2S. 245 
 
 ion further economy might be brought to bear on the budget, 
 that there were too many paid officials in the Chamber, and 
 that the Court especially was too strongly represented. The 
 electors who should vote for him were not to expect that he 
 would ever take any step in their behalf which was not based 
 on reason and justice. It had been said that the word " im- 
 possible " was not French. Yet there was one impossibility 
 that he recognized, and by which he should always feel it an 
 honor to be beaten, namely, any infringement of justice or 
 the least attempt to defeat the right. (Loud applause.) 
 
 Silence being restored, one of the electors spoke 
 
 "Monsieur," said he, after due license from the chairman, 
 " you have said that you will accept no office from the Govern- 
 ment. Is not that by implication casting a slur on those who 
 are in office ? My name is Godivet ; I am the town registrar ; 
 I do not therefore conceive myself open to the scorn of my 
 respected fellow-citizens." 
 
 Said Sallenauve 
 
 " I am delighted, monsieur, to hear that the Government 
 has conferred on you functions which you fulfill, I am sure, 
 with perfect rectitude and ability. But may I inquire whether 
 you were from the first at the head of the office you manage ? " 
 
 " Certainly not, monsieur. I was for three years super- 
 numerary ; I then rose through the various grades ; and I may 
 honestly say that my modest promotion was never due to 
 favor." 
 
 " Well, then, monsieur, what would you say if I, with my 
 title as deputy supposing me to secure the suffrages of the 
 voters in this district I, who have never been a super- 
 numerary, and have passed no grade, who should have done 
 the Ministry no service but that of voting on its side if I 
 were suddenly appointed to be director-general of your 
 department and such things have been seen? " 
 
 " I should say I should say, monsieur, that the choice was 
 a good one, since the King would have made it."
 
 246 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " No, monsieur, you would not say so ; or if you said it 
 aloud, which I cannot believe possible, you would think to 
 yourself that such an appointment was ridiculous and unjust. 
 ' Where the deuce did the man learn the difficult business of 
 an office when he has been a sculptor all his life ? ' you would 
 ask. And you would be right not to approve of the royal 
 caprice ; for acquired rights, long and honorable service, and 
 the regular progression of advancement would be nullified by 
 this system of selection by the sovereign's pleasure. And it 
 is to show that I disapprove of the crying abuse I am de- 
 nouncing; it is because I do not think it just, or right, or 
 advantageous that a man should be thus raised over other 
 men's heads to the highest post in the public service, that I 
 pledge myself to accept no promotion. And do you still 
 think, monsieur, that I am contemning such functions ? Do 
 I not rather treat them with the greatest respect?" 
 
 M. Godivet expressed himself satisfied. 
 
 "But look here, sir," cried another elector, after request- 
 ing leave in a somewhat vinous voice, " you say you will 
 never ask for anything for your electors ; then what good will 
 you be to us?" 
 
 " I never said, my good friend, that I would ask for nothing 
 for my constituents; I said I would ask for nothing but what 
 was just. That, I may say, I will demand with determination 
 and perseverance, for justice ought always to be thus served." 
 
 "Not but what there are other ways of serving it," the man 
 went on. " For instance, there was that lawsuit what they 
 made me lose against Jean Remy we had had words, you 
 see, about a landmark " 
 
 "Well," said Colonel Giguet, interposing, "you are not, 
 I suppose, going to tell us the history of your lawsuit and 
 speak disrespectfully of the magistrates?" 
 
 " The magistrates, colonel ? I respect them, which I was 
 a member of the municipality for six weeks in '93, and I 
 know the law. But to come back to my point. I want to
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 247 
 
 ask the gentleman, who is here to answer me just as much as 
 the others, what is his opinion of the licensed tobacco jobs." 
 
 " My opinion of "tobacco licenses? That would be a little 
 difficult to state briefly. However, I may go so far as to say 
 that, if I am correctly informed, they do not seem to me to 
 be always judiciously granted." 
 
 "Well done you! You are a man!" cried the voter, 
 "and I shall vote for you, for they won't make a fool of you 
 in a hurry. I believe you; the tobacco licenses are given 
 away anyhow. Why, there is Jean Remy's girl a bad neigh- 
 bor he was ; he has never been a yard away from his plough 
 tail, and he fights with his wife every day of the week, and 
 beside " 
 
 "But, my good fellow," said the chairman, interrupting 
 him, "you are really encroaching on these gentlemen's pa- 
 tience " 
 
 " No, no ; let him speak ! " was shouted on all sides. 
 
 The man amused them, and Sallenauve gave the colonel to 
 understand that he too would like to know what the fellow 
 was coming to. So the elector went on 
 
 "Then what I say is this, saving your presence, my dear 
 colonel, there was that girl of Jean Remy's and I will never 
 give him any peace, not even in hell, for my landmark was in 
 its right place and your experts were all wrong well, what 
 does the girl do? There she leaves her father and mother, 
 and off she goes to Paris : what is she up to in Paris ? Well, 
 I didn't go to see; but if she doesn't scrape acquaintance 
 with a member of the Chamber, and at this day she has a 
 licensed tobacco store in the Rue Mouffetard, one of the 
 longest streets in Paris ; whereas, if I should kick the bucket 
 to-day or to-morrow, there is my wife, the widow of a hard- 
 working man, crippled with rheumatism all along of sleeping 
 in the woods during the terror of 1815 and where's the 
 tobacco license she would get, I should like to know ! " 
 
 "But you are not dead yet," said one and another in reply
 
 248 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 to this wonderful record of service. And the colonel, to put 
 an end to this burlesque scene, gave the next turn to a little 
 pastrycook, a well-known Republican. 
 
 The new speaker asked Sallenauve in a high falsetto voice 
 this insidious question, which at Arcis indeed may be called 
 national. 
 
 " What, sir, is your opinion of Danton ? " 
 
 "Monsieur Dauphin," said the president, "I must be 
 allowed to point out to you that Danton is now a part of 
 history." 
 
 " The Pantheon of History, Monsieur le President, is the 
 proper term." 
 
 "Well, well! History, or the Pantheon of History 
 Danton seems to me to have nothing to do with the matter 
 in hand." 
 
 "Allow me, Mr. President," said Sallenauve. "Though 
 the question has apparently no direct bearing on the objects 
 of this meeting, still, in a town which still rings with the 
 fame of that illustrious name, I cannot shirk the opportunity 
 offered me for giving a proof of my impartiality and inde- 
 pendence by pronouncing on that great but unhappy man's 
 memory." 
 
 " Yes, yes ! hear, hear ! " cried the audience, almost unani- 
 mously. 
 
 "I am firmly convinced," Sallenauve went on, "that if 
 Danton had lived in times as calm and peaceful as ours, he 
 would have been as indeed he was a good husband, a good 
 father, a warm and faithful friend, an attaching and amiable 
 character, and that his remarkable talents would have raised 
 him to an eminent position in the State and in society." 
 
 " Hear, hear ! bravo ! capital ! " 
 
 "Born, on the contrary, at a period of great troubles, in 
 the midst of a storm of unchained and furious passions, Dan- 
 ton, of all men, was the one to blaze up in this atmosphere of 
 flame. Danton was a burning torch, and his crimson glow
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 249 
 
 was only too apt for such scenes of blood and horror as I will 
 not now remind you of. 
 
 " But, it has been said, the independence of the nation had 
 to be saved ; traitors and sneaks had to be punished ; in short, 
 a sacrifice had to be consummated, terrible but necessary for 
 the requirements of public safety. Gentlemen, I do not ac- 
 cept this view of the matter. To kill wholesale, and, as has 
 been proved twenty times over, without any necessity to kill 
 unarmed men, women, and prisoners is under any hypothesis 
 an atrocious crime ; those who ordered it, those who allowed 
 it, those who did the deed are to me included in one and the 
 same condemnation ! 
 
 "Still," he went on, "there are two possible sequels to a 
 crime committed and irreparable repentance and expiation. 
 Danton expressed his repentance not in words, he was too 
 proud for that he did better, he acted ; and at the sound of 
 the knife of the head-cutting machine, which was working 
 without pause or respite, at the risk of hastening his turn to 
 lose his own, he ventured to move for a Committee of Clem- 
 ency. It was an almost infallible way of inviting expiation, 
 and when the day of expiation came we all know that he did 
 not shrink ! By meeting his death as a reward for his brave 
 attempt to stay the tide of bloodshed, it may be said, gentle- 
 men, that Danton's figure and memory are purged of the 
 crimson stain that the terrible September had left upon them. 
 Cut off at the age thirty-five, flung to posterity, Danton dwells 
 in our memory as a man of powerful intellect, of fine private 
 virtues, and of more than one generous action these, then, 
 were himself; his frenzied crimes were but from the contagion 
 of the age. 
 
 " In short, in speaking of such a man as he was, the justice 
 is most unjust which is not tempered with large allowances 
 and, gentlemen, there is a woman who understood and pro- 
 nounced on Danton better than you or I, better than any 
 orator or historian the woman who, in a sublime spirit of
 
 250 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 charity, said to the relentless, ' He is with God ! Let us pray 
 for the peace of his soul ! ' ' 
 
 The snare thus avoided by this judicious allusion to Mother 
 Marie des Anges, the meeting seemed satisfied, and we might 
 fancy that the candidate was at the end of his examination. 
 The colonel was preparing to call for a show of hands when 
 several voters demurred, saying that there were still two mat- 
 ters requiring explanation by the nominee Sallenauve had 
 said that he would always stand in the way of any trickery 
 attempted by the sovereign authority against national institu- 
 tions. What were they to understand by resistance ; did he 
 mean armed resistance, riots, barricades? 
 
 "Barricades," said Sallenauve, "have always seemed to 
 me to be machines which turn and crush those who erected 
 them ; nay, we are bound to believe that it is in the nature of 
 a rebellion to serve, ultimately, the purpose of the Govern- 
 ment, since on every occasion the police is presently accused 
 of beginning it. The resistance I shall offer will always be 
 legal, and carried on by lawful means the press, speeches in 
 the Chamber, and patience the real strength of the oppressed 
 and vanquished." 
 
 If you knew Latin, madame, I would say: "In cauda vene- 
 num," that is to say, that the serpent's poison is in its tail 
 a statement of the ancients which modern science has failed 
 to confirm. 
 
 M. de 1'Estorade was not mistaken: Sallenauve's private 
 life was made a matter of prying inquiry; and, under the 
 inspiration, no doubt, of Maxime, the virtuous Maxime, who 
 had flung out several hints through the journalist intrusted 
 with his noble plot, our friend was at last questioned as to the 
 handsome Italian he keeps "hidden" in his house in Paris. 
 When a body of men are assembled together, madame, as your 
 husband may have told you, they are like grown-up children, 
 who are only too glad to hear a long story
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 251 
 
 SALLENAUVE TO MADAME DE L'ESTORADE. 
 
 Seven o'clock in the evening. 
 
 MADAME: The rather abrupt manner of my leave-taking 
 when I bade you and M. de 1'Estorade farewell, that night 
 after our excursion to the College Henri IV., is by now quite 
 accounted for, no doubt, by the anxieties of every kind that 
 were agitating me ; Marie-Gaston, I know, has told you the 
 result. I must own that in the state of uneasy excitement in 
 which I then was, the belief which M. de 1'Estorade seemed 
 inclined to give to the scandal he spoke of caused me both 
 pain and surprise. "What," thought I to myself, "is it 
 possible that a man of so much moral and commonsense as 
 M. de 1'Estorade can a priori suppose me capable of loose 
 conduct, when on all points he sees me anxious to give my 
 life such gravity and respectability as may command esteem ? 
 And if he has such an opinion of my libertine habits, it would 
 be so amazingly rash to admit me on a footing of intimacy in 
 his house with his wife, that his present politeness must be 
 essentially temporary and precarious." 
 
 As to M. de 1'Estorade, I was, I confess, nettled with him, 
 finding him so recklessly ready to echo a calumny against 
 which I thought he might have defended me, considering the 
 nature of the acquaintance we had formed, so to him I would 
 not condescend to explain : this I now withdraw, but at the 
 time it was the true expression of very keen annoyance. 
 
 The chances of an election contest have necessitated my 
 giving the explanation, in the first instance, to a public meet- 
 ing, and I have been so happy as to find that men in a mass 
 are more capable perhaps than singly of appreciating a gen- 
 erous impulse and the genuine ring of truth. I was called 
 upon, madame, under circumstances so unforeseen and so 
 strange as to trench very nearly on the ridiculous, to make a 
 statement of almost incredible facts to an audience of a very 
 mixed character.
 
 252 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 This is my story, very much as I told it to my constituents 
 at their requisition 
 
 Some months before I left Rome, we received a visit 
 almost every evening in the cafe where the Academy pupils 
 are wont to meet from an Italian named Benedetto. He 
 called himself a musician, and was not at all a bad one ; but 
 we were warned that he was also a spy in the employment of 
 the Roman police, which accounted for his constant regularity 
 and his predilection for our company. At any rate, he was a 
 very amusing buffoon ; and as we cared not a straw for the 
 Roman police, we were more than tolerant of the fellow ; we 
 tempted him to frequent the place a matter of no great 
 difficulty, since he had a passion for zabajon, poncio spongato, 
 and spuma di latte. 
 
 One evening as he came in, he was asked by one of our 
 party who the woman was with whom he had been seen walk- 
 ing that morning. 
 
 " My wife, signer ! " said the Italian, swelling with pride. 
 
 " Yours, Benedetto ? You the husband of such a beauty? " 
 
 "Certainly, by your leave, signer." 
 
 "What next ! You are stumpy, ugly, a toper. And it is 
 said that you are a police agent into the bargain ; she, on the 
 other hand, is as handsome as the huntress Diana." 
 
 " I charmed her by my musical gifts ; she dies of love for 
 me." 
 
 " Well, then, if she is your wife, you ought to let her pose 
 for our friend Dorlange, who at this moment is meditating a 
 statue of Pandora. He will never find such another model." 
 
 " That may be managed," replied the Italian. 
 
 And he went off into the most amusing tomfoolery, which 
 made us all forget the suggestion that had been made. 
 
 I was in my studio next morning, and with me certain 
 painters and sculptors, my fellow-pupils, when Benedetto 
 came in, and with him a remarkably beautiful woman. I 
 need not describe her to you, madame ; you have seen her.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 253 
 
 A cheer of delight hailed the Italian, who said, addressing 
 me: 
 
 " Ecco la Pandora!* Well, what do you think of her ? " 
 
 " She is beautiful ; but will she sit ? " 
 
 "Pooh! " was Benedetto's reply, as much as to say, "I 
 should like to see her refuse." 
 
 "But," said I, "so perfect a model will want high pay." 
 
 "No, the honor is enough. But you will make a bust of 
 me a terra-cotta head and make her a present of it." 
 
 " Well, then, gentlemen," said I to the others, " you will 
 have the goodness to leave us to ourselves." 
 
 No one heeded ; judging of the wife by the husband, all 
 the young scapegraces crowded rudely round the woman, 
 who, blushing, agitated, and scared by all these eyes, looked 
 rather like a caged panther baited by peasants at a fair. Bene- 
 detto went up and took her aside to explain to her in Italian 
 that the French signor wanted to take her likeness at full 
 length, and that she must dispense with her garments. She 
 gave him one fulminating look and made for the door. Bene- 
 detto rushed forward to stop her, while my companions the 
 virtuous brood of the studio barred the way. 
 
 A struggle began between the husband and wife ; but as I 
 saw that Benedetto was defending his side of the argument 
 with the greatest brutality, I flew into a passion ; with one 
 arm, for I am luckily pretty strong, I pushed the wretch off, 
 and turning to the youths with a determined air "Come," 
 said I, "let her pass! " I escorted the woman, still quiver- 
 ing with anger, to the door. She thanked me briefly in 
 Italian, and vanished without further hindrance. 
 
 On returning to Benedetto, who was gesticulating threats, 
 I told him to go, that his conduct was infamous, and that if I 
 should hear that he had ill-treated his wife, he would have an 
 account to settle with me. 
 
 " Debole /" (idiot !) said the wretch with a shrug. 
 * Behold your Pandora.
 
 254 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC1S. 
 
 But he went, followed, as he had been welcomed, by a 
 cheer. 
 
 Some days elapsed. We saw no more of Benedetto, and at 
 first were rather uneasy. Some of us even tried to find him 
 in the Trastevere suburb, where he was known to live ; but 
 research in that district is not easy; the French students are 
 in ill-odor with the Trasteverini, who always suspect them of 
 schemes to seduce their wives and daughters, and the men are 
 always ready with the knife. 
 
 By the end of the week no one, as you may suppose, ever 
 thought of the buffoon again. 
 
 Three days before I left Rome his wife came into my studio. 
 She could speak a little bad French. 
 
 " You go to Paris," said she. " I come to go with you." 
 
 " Go with me ? And your husband ? " 
 
 " Dead," said she calmly. 
 
 An idea flashed through my brain. 
 
 "And you killed him?" said I to the Trasteverina. She 
 nodded 
 
 " But I try to killed me too." 
 
 "How?" asked I. 
 
 "After he had so insult me," said she, "he came to our 
 house, he beat me like always, and then went out all day. 
 The night he came back and showed me a pistol-gun. I 
 snatch it away ; he is drunk ; I throw that briccone (wretch) on 
 bed ; and he go to sleep. Then I stuff up the door and the 
 window, and I put much charcoal on a brasero, and I light it ; 
 and I have a great headache, and then I know nothing till the 
 next day. The neighbors have smell the charcoal, and have 
 make me alive again but he he is dead before." 
 
 "And the police?" 
 
 " The police know ; and that he had want to sell me to an 
 English. For that he had want to make me vile to you, then 
 I would not want to resist. The judge he tell me go quite 
 right. So I have confess, and have absolution."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 255 
 
 " But, cara mia, what can you do in France ? I am not 
 rich as the English are." 
 
 A scornful smile .passed over her beautiful face. 
 
 "I shall cost you "nothing," said she. " On the contrary, 
 I shall save much money." 
 
 "How?" said I. 
 
 "I will be the model for your statues; yes, I am willing. 
 Benedetto used to say I was very well made and a very good 
 house-wife. If Benedetto would have agreed, we could have 
 lived happily, perche I have a talent too." 
 
 And taking down a guitar that hung in a corner of my 
 studio, she sang a bravura air, accompanying herself with im- 
 mense energy. 
 
 " In France," she said when it was finished, " I shall have 
 lessons and go on the stage, where I shall succeed that was 
 Benedetto's plan." 
 
 "But why not go on the stage in Italy?" 
 
 "Since Benedetto died, I am in hiding; the Englishman 
 wants to carry me off. I mean to go to France ; as you see, I 
 have been learning French. If I stay here, it will be in the 
 Tiber." 
 
 M. de 1'Estorade will admit that by abandoning such a 
 character to its own devices, I might fear to be the cause of 
 some disaster, so I consented to allow Signora Luigia to 
 accompany me to Paris. I gave my housekeeper a singing 
 master, and she is now ready to appear in public. 
 
 In spite of her dreams of the stage, she is pious, as all 
 Italian women are ; she has joined the fraternity of the Virgin 
 at Saint-Sulpice, my parish church, and during the month of 
 Mary, now a few days old, the good woman who lets chairs 
 counts on a rich harvest from her fine singing. She attends 
 every service, confesses and communicates frequently ; and 
 her director, a highly respectable old priest, came to me lately 
 to beg that she might no longer serve as the model for my 
 statues, saying that she would never listen to his injunctions
 
 256 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 on the subject, fancying her honor pledged to me. I yielded, 
 of course, to his representations, all the more readily because 
 in the event of my being elected, as seems extremely probable, 
 I intend to part with this woman. In the more conspicuous 
 position which I shall then fill, she would be the object of 
 comments not less fatal to her reputation and prospects than 
 to my personal dignity. 
 
 I have spoken with Marie-Gaston of the difficulty I antici- 
 pate in the way of this separation. He fears it, he says, even 
 more than I. Hitherto, to this poor soul, Paris has been my 
 house, and the mere idea of being cast alone into the whirl- 
 pool which she has never even seen, is enough to terrify her. 
 One thing struck Marie-Gaston in this connection. He does 
 not think that the intervention of the confessor can be of any 
 use ; the girl, he says, would rebel against the sacrifice if she 
 thought it was imposed on her by rigorous devotion. 
 
 Marie-Gaston is of opinion that the intervention and coun- 
 sels of a person of her own sex, with a high reputation for 
 virtue and enlightenment, might in such a case be more effica- 
 cious, and he declares that I know a person answering to this 
 description, who, at our joint entreaty, would consent to under- 
 take this delicate negotiation. But, madame, I ask you what 
 apparent chance is there that this notion should be realized ? 
 The lady to whom Marie-Gaston alludes is to me an acquaint- 
 ance of yesterday ; and one would hardly undertake such a 
 task even for an old friend. I know you did me the honor 
 to say some little while since that some acquaintanceships 
 ripen fast. And Marie-Gaston added that the lady in question 
 was perfectly pious, perfectly kind, perfectly charitable, and 
 that the idea of being the patron saint of a poor deserted 
 creature might have some attractions for her. In short, 
 madame, on our return we propose to consult you, and you 
 will tell us whether it may be possible to ask for such valuable 
 assistance. 
 
 By this time to-morrow, madame, I shall have met with a
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 257 
 
 repulse which will send me back, once for all, to my work as 
 an artist, or I shall have my foot set on a new path. Need I 
 tell you that I am anxious at the thought ? The effect of the 
 unknown, no doubt. 
 
 I had almost forgotten to tell you a great piece of news 
 which will be a protection to you against the ricochet of cer- 
 tain projectiles. I confided to Mother Marie des Anges of 
 whom Marie-Gaston had told you wonders all my suspicions 
 as to some violence having been used toward Mile. Lanty, 
 and she is sure that in the course of no very long time she 
 can discover the convent where Marianina is probably de- 
 tained. 
 
 MARIE-GASTON TO THE COMTESSE DE I/ESTORADE. 
 
 ARCIS-SUR-AUBE, May 13, 1839. 
 
 We have had a narrow escape, madame, while sleeping. 
 And those blundering rioters, of whose extraordinary out- 
 break we have news to-day by telegraph, for a moment im- 
 periled our success. No sooner was the news of the rising in 
 Paris yesterday known, through the bills posted by order of 
 the sub-prefect, than it was cleverly turned to account by the 
 ministerial party. 
 
 " Elect a democrat if you will ! " they cried on all sides, 
 "that his speeches may make the cartridges for insurgent 
 muskets ! " 
 
 This argument threw our phalanx into disorder and doubt. 
 Fortunately, as you may remember, a question not appar- 
 ently so directly to the point had been put to Sallenauve at 
 the preliminary meeting, and there was something prophetic 
 in his reply. 
 
 Jacques Bricheteau had the happy thought of getting a little 
 handbill printed and widely distributed forthwith : 
 
 17
 
 258 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "A RIOT WITH HARD FIGHTING TOOK PLACE YESTERDAY 
 IN PARIS. 
 
 " Questioned as to such criminal and desperate methods of 
 opposition, one of our candidates, M. de Sallenauve, at the 
 very hour when those shots were being fired, was using these 
 very words " followed by some of Sallenauve's speech, which 
 I reported to you. Then came, in large letters : 
 
 "THE RIOT WAS SUPPRESSED; WHO WILL BENEFIT BY IT?" 
 
 This little bill did wonders, and balked M. de Trailles' 
 supreme effort, though, throwing aside his incognito, he spent 
 the day speechifying in white gloves in the market-place and 
 at the door of the polling-room. 
 
 This evening the result is known : Number of voters, 201. 
 
 Beauvisage .... 2 
 
 Simon Giguet .... 29 
 Sallenauve . . ... 170 
 
 Consequently M. Charles de Sallenauve is elected 
 
 DEPUTY FOR ARCIS.
 
 PART III. 
 
 THE COMTE DE SALLENAUVE. 
 
 On the evening of the day following the election that had 
 ended so disastrously for his vanity, Maxime de Trailles re- 
 turned to Paris. 
 
 On seeing him make a hasty toilet and order his carriage as 
 soon as he reached home, it might have been supposed that 
 he was going to call on the Comte de Rastignac, minister of 
 Public Works, to give an account of his mission and explain 
 its failure ; but a more pressing interest seemed to claim his 
 attention. 
 
 "To Colonel Franchessini's," said he to the coachman. 
 
 When he reached the gate of one of the prettiest houses in 
 the Breda quarter, the concierge, to whom he nodded, gave 
 M. de Trailles the significant glance which conveyed that 
 "monsieur was within." And at the same moment the por- 
 ter's bell announced his arrival to the manservant who opened 
 the hall door. 
 
 " Is the colonel visible ? " said he. 
 
 " He has just gone in to speak to madame. Shall I tell 
 him you are here, Monsieur le Comte?" 
 
 " No, you need not do that. I will wait in his study." 
 
 And, without requiring the man to lead the way, he went 
 on, as one familiar with the house, into a large room with 
 two windows opening on a level with the garden. This study, 
 like the Bologna lute included in the " Avare's" famous in- 
 ventory, was "fitted with all its strings, or nearly all;" in 
 other words, all the articles of furniture which justified its 
 designation, such as a writing-table, bookcases, maps, and 
 globes, were there, supplemented by other and very hand- 
 some furniture ; but the colonel, an ardent sportsman, and 
 
 (259)
 
 260 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 one of the most energetic members of the Jockey Club, had 
 by degrees allowed this sanctuary of learning and science to 
 be invaded by the appurtenances of the smoking-room, the 
 fencing-school, and the harness-room. Pipes and weapons of 
 every form, from every land, including the wild Indian's club, 
 saddles, hunting-crops, bits and stirrups of every pattern, fenc- 
 ing-masks, and boxing-gloves, lay in strange and disorderly 
 confusion. However, by thus surrounding himself with the 
 accessories of his favorite occupations and studies, the colonel 
 showed that he had the courage of his opinions. In fact, in 
 his opinion no reading was endurable for more than a quarter 
 of an hour, unless indeed it were the " Stud Journal." 
 
 It must be supposed, however, that politics had made their 
 way into his life, devoted as it was to the worship of muscular 
 development and equine science, for Maxime found strewn 
 on the floor most of the morning's papers, flung aside with 
 contempt when the colonel had looked them through. From 
 among the heap M. de Trailles picked up the "National," 
 and his eye at once fell on these lines, forming a short para- 
 graph on the front page 
 
 "Our side has secured a great success in the district of 
 Arcis-sur-Aube. In spite of the efforts of local functionaries, 
 supported by those of a special agent sent by the Government 
 to this imperiled outpost, the Committee is almost entirely 
 composed of the adherents of the most advanced Left. We 
 may therefore quite confidently predict the election to-morrow 
 of M. Dorlange, one of our most distinguished sculptors, a 
 man whom we have warmly recommended to the suffrages of 
 our readers. They will not be surprised at seeing him re- 
 turned, not under the name of Dorlange, but as Monsieur 
 Charles de Sallenauve. 
 
 " &y an act of recognition, signed and witnessed on May 
 2d, at the office of Maitre Achille Pigoult, notary at Arcis, 
 M. Dorlange is authorized to take and use the name of one of
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 261 
 
 the best families in Champagne, to which he did not till then 
 know that he belonged. But Dorlange or Sallenauve, the new 
 deputy is one of \JS, a fact of which the Government will 
 ere long be made aware in the Chamber." 
 
 Maxime tossed the sheet aside with petulant annoyance and 
 picked up another. This was an organ of the Legitimist party. 
 In it he read under the heading of Elections 
 
 "The staff of the National Guard and the Jockey Club, 
 who had several members in the last Chamber of Deputies, 
 have just sent one of their most brilliant notables to the 
 newly elected Parliament, of which the first session is about 
 to open. Colonel Franchessini, so well known for his zealous 
 prosecution of National Guards who shirk service, was elected 
 almost unanimously for one of the rotten boroughs of the 
 Civil List. It is supposed that he will take his seat with the 
 phalanx of the aides-de-camp, and that in the Chamber, as in 
 the office of the staff, he will be a firm and ardent supporter 
 of the policy of the status gu0." 
 
 As Maxime got to the end of this paragraph the colonel 
 came in. 
 
 Colonel Franchessini, for a short time in the Imperial 
 army, had, under the Restoration, figured as a dashing officer; 
 but in consequence of some little clouds that had tarnished 
 the perfect brightness of his honor, he had been compelled 
 to resign his commission, so that in 1830 he was quite free to 
 devote himself with passionate ardor to the " dynasty of July." 
 He had not, however, reentered the service, because, not long 
 after his little misadventure, he had found great consolation 
 from an immensely rich Englishwoman who had allowed her- 
 self to be captivated by his handsome face and figure, at that 
 time worthy of Antinous, and had annexed him as her hus- 
 band. He had ultimately resumed his epaulettes as a member
 
 262 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS, 
 
 of the staff of the citizen militia. He had revealed himself in 
 that position as the most turbulent and contentious of swash- 
 bucklers, and by the aid of the extensive connections secured 
 to him by his wealth and this influential position, he had now 
 pushed his way the news was correct into a seat in the 
 Chamber. 
 
 "Well, Maxime," said he, holding out a hand to his ex- 
 pectant visitor, " from where in the devil do you come? We 
 have not seen a sign of you at the club for more than this 
 fortnight past." 
 
 "Whither have I come?" repeated Monsieur de Trailles. 
 "I will tell you. But first let me congratulate you." 
 
 "Yes," said the colonel airily, "they took it into their 
 heads to elect me. On my word, I am very innocent of it 
 all; if no one had worked any harder for it than I " 
 
 "My dear fellow, you are a man of gold for any district, 
 and if only the voters I have had to deal with had been equally 
 intelligent " 
 
 " What, have you been standing for a place? But from the 
 state the somewhat entangled state of your finances I did 
 not think you were in a position " 
 
 " No ; and I was not working on my own account. Ras- 
 tignac was worried about the voting in Arcis-sur-Aube, and 
 asked me to spend a few days there." 
 
 "Arcis-sur-Aube! But, my dear fellow, if I remember 
 rightly some article I was reading this morning in one of those 
 rags, they are making a shocking bad choice some plaster- 
 cast maker, an image-cutter, whom they propose to send up 
 to us?" 
 
 " Just so, and it is about that rascally business that I came 
 to consult you. I have not been two hours in Paris, and I 
 shall see Rastignac only as I leave this." 
 
 " He is getting on famously, that little minister ! " said the 
 colonel, interrupting the skillful modulation through which 
 Maxime by every word had quietly tended to the object of
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 2C3 
 
 his visit. " He is very much liked at the Ch&tcau. Do you 
 know that little Nucingen girl he married?" 
 
 "Yes, I often see Rastignac; he is a very old friend of 
 mine." 
 
 " She is a pretty little thing," the colonel went on. " Very 
 pretty; and when the first year of matrimony is dead and 
 buried, I fancy that a mild charge in that quarter might be 
 ventured on with some hope of success." 
 
 " Come, come!" said Maxime, "a man of position like 
 you, a legislator ! Why, after merely stirring the electoral 
 pot for somebody else, I have come back quite a settled and 
 reformed character." 
 
 " Then you went to Arcis-sur-Aube to hinder the election 
 of this hewer of stone?" 
 
 " Not at all ; I went there to scotch the wheels of a Left 
 Centre candidate." 
 
 " Pooh ! I am not sure that it is not as bad as the Left 
 out and out. But take a cigar ; I have some good ones there 
 the same as the princes smoke." 
 
 Maxime would have gained nothing by refusing, for the 
 colonel had already risen to ring for his valet, to whom he 
 merely said : "Lights." 
 
 " At first everything was going splendidly. To oust the 
 candidate who had scared the ministry a lawyer, the very 
 worst kind of vermin I disinterred a retired hosier, the 
 mayor of the town, idiot enough for anything, whom I per- 
 suaded to come forward. This worthy was convinced that 
 he, like his opponent, belonged to the Opposition. That is 
 the prevalent opinion in the whole district at the present 
 time, so that the election, by my judicious manoeuvring, was 
 as good as won. And our man once safe in Paris, the great 
 wizard at the Tuileries would have spoken three words to 
 him, and this rabid antagonist, turned inside out like a stock- 
 ing of his own making, would have been anything we 
 wished."
 
 264 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " Well played," said the colonel ; " I see the hand of my 
 Maxime in it all." 
 
 " You will see it yet plainer when he tells you that in this 
 little arrangement, without taking toll from his employers, he 
 expected to turn an honest penny. To engraft on that dull 
 stock some sort of parliamentary ambition, I had to begin by 
 making myself agreeable to his wife, a not unpalatable country 
 matron, though a little past the prime " 
 
 "Yes, yes; very good " said Franchessini. "The 
 
 husband a deputy satisfied ? ' ' 
 
 " You are not near it, my dear fellow. There is a daughter 
 in the house, an only child, very much spoilt, nineteen, nice- 
 looking, and with something like a million francs of her 
 own." 
 
 " But, my dear Maxime, I passed by your tailor's yesterday 
 and your coachmaker's, and I saw no illuminations." 
 
 " They would, I am sorry to say, have been premature. 
 But so matters stood : the two ladies crazy to make a move to 
 Paris ; full of overflowing gratitude to the man who could 
 get them there through the door of the Palais Bourbon ; the 
 girl possessed with the idea of being a countess ; the mother 
 transported at the notion of holding a political drawing-room 
 you see all the obvious openings that the situation afforded, 
 and you know me well enough to believe that I was not 
 behindhand to avail myself of such possibilities when once I 
 had discerned them." 
 
 "I am quite easy on that score," said the colonel, as he 
 opened a window to let out some of the cigar smoke that by 
 this time was filling the room. 
 
 " So I was fully prepared," Maxime went on, " to swallow 
 the damsel and the fortune as soon as I had made up my mind 
 to leap plump into this misalliance ; when, falling from the 
 clouds, or to be accurate, shot up from underground, the gen- 
 tlemen with two names, of whom you read in the ' National ' 
 this morning, suddenly came on the scene."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 265 
 
 "By the way," said the colonel, "what may this act of 
 recognition be which enables a man to take a name he had 
 never heard of on]y a day since ? " 
 
 "The recognition of a natural son in the presence of a 
 notary. It is perfectly legal." 
 
 "Then our gentleman is of the interesting tribe of the 
 nameless? Yes, yes, those rascals often have great luck. I 
 am not at all surprised that this one should have cut the 
 ground from under your feet." 
 
 "If we were living in the Middle Ages," said Maxime, "I 
 should account for the unhorsing of my man and the success 
 of this fellow by magic and witchcraft ; for he will, I fear, be 
 your colleague. How can you account for the fact that an 
 old tricoteuse, formerly a friend of Danton's, and now the 
 mother superior of an Ursuline convent, with the help of a 
 nephew, an obscure Paris organist whom she brought out as 
 the masculine figurehead of her scheme, should have hood- 
 winked a whole constituency to such a point that this stranger 
 actually polled an imposing majority?" 
 
 "Well, but some one knew him, I suppose?" 
 
 "Not a soul, unless it were this old hypocrite. Till the 
 moment of his arrival he had no fortune, no connections not 
 even a father! While he was taking his boots off he was 
 made heaven knows how the proprietor of a fine estate. 
 Then, in quite the same vein, a gentleman supposed to be a 
 native of the place, from which he had absented himself for 
 many years, presented himself with this ingenious schemer in 
 a notary's office, acknowledged him post-haste as his son, and 
 vanished again in the course of the night, no one knowing by 
 which road he went. This trick having come off all right, 
 the Ursuline and her ally launched their nominee; republi- 
 cans, legitimists, and conservatives, the clergy, the nobility, 
 the middle-classes one and all, as if bound by a spell cast 
 over the whole land, came round to this favorite of the old 
 nun-witch ; and, but for the sacred battalion of officials who,
 
 266 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC1S. 
 
 under my eye, put a bold face on the matter, and did not 
 break up, there was nothing to hinder his being returned 
 unanimously, as you were." 
 
 "And so, my poor friend, farewell to the fortune?" 
 
 " Well, not so bad as that. But everything is put off. 
 The father complains that the blissful peace of his existence 
 is broken, that he has been made quite ridiculous when the 
 poor man is so utterly ridiculous to begin with. The daughter 
 would still like to be a countess, but the mother cannot make 
 up her mind to see her political drawing-room carried down 
 stream ; God knows to what lengths I may have to go in con- 
 solation ! Then I myself am worried by the need for coming 
 to an early solution of the problem. There I was there was 
 the girl I should have gotten married ; I should have taken 
 a year to settle my affairs, and then by next session I should 
 have made my respectable father-in-law resign, and have 
 stepped into his seat in the Chamber. You see what a horizon 
 lay before me." 
 
 "But, my dear fellow, apart from the political horizon, 
 that million must not be allowed to slip." 
 
 "Oh, well, so far as that goes, I am easy; it is only post- 
 poned. My good people are coming to Paris. After the re- 
 pulse they have sustained, Arcis is no longer a possible home 
 for them. Beauvisage particularly I apologize for the name, 
 but it is that of my fair one's family Beauvisage, like Corio- 
 lanus, is ready to put the ungrateful province to fire and sword. 
 And indeed the hapless exiles will have a place here to lay 
 their heads, for they are the owners, if you please, of the 
 Hotel Beauseant." 
 
 "Owners of the Hotel Beaus6ant ! " cried the colonel in 
 amazement." 
 
 "Yes, indeed ; and, after all Beauseant Beauvisage ; only 
 the end of the name needs a change. My dear fellow, you 
 have no idea of what these country fortunes mount up to, 
 accumulated sou by sou, especially when the omnipotence of
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 267 
 
 thrift is supported by the incessant suction of the leech we call 
 trade ! We must make the best of it ; the middle-classes are 
 rising steadily like a.tide, and it is really very kind of them 
 to buy our houses and lands instead of cutting off our heads, 
 as they did in '93 to get them for nothing." 
 
 "But you, my dear Maxime, have reduced your houses and 
 lands to the simplest expression." 
 
 " No since, as you perceive, I am thinking of reinstating 
 myself." 
 
 "The Hotel Beauseant! I remember it well; it was quite a 
 royal residence," said the colonel. 
 
 " Happily, everything has been completely spoilt. It was 
 let for years to some English people, and now extensive 
 repairs are needed. This is a capital bond between me and 
 my country friends, for without me they have no idea how to 
 set to work. It is understood that I am to be director-general 
 of the works ; but I have promised my future mother-in-law 
 another thing, and I need your assistance, my dear fellow, to 
 enable me to perform it." 
 
 "You do not want a license for her to sell tobacco and 
 stamps?" 
 
 " No, nothing so difficult as that. These confounded 
 women, when they are possessed by a spirit of hatred or 
 revenge, have really wonderful instinct ; and Madame Beau- 
 visage, who roars like a lioness at the mere name of Dor- 
 lange, has taken it into her head that there must be some 
 dirty intrigue wriggling at the bottom of his incomprehensible 
 success. It is quite certain that the apparition and disappear- 
 ance of this ' American ' father give grounds for very odd 
 surmises ; and it is quite possible that if we pressed the button, 
 the organist, who is said to have taken entire charge of this 
 interesting bastard's education, and to know the secret of his 
 parentage, might afford the most unexpected revelations. 
 
 "And thinking of this, I remembered a man over whom you 
 have, I fancy, considerable influence, and who in this ' Dor-
 
 268 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 lange hunt ' may be of great use to us. You recollect the 
 robbery of Jenny Cadine's jewels, which she lamented so 
 bitterly one evening when supping with you at Vary's?" 
 
 "Yes," said the colonel, "I remember very well. My 
 audacity was lucky. But I may tell you frankly, that with 
 more time for thought, I should not have dealt so cavalierly 
 with Monsieur de Saint-Esteve. He is a man to be ap- 
 proached with respect." 
 
 " Bless me ! Why, is not he a retired criminal who has 
 served his time on the hulks, and whose release you helped to 
 obtain who must have for you some such veneration as 
 Fieschi showed to one of his protectors? " 
 
 " Very true. Monsieur de Saint-Esteve, like his prede- 
 cessor Bibi-Lupin, has had his troubles. But he is now at the 
 head of the criminal police, with very important functions 
 that he fulfills with remarkable address. If this were a matter 
 strictly within his department, I. should not hesitate to give 
 you an introduction ; but the affair of which you speak is a 
 delicate business, and first and foremost I must feel my way 
 to ascertain whether he will even discuss it with you." 
 
 " Oh, I fancied he was entirely at your commands. Say 
 no more about it if there is any difficulty." 
 
 " The chief difficulty is that I never see him. I cannot, of 
 course, write him about such a thing ; I lack opportunity 
 the chance of a meeting. But why not apply to Rastignac, 
 who would simply order him to take steps? " 
 
 "Rastignac, as you may understand, will not give me a 
 very good reception. I had promised to succeed, and I have 
 come back a failure ; he will regard this side-issue as one of 
 those empty dreams a man clutches at to conceal a defeat." 
 
 "I will do my best for you, only it will take time," said 
 the colonel, rising. 
 
 Maxime had paid a long visit, and took the hint to cut it 
 short ; he took leave with a shade of coolness, which did not 
 particularly disturb the colonel.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 269 
 
 As soon as Monsieur de Trailles was gone, Franchessini 
 took the knave of spades out of a pack of cards, and cut the 
 figure out from the ^background. Placed between two thick 
 folds of letter-paper, he tucked it into an envelope, which he 
 addressed in a feigned hand to Monsieur de Saint-Esteve, 
 Petite Rue Sainte-Anne, Pres du Quai des Orfevres. 
 
 This done, he rang, countermanded his carriage, which he 
 had ordered before Maxime's visit, and, setting out on foot, 
 mailed the securely sealed strange missive with his own hand 
 in the first letter-box he came to. 
 
 At the close of the elections, which were now over, the 
 Government, against all expectations, still had a majority in 
 the Chamber, but a problematical and provisional majority, 
 promising but a struggling and sickly existence to the Ministry 
 in power. Still, it had won the numerical success which is 
 held to be satisfactory by men who wish to remain in office 
 at any price. Every voice in the Ministerial camp was raised 
 in a Te Deum, which as often serves to celebrate a doubtful 
 defeat as an undoubted victory. 
 
 Madame de 1'Estorade, who was too much taken up by her 
 children to be very punctual in her social duties, had long 
 owed Madame de Rastignac a visit in return for that paid by 
 the minister's wife on the evening when the sculptor, now 
 promoted to be deputy, had dined there after the famous oc- 
 casion of the statuette, as related by her to Madame Octave 
 de Camps. Monsieur de 1'Estorade, a zealous Conservative, 
 as we know, had insisted that, on a day when politics and 
 politeness were both on the same side, his wife should dis- 
 charge this debt already of long standing. Madame de 1'Es- 
 torade had gone early to have done with the task as soon as 
 possible, and so found herself at the upper end of the group 
 of seated ladies ; while the men stood about, talking. Her 
 chair was next to Madame de Rastignac, who sat nearest to 
 the fire. At official receptions this is usual, a sort of guide to
 
 270 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 the new-comers who know where to go at once to make their 
 bow to the lady of the house. 
 
 But Madame de 1'Estorade's hopes of curtailing her visit 
 had not taken due account of the fascinations of conversation 
 in which, on such an occasion, her husband w?.s certain to be 
 involved. 
 
 Monsieur de 1'Estorade, though no great orator, was influ- 
 ential in the Upper Chamber, and regarded as a man of great 
 foresight and accurate judgment ; and at every step he took 
 as he moved round the rooms, he was stopped either by some 
 political bigwig or by some magnate of finance, of diplomacy, 
 or merely of the business world, and eagerly invited to give 
 his opinion on the prospects of the opening session. 
 
 Monsieur de 1'Estorade talked so long and so well that at 
 last the drawing-room was almost empty, and only a small 
 circle was left of intimate friends, gathered round his wife 
 and Madame de Rastignac. The minister himself, as he re- 
 turned from seeing off the last of his guests to whose impor- 
 tance such an attention was due, rescued Monsieur de 1'Estor- 
 ade from the clutches as he thought somewhat perilous of a 
 Wurtemberg baron, the mysterious agent of some Northern 
 Power, who, helped by his orders and his gibberish, had the 
 knack of acquiring rather more information about any given 
 matter than his interlocutor intended to give him. 
 
 Hooking his arm confidentially through that of the guileless 
 Monsieur de 1'Estorade, who was lending a gullible ear to the 
 trans-Rhenish rhodomontade in which the wily Teuton care- 
 fully wrapped up the curiosity he dared not frankly avow 
 
 "That man, you know, is a mere nobody," said Rastignac, 
 as the foreigner made him a humbly obsequious bow. 
 
 " He does not talk badly," replied Monsieur de 1'Estorade. 
 " If it were not for his villainous accent " 
 
 " That, on the contrary, is his strong point, as it is Nucin- 
 gen's, my father-in-law. With their way of mutilating the 
 French language, and always seeming to be in the clouds,
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 271 
 
 these Germans have the cleverest way of worming out a 
 secret " 
 
 As they joined the. group about Madame de Rastignac 
 
 "Madame," said the minister to the countess, "I have 
 brought you back your husband, having caught him red- 
 handed in ' criminal conversation ' with a man from the 
 Zollverein, who would probably not have released him this 
 night." 
 
 " I was about to ask Madame de Rastignac if she could 
 give me a bed, to set her free at any rate, for Monsieur de 
 1'Estorade's interminable conversations have hindered me 
 from leaving her at liberty." 
 
 "Oh, my dear!" cried Rastignac. "The session will 
 open immediately; pray give yourself no scornful airs to the 
 elect representatives of the nation ! Beside, you will get into 
 Madame de 1'Estorade's black books. One of our newly 
 made sovereigns is, I am told, high in her good graces." 
 
 "In mine?" said Madame de 1'Estorade with a look of 
 surprise, and she colored a little. 
 
 "To be sure! quite true," said Madame de Rastignac. 
 " I had quite forgotten that artist who, on the last occasion 
 of my seeing you at your own house, was cutting out such 
 charming silhouettes for your children, in a corner. I must 
 own that I was then far from supposing that he would become 
 one of our masters." 
 
 "But even then he was talked of as a candidate," replied 
 Madame de 1'Estorade ; " though, to be sure, it was not taken 
 very seriously." 
 
 "Quite seriously by me," said Monsieur de 1'Estorade, 
 eager to add a stripe to his reputation as a prophet. " From 
 the very first talk on political matters that I had with our 
 candidate, I expressed my astonishment at his breadth of 
 view Monsieur de Ronquerolles is my witness." 
 
 "Certainly," said this gentleman, "he is no ordinary 
 youth \ still, I do not build much on his future career. He
 
 272 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 is a man of impulse, and, as Monsieur de Talleyrand well ob- 
 served, the first impulse is always the best." 
 
 "Well, then, monsieur ! " said Madame de 1'Estorade in- 
 nocently. 
 
 "Well, madame," replied Monsieur de Ronquerolles, who 
 piqued himself on skepticism, "heroism is out of date; it is 
 a desperately heavy and clumsy outfit, and sinks the wearer 
 on every road." 
 
 "And yet I should have supposed that great qualities of 
 heart and mind had something to do with the composition of 
 a man of mark." 
 
 " Qualities of mind, yes you are right there ; but even so, 
 on condition of their tendency in a certain direction. But 
 qualities of heart of what use, I ask you, can they be in a 
 political career? To hoist you on to stilts on which you walk 
 far less firmly than on your feet, off which you tumble at the 
 first push and break your neck." 
 
 "Whence we must conclude," said Madame de Rastignac, 
 laughing, while her friend preserved a disdainful silence, 
 " that the political world is peopled with good-for-noth- 
 ings." 
 
 " That is very near the truth, madame ; ask ' Lazarille ! ' ! 
 And with this allusion to a pleasantry that is still famous on 
 the stage, Monsieur de Ronquerolles laid his hand familiarly 
 on the minister's shoulder. 
 
 " In my opinion, my dear fellow, your generalizations are 
 rather too particular," said Rastignac. 
 
 "Nay," said Monsieur de Ronquerolles, "come now; let 
 us be serious. To my knowledge, this Monsieur de Sallenauve 
 the name he has assumed, I believe, instead of Dorlange, 
 which he himself said frankly enough was a name for the 
 stage has committed two very handsome deeds within a 
 short time. In my presence, aiding and abetting, he was 
 within an ace of being killed by the Due de Rhetore for a 
 few unpleasant remarks made on one of his friends."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 273 
 
 Before the other " handsome deed " could be brought into 
 the discussion, at the risk of seeming rude by interrupting the 
 course of the argument, Madame de 1'Estorade rose and gave 
 her husband an imperceptible nod to signify that she wished 
 to leave. 
 
 Monsieur de 1'Estorade took advantage of the slightness 
 of the signal to ignore it, and remained immovable. Mon- 
 sieur de Ronquerolles went on 
 
 " His other achievement was to fling himself under the feet 
 of some runaway horses and snatch Madame de 1'Estorade's 
 little daughter from certain death." 
 
 Everybody looked at Madame de 1'Estorade, who this time 
 blushed crimson ; but at the same instant she found words, 
 feeling that she must by some means keep her countenance, 
 and she said with some spirit 
 
 " It would seem, monsieur, that you wish to convey that 
 Monsieur de Sallenauve was a great fool for his pains, since 
 he risked his life, and would thus have cut short all his 
 chances in the future. I may tell you, however, that there is 
 one woman whom you would hardly persuade to share that 
 opinion and that is my child's mother." 
 
 As she spoke, Madame de 1'Estorade was almost in tears. 
 She warmly shook hands with Madame de Rastignac, and so 
 emphatically made a move, that this time she got her fixture 
 of a husband under way. 
 
 Madame de Rastignac, as she went with her friend to the 
 drawing-room door, spoke in an undertone 
 
 "I really thank you," said she, "for having boldly held 
 your own against that cynic. Monsieur de Rastignac has 
 some unpleasant allies left from his bachelor days." 
 
 As she returned to her seat, Monsieur de Ronquerolles was 
 speaking 
 
 "Aha," said he, "these life-preservers! Poor 1'Estorade 
 is, in fact, as yellow as a lemon ! " 
 
 "Indeed, monsieur, you are atrocious ! " said Madame de 
 18
 
 274 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Rastignac indignantly. "A woman whom calumny has 
 never dared to blight, who lives solely for her husband and 
 children, and who has tears in her eyes at the mere remote 
 recollection of the danger that threatened one of them ! " 
 
 "Bless me, madame," said Monsieur de Ronquerolles, 
 heedless of this little lecture, " I can only tell you that your 
 Newfoundland dog is a dangerous and unwholesome breed. 
 After all, if Madame de 1'Estorade should think herself too 
 seriously compromised, she has always this to fall back on 
 she can get him to marry the girl he saved." 
 
 Monsieur de Ronquerolles had no sooner spoken than he 
 was conscious of the hideous blunder he had made by uttering 
 such a speech in Augusta de Nucingen's drawing-room. It 
 was his turn to redden though he had lost the habit of it, 
 and deep silence, which seemed to enfold him, put the crown- 
 ing touch to his embarrassment. 
 
 " That clock is surely slow," said Rastignac, to make some 
 sound of whatever words, and also to put an end to a sitting 
 at which speech was so luckless. 
 
 "It is indeed," said Monsieur de Ronquerolles, after look- 
 ing at his watch. " Just on a quarter-past twelve " the hour 
 was half-past eleven. 
 
 He bowed formally to the mistress of the house, and went, 
 as did the rest of the company. 
 
 "You saw how distressed he was," said Rastignac to his 
 wife, as soon as they were alone. " He was a thousand miles 
 away from any malicious intent." 
 
 " No matter ; as I was saying just now to Madame de 1'Es- 
 torade, your bachelor life has left you heir to some odious 
 acquaintances." 
 
 " But, my dear child, the King is civil every day to people 
 he would be only too glad to lock up in the bastille, if there 
 still were a bastille, and the Charter would allow it." 
 
 Madame de Rastignac made no reply ; she went up to her 
 room without saying good-night.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 275 
 
 Not long after, the minister tapped at a side-door of the 
 room, and finding it locked 
 
 "Augusta," said he,, in the voice which the most ordinary 
 bourgeois of the Rue Saint-Denis would have adopted under 
 similar circumstances. 
 
 The only answer he heard was a bolt shot inside. 
 
 "There are some things in the past," said he to himself, 
 with much annoyance, "that are quite unlike that door 
 they always stand wide open on the present. 
 
 "Augusta," he began again, " I wanted to ask you at what 
 hour I might find Madame de 1'Estorade at home. I mean 
 to call on her to-morrow after what has happened " 
 
 "At four o'clock," the lady called back, "when she comes 
 in from the Tuileries, where she always walks with the chil- 
 dren." 
 
 One of the questions which had been most frequently mooted 
 in the world of fashion since Madame de Rastignac's marriage 
 was this : " Does Augusta love her husband ? " 
 
 Doubt was allowable ; Mademoiselle de Nucingen's mar- 
 riage had been the ill-favored and not very moral result of an 
 intimacy such as is apt to react on the daughter's life when it 
 has lasted in the mother's till the course of years and long 
 staleness have brought it to a state of atrophy and paralysis. 
 In such unions, where love is to be transferred to the next 
 generation, the husband is usually more than willing, for he 
 is released from joys that have turned rancid, and avails him- 
 self of a bargain like that offered by the magician in the 
 "Arabian Nights" to exchange old lamps for new. But the 
 wife is in the precisely opposite predicament ; between her 
 and her husband there stands an ever-present memory which 
 may come to life again. Even apart from the dominion of 
 the senses, she must be conscious of an older power antagonistic 
 to her newer influence ; must she not almost always be a vic- 
 tim, and can she be supposed to feel impassioned devotion to 
 the maternal leavings ? Rastignac had stood waiting outside
 
 276 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 the door for about as long as it has taken to give this brief 
 analysis of a not uncommon conjugal situation. 
 
 " Well, good-night, Augusta," said he, preparing to depart. 
 
 As he piteously took his leave, the door was suddenly opened, 
 and his wife, throwing herself into his arms, laid her head on 
 his shoulder, sobbing. 
 
 The question was answered : Madame de Rastignac loved 
 her husband. And yet the distant murmuring of a nice little 
 hell might be heard under the flowers of this paradise. 
 
 Rastignac was less punctual than usual next morning ; and 
 by the time he went into his private office, the anteroom be- 
 yond was already occupied by seven applicants armed with 
 letters of introduction, beside two peers and seven members 
 of the Lower Chamber. 
 
 A bell rang sharply, and the usher, with such agitation as 
 proved contagious among the visitors, hurried into the min- 
 ister's room. A moment later he reappeared with the stereo- 
 typed apology 
 
 " The minister is called to attend a Council. He will, 
 however, have the honor of receiving the deputies of the 
 Upper and Lower Chambers. The rest of the gentlemen are 
 requested to call again." 
 
 "But when again?" asked one of the postponed victims. 
 " This is the third time I have called within three days, and 
 all for nothing." 
 
 The usher shrugged his shoulders, as much as to say, 
 " That is no fault of mine ; I only obey orders." However, 
 hearing some murmurs as to the privilege accorded to the 
 honorable deputies 
 
 " Those gentlemen," said he, with some pomposity, " come 
 to discuss matters of public interests." 
 
 The visitors having been paid in this false coin, the bell 
 rang again, and the usher put on his most affable smile. 
 
 " Whom shall I have the honor of announcing first? "
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 277 
 
 "Gentlemen," said Colonel Franchessini, "I believe I 
 have seen you all come in ? " 
 
 And he went toward the door which the usher threw open, 
 announcing in a loud, distinct voice 
 
 "Monsieur le Colonel Franchessini." 
 
 " Ah, a good beginning this morning ! " said the minister, 
 going forward a few steps and holding out his hand. " What 
 do you want of me, my dear fellow? A railway, a canal, a 
 suspension bridge ? " 
 
 " I have come, my dear friend, to trouble you about a little 
 private affair a matter that concerns both you and me?" 
 
 " That is not the happiest way of urging the question, for 
 I must tell you plainly I hold no good recommendation to 
 myself." 
 
 "You have had a visitor lately?" said the colonel, pro- 
 ceeding to the point. 
 
 "A visitor? Dozens. I always have." 
 
 "Yes. But on the evening of Sunday the i2th the day 
 of the riot ? ' ' 
 
 " Ah ! now I know what you mean. But the man is going 
 mad." 
 
 " Do you think so ? " said the colonel dubiously. 
 
 " Well, what am I to think of a sort of visionary who 
 makes his way in here under favor of the relaxed vigilance 
 which in a Ministerial residence always follows on musket- 
 firing in the streets ; who proceeds to tell me that the Govern- 
 ment is undermined by the Republican party, at the very 
 moment when the staff-officers of the National Guard assure 
 me that we have not had even a skirmish ; and who finally 
 suggests that he is himself the only man who can insure the 
 future safety of the dynasty ? " 
 
 " So that you did not welcome him very cordially?" 
 
 "So that I soon showed him out, and rather peremptorily, 
 in spite of his persistency. At any time, and under any cir- 
 cumstances, he is a visitor I could never find agreeable ; but
 
 278 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 when, on my pointing out to him that he holds a post for 
 which he is admirably fitted, and which he fills with the greatest 
 skill, so that it must be the utmost limit of his ambition, the 
 maniac replies that unless his services are accepted France is 
 on the brink of a precipice, you may suppose I had but one 
 thing to say namely, that we hope to save it without his 
 help." 
 
 "Well, it is done! " said the colonel. "But now, if you 
 will allow me to explain matters " 
 
 The minister, sitting at his table with his back to the fire, 
 leaned round to look at the clock. 
 
 "Look here, my dear fellow," said he, after seeing what 
 the time was, "I have a suspicion that you will not be brief, 
 and there is a hungry pack waiting outside that door ; even if 
 I could give you time, I could not listen properly. Be so 
 kind as to go for an airing till noon, and come back to break- 
 fast." 
 
 "That will suit me perfectly," said the colonel, leaving. 
 As he crossed the waiting-room 
 
 "Well, gentlemen," said he, "I have not kept you long, 
 have I?" 
 
 He shook hands with one and another, and went away. 
 
 Three hours later, when the colonel appeared in Madame 
 de Rastignac's drawing-room where he was introduced to 
 her he found there Nucingen, the minister's father-in-law, 
 who came almost every day to breakfast there on his way to 
 the Bourse; Emile Blondet, of the "Debats;" Messrs. 
 Moreau (de 1'Oise), Dionis, and Camusot, three fierce Con- 
 servative members ; and two of the newly elect, whose names 
 it is not certain that Rastignac himself knew. Franchessini 
 also recognized Martial de la Roche-Hugon, the minister's 
 brother-in-law ; the inevitable des Lupeaulx, a peer of France ; 
 and a third figure, who talked for a long time with Rastignac 
 in a window recess. He, Emile Blondet explained in reply 
 to the colonel's inquiries, was a former functionary of the
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 279 
 
 secret police, who still carried on his profession as an amateur, 
 making the round of all the Government offices every morn- 
 ing, under every ministry, with as much zeal and punctuality 
 as if it still were his duty. 
 
 Madame de Rastignac, seen close, was fair but not lym- 
 phatic. She was strikingly like her mother, but with the 
 shade of greater elegance, which in parvenu families grows 
 from generation to generation as they get farther from the 
 source. The last drop of the original Goriot seemed to have 
 evaporated in this lovely young woman, who was especially 
 distinguished by the fine hands and feet, which show breed- 
 ing, and of which the absence in Madame de Nucingen, in 
 spite of her beauty, had always stamped her so distressingly 
 as the vermicelli-maker's daughter. 
 
 The colonel, as a man who might subsequently have ideas 
 of his own, showed repressed eagerness in his attentions to 
 Madame de Rastignac, with the gallantry, now rather out of 
 date, which seems addressed to Woman rather than to the in- 
 dividual woman ; idle men alone, especially if they have been 
 soldiers, seem to preserve a reflection of this condition. The 
 colonel, whose successes in the boudoir had been many, knew 
 that this distant method of preparing the approaches is a very 
 effective strategy in besieging a place. 
 
 The colonel, as he meant to be asked to the house again, 
 took care to speak of his wife. " She lived," he said, "very 
 much in the old English way, in her old home ; but he would 
 be happy to drag her out of her habitual retirement to intro- 
 duce her to a lady of such distinguished merit as Madame de 
 Rastignac, if indeed she would allow him to bring her. In 
 spite of a wide difference in age between his wife and his 
 friend the minister's, they would find, he thought, one happy 
 point of contact in a similar zeal for good works." 
 
 In fact, Franchessini had hardly entered the room when he 
 found himself obliged to take from Madame de Rastignac a 
 ticket for a ball of which she was a lady patroness, to be got
 
 280 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC IS. 
 
 up for the benefit of the victims of the recent earthquake in 
 Martinique. 
 
 It was the fashion then among women to display in such 
 acts of charity an audacity beyond all bounds; now, as it 
 happened, Madame Franchessini was an Irishwoman of great 
 piety, who spent in good works most of her spare time after 
 superintending the management of her house, and a large 
 part of the sums she reserved for her own use apart from her 
 husband's. So the offer of an intimacy with a woman who 
 would be so ready to give her money and her exertions when 
 needed for a creche, or infant schools, or children orphaned 
 by the cholera, was a really skillful stroke of diplomacy ; and 
 it shows that the sportsman in the colonel had not altogether 
 killed the faculty of foresight. 
 
 Breakfast over, the guests left or withdrew to the drawing- 
 room ; and Franchessini, who had sat at Madame de Rastig- 
 nac's right hand, continued his conversation with her. 
 
 " Now for you and me, my friend ! " said Rastignac to the 
 colonel, and they went into the garden. 
 
 "I, less fortunate than you," said Franchessini, taking up 
 his story at the point where it had been interrupted a few 
 hours previously, " have kept up communications with the 
 man we spoke of not constant, indeed ; but a sort of evil 
 concatenation of contact. To avoid ever having him in my 
 house, we agreed that whenever he wanted to speak to me he 
 should write to me without any signature and tell me where 
 to meet him. In the almost impossible event of my wishing 
 to see him, I was to send a playing-card figure cut out to his 
 den in the Rue Sainte-Anne, and he would notify the spot 
 where we might meet undisturbed. He may be trusted for a 
 clever choice of a suitable place ; no man knows his Paris 
 better, or the ways of moving about underground" 
 
 "High political qualifications!" said Rastignac sarcasti- 
 cally. 
 
 "I tell you the whole truth, you see," replied the colonel,
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 281 
 
 "to prove to you that, in my opinion, this is a man to be 
 treated with respect ; and, at the same time, that you may not 
 suppose that I am showing you a mere phantasmagoria with a 
 view to persuading you into doing a thing quite contrary to 
 your first intentions." 
 
 "Pray go on," said Rastignac, pausing to gather a full- 
 blown China rose by way, perhaps, of showing his perfect 
 openness 01 mind. 
 
 " On the evening of the very day when you had given him 
 so rough a reception, and my election was already known by 
 telegraph and announced in an evening paper, I received a 
 note from him, a thing that had not happened for the last 
 eighteen months very short and concise: 'To-morrow 
 morning, six o'clock Redoute de Clignancourt.' " 
 
 "Like a challenge," observed Rastignac. 
 
 "The man whom you call a visionary," Franchessini went 
 on, "was, when I joined him, sitting on a knoll, his head 
 between his hands. When he heard me, and as I went close 
 to him, he rose in a state of high excitement, took me by the 
 hand, led me to the spot very little altered where the duel 
 took place, and in the strident voice you know so well : 
 ' What did you do here, nearly five-and-twenty years ago ? ' 
 said he. 'A thing,' said I, 'of which, 'pon my honor, I 
 repent.' 'And I too. And for whom?' As I made no 
 reply, he went on ' For a man whose fortune I wanted to 
 make. You killed the brother to please me, that the sister 
 might be a rich heiress for him to marry ' ' 
 
 " But it was all done without my knowledge," Rastignac 
 hastily put in; " and I did everything in my power to prevent 
 it." 
 
 "So I told him," said the colonel, "and he paid no heed 
 to the remark, but only grew more frantic, exclaiming: 'Well, 
 and when I go to that man's house, not to ask him a favor, 
 but to offer him my services, he shows me the door ! And 
 does he think I am going to overlook it ? ' "
 
 282 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "He is remarkably touchy," said Rastignac quietly. "I 
 did not show Kim the door. I only rather roughly cut short 
 his boasting and exaggeration." 
 
 "He then went on," said the colonel, "to relate his in- 
 terview with you the previous evening ; the proposal he had 
 made to give up his place in the criminal police in favor of a 
 post as superintendent far more needed, in his opinion of 
 political malefactors. 'I am sick,' said he, 'of liming twigs 
 to catch thieves, such an idiotic kind of game-bird that all 
 their tricks are stale to me. And, then, what interest can I 
 find in nabbing men who would steal a silver mug or a few 
 bank-notes, when there are others only waiting for a chance 
 to grab at the crown ? ' " 
 
 "Very true," said Rastignac, with a smile, "if it were not 
 for the National Guard, and the army, and the two Chambers, 
 and the King who can ride." 
 
 "He added," said Franchessini, "that he was not appre- 
 ciated, and, with a reminiscence of the lingo of the past, that 
 he was fagged out over mere child's play ; that he had in him 
 very powerful qualities adapted to shine in a higher sphere ; 
 that he had trained a man to take his place; that I must 
 positively see and talk to you ; and that now I was a member, 
 I had a righi to speak and impress on you the possible results 
 of a refusal." 
 
 "My dear fellow," said Rastignac decisively, "I can but 
 say, as I did at the beginning of our conversation, the man is 
 a lunatic, and I have never been afraid of a madman, whether 
 a cheerful or a furious one." 
 
 "I do not deny that I myself saw great difficulties in the 
 way of satisfying his demand. However, I tried to soothe 
 him by promising to see you, pointing out to him that noth- 
 ing could be done in a hurry ; and in point of fact, but for an 
 accessory circumstance, I should probably not have mentioned 
 the matter for some long time to come." 
 
 "And that circumstance ?" asked the minister.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 283 
 
 "Yesterday morning," replied the colonel, " I had a visit 
 from Maxime, who had just returned from Arcis-sur-Aube " 
 
 " I know," said Ra^tignac. " He mentioned the matter to 
 me an idea devoid of commonsense. Either the man on 
 whom he wants to set your bloodhound is good for something 
 or he is not. If he is not, it is perfectly useless to employ 
 a dangerous and suspected instrument to destroy the thing 
 that does not exist. If, on the other hand, we have to do 
 with a good man in the right place, he has, on the platform 
 of the Chamber, and in the newspapers, every means, not 
 only of parrying such blows as we may be able to strike with 
 muffled swords, but of turning them against ourselves. Take 
 it as a general rule, in a country like ours, crazy for publicity, 
 wherever the hand of the police is seen, even if it were to 
 unveil the basest turpitude, you may be sure that there will be 
 an outcry against the Government. Opinion in such a case 
 behaves like the man to whom some one sang an air by Mozart 
 to prove how great a composer he was. The hearer, conquered 
 by the evidence, said at last to the singer : ' Well, Mozart 
 may be a great musician, but you, my good friend, may con- 
 gratulate yourself on having a great cold ! ' ' 
 
 "Indeed, there is much truth in your remark," said Fran- 
 chessini. " Still, the man Maxime wants to unmask can only 
 be of respectable mediocrity ; and without being able to lunge 
 with such force as you suppose, he may nevertheless tease you 
 a good deal." 
 
 " I expect to ascertain the true worth of your new colleague 
 ere long from a quarter where I may count on better informa- 
 tion than Monsieur de Trailles can command. On this occa- 
 sion he has let himself in, and is trying to make up for lack 
 of skill by vehemence. As to your incubus whom I should 
 not, in any case, employ to carry out Maxime's dream as he 
 seems not altogether useless, at least from the point of view 
 of your connection with him, just to give him an answer I 
 should say "
 
 284 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " Well, what ? " said Franchessini, with increased attention. 
 
 " I should tell him that, quite apart from his criminal ex- 
 perience, which, as soon as he heads the political ranks, might 
 expose him to serious outrages that would recoil on us, there 
 are in his past life some very ugly records " 
 
 "But records only," replied Franchessini. "For you un- 
 derstand that when he ventured into your presence it was, so 
 to speak, in a new skin." 
 
 "I know all," said Rastignac. "You do not suppose that 
 he is the only police spy in Paris. After his visit I made in- 
 quiries, and I heard that since 1830, when he was placed at 
 the head of his department, he had lived a middle-class life of 
 the strictest respectability ; the only fault I have to find with 
 it is that it is too perfect a disguise." 
 
 "Nevertheless " said the colonel. 
 
 "He is rich," Rastignac went on; "his salary is twelve 
 thousand francs a year from the Government ; with three 
 hundred thousand he inherited from Lucien de Rubempre, 
 and the profits from a patent-leather factory which he has 
 near Gentilly, and which is paying very well. His aunt, 
 Jacqueline Collin, who keeps house with him, still dabbles in 
 certain dirty jobs, from which, of course, she derives large 
 profits ; and I have strong reason to believe that they have 
 both gambled successfully on the Bourse. 
 
 " Now all this, my dear colonel, is too bucolic to lead up 
 to the superintendence of the political police. Let him bestir 
 himself a little this old ' Germeuil ' fling a little money 
 about, give some dinners ! Why, the executioner could get 
 men to dine with him if he wished it." 
 
 "I quite agree with you," said Franchessini. "I think 
 that he keeps himself too much curled up for fear of attracting 
 notice." 
 
 "Tell him, on the contrary, to uncurl; and, since he wants 
 to have a finger in public business, he should find some credit- 
 able opportunity for being talked about. Does he fancy that,
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 285 
 
 hide in what corner he will, the press will not know where to 
 find him? Let him do as the niggers do; they do not try to 
 wash themselves white, but they have a passion for bright 
 colors, and dress in scarlet coats covered with gold braid. I 
 know what I should do in his place : to appear thoroughly 
 cleaned, I should take up with some actress, some one very 
 notorious, conspicuous, before the public. I do not say that 
 I would ruin myself, but I would seem to ruin myself for her, 
 with all the airs of one of those frenzied passions for which the 
 public is always indulgent, if not sympathetic. I should dis- 
 play all my luxury on this idol's account ; people would come, 
 not to my house, but to hers. Then, thanks to my mistress, 
 I should be endured at my own table, and by degrees I should 
 make a connection. 
 
 "All this, my dear fellow, will not, of course, make him a 
 Saint- Vincent de Paul though he too had been on the gal- 
 leys but it would get him classed among the third or fourth- 
 rate notabilities a man possible to deal with. The road thus 
 laid, Monsieur de Saint-Esteve might prove 'negotiable;' 
 and if he then came to me, and I were still in power, I might 
 be able to listen to him. 
 
 " But at any rate," added Rastignac, going up the steps to 
 return to the drawing-room, " make him clearly understand 
 that he misinterpreted my way of receiving him. That even- 
 ing I was naturally absorbed in anxious reflections." 
 
 " Be quite easy," said Franchessini, " I will talk to him in 
 the right way ; for, as I must repeat, he is not a man to drive 
 to extremities ; there have been incidents in our past which 
 cannot be wiped out." 
 
 And as the minister made no reply, it was sufficiently ob- 
 vious that he appreciated the observation at its true value. 
 
 " You will be here for the King's "speech, I hope," said 
 Rastignac to the colonel ; " we want to work up a little en- 
 thusiasm." 
 
 Franchessini, before leaving, asked Madame de Rastignac
 
 286 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 to name a day when he might have the honor of bringing 
 his wife to call. 
 
 "Any day," replied Augusta, "but more especially any 
 Friday." 
 
 At the hour when Rastignac, by his wife's instructions, 
 thought himself sure to find Madame de 1'Estorade, he did 
 not fail to call. Like all who had been present at the little 
 scene to which Monsieur de Ronquerolles' remarks had given 
 rise, the minister had been struck by the countess' agitation ; 
 and without concerning himself to gauge the nature or depth 
 of her feelings toward the man who had saved her child, he 
 was convinced that she was at least greatly interested by him. 
 
 The unexpected feat of winning his election attracted the 
 attention of the Government to Sallenauve, all the more be- 
 cause at first his nomination had hardly been taken seriously. 
 Rastignac, while affecting to discard with vehemence the idea 
 of an attack from that side, in his own mind did not alto- 
 gether renounce the possibility of using means which he fore- 
 saw would be difficult to handle ; he would fall back on them 
 only if it were obviously necessary. In this state of things 
 Madame de 1'Estorade might be useful in two ways: through 
 her it seemed easy to arrange an accidental meeting with the 
 new deputy, so as to study him at ease and ascertain whether 
 there were any single point at which he might prove accessible 
 to terms. 
 
 And all this would follow naturally from the step the min- 
 ister was now taking. By seeming to call on purpose to 
 apologize for Monsieur de Ronquerolles' mode of speech, he 
 would allude in the most natural manner possible to the man 
 who had been the occasion and the object of it ; and the con- 
 versation once started on these lines, he must be clumsy in- 
 deed if he could not achieve one or the other, or possibly 
 both, of the results he aimed at. 
 
 Monsieur de Rastignac's plan of action was, however,
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS, 287 
 
 destined to be modified. The servant, who happened to be 
 speaking to the gatekeeper, had just informed the visitor that 
 Madame de 1'Estorade was not at home, when Monsieur de 
 1'Estorade came in on foot, and, seeing the minister's carriage, 
 rushed forward. However well a man may stand with the 
 world, it always seems a pity to dismiss a visitor of such im- 
 portance ; and the accountant-general was not the man to 
 resign himself to such a misfortune without a struggle. 
 
 "Bat my wife will soon be in," he insisted as he saw his 
 house threatened with the loss of such a piece of good-fortune. 
 "She is gone to Ville d'Avray with her daughter and Mon- 
 sieur and Madame Octave de Camps. Monsieur Marie- 
 Gaston, a great friend of ours the charming poet, you know, 
 who married Louise de Chaulieu has a house there, where his 
 wife died. He has never till now set foot in it since that 
 misfortune." 
 
 "But in that case Madame de 1'Estorade's visit may last 
 till late," said Rastignac. "It was to her, and not to you, 
 my dear count, that I came to offer my apologies for the little 
 scene last evening, which seemed to annoy her a good deal. 
 Will you kindly express to her from me " 
 
 " I will stake my head on it, my dear sir, that by the time 
 you turn the street corner, my wife will be here; she is 
 absolutely punctual in everything she does, and to me it is 
 simply miraculous that she should be even a few minutes 
 late." 
 
 Seeing him so bent on detaining him, Rastignac feared to 
 be disobliging, and made up his mind to be dragged out of 
 his carriage, and await the countess' return in her drawing- 
 room ; for, often enough, for less than this a faithful voter has 
 been lost. 
 
 "So Madame Octave de Camps is in Paris?" said he, for 
 the sake of saying something. 
 
 " Yes, she made her appearance unexpectedly without letting 
 my wife know, though they are in constant correspondence.
 
 288 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Her husband has, I think, some request to make to you. You 
 have not seen him ? " 
 
 " No ; but I think I remember seeing his card." 
 
 " It is some mining business he is projecting ; and as I 
 have your ear, allow me to tell you something about it." 
 
 "Excuse my interrupting you," said he, "we will return 
 to the subject ; but at this moment I am in some uneasiness." 
 
 "How is that?" 
 
 "Your friend Sallenauve's election has made a devil of a 
 rumpus. The King was speaking of him to me this morning, 
 and he was not particularly delighted when I communicated 
 to him the opinion you expressed only last evening as to our 
 new adversary." 
 
 " Bless me ! But, as you know, the tribune is a rock on 
 which many a ready-made reputation is wrecked. And I am 
 sorry too that you should have spoken of Sallenauve to the 
 King as a friend of ours. It is not I who direct the elections. 
 You should appeal to the minister of the Interior. I can only 
 say that I tried fifty ways to hinder the tiresome man from 
 standing." 
 
 " But you must see that the King can owe you no grudge 
 because you happen to know a candidate so absolutely un- 
 dreamed of " 
 
 " No. But last evening in your own drawing-room you 
 remarked to my wife that she seemed greatly interested in 
 him. I could not contradict before others, because it is 
 monstrous to deny knowledge of a man to whom we lie under 
 so serious an obligation. But, in fact, my wife especially has 
 felt that obligation a burden since the day when he went off to 
 stand for election. We have decided to quietly drop him." 
 
 "Not, I hope," interrupted Rastignac, "before you have 
 done tne the service I came to ask." 
 
 "At your service, my dear minister, whatever it may be." 
 
 "To plunge in head foremost, then : before seeing this man 
 in the Chamber I want to take his measure, and for that pur-
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 289 
 
 pose I want to meet him. To invite him to dine with us 
 would be useless ; under the eye of his party he would not 
 dare to accept, evea if he wished. Beside, he would be on 
 his guard, and I should not see him as he is. But if we came 
 across each other by chance, I should find him, as it were, in 
 undress, and could feel my way to discover if he has a weak 
 spot." 
 
 "If I asked him to meet you at dinner here, there would 
 be the same difficulty. Supposing I were to find out some 
 evening that he intended to call, and sent you word in the 
 course of the day? " 
 
 "We should be too small a party," said Rastignac, "and 
 then a separate conversation between two is hard to manage; 
 the meeting is so intimate that any tte-a-tte betrays the 
 aggravating circumstance of premeditated arrangement " 
 
 "Stay!" cried Monsieur de 1'Estorade, "I have a bright 
 idea " 
 
 "If the idea is really bright," thought the minister, "I 
 shall have gained by not finding the lady in, for she certainly 
 would not have been so particularly anxious to help in carry- 
 ing out my wishes." 
 
 "One day soon," 1'Estorade went on, " we are giving a 
 little party, a children's dance. It is a treat my wife, tired 
 of refusing, has promised our little girl, in fact, as a festival 
 to celebrate our joy at still having her with us. The Pre- 
 server, as you perceive, is an integral and indispensable item, 
 and I think I may promise you noise enough to enable you to 
 take your man aside without any difficulty, while at a party of 
 that kind premeditation can hardly be suspected." 
 
 "The idea is certainly a good one probability alone is 
 wanting." 
 
 "Probability?" 
 
 " Certainly. You forget that I have been married scarcely 
 a year, and that I have no contingent to account for my 
 presence that evening among your party." 
 19
 
 290 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " That is true. I had not thought of that." 
 
 "But let me consider," said the minister. " Among your 
 guests will there be the little Roche-Hugons ? " 
 
 "No doubt; the children of a man I should esteem most 
 highly even if he had not the honor of so near a relationship 
 to you." 
 
 "Well, then, all is plain sailing. My wife will come with 
 her sister-in-law, Madame de la Roche-Hugon, to see her 
 nieces dancing nothing is more complimentary on such 
 occasions than to drop in without the formality of an invita- 
 tion ; and I, without saying anything to my wife, am gallant 
 enough to come to take her home." 
 
 " Admirable ! " said Monsieur de 1'Estorade, " and we by 
 this little drama gain the delightful reality of your presence 
 here!" 
 
 " You are too kind," said Rastignac, shaking hands cordi- 
 ally. " But I believe it will be well to say nothing to Madame 
 de 1'Estorade. Our puritan, if he got wind of the plan, is 
 the man to stay away. It will be better that I should pounce 
 on him unexpectedly like a tiger on its prey." 
 
 " Quite so. A surprise for everybody ! " 
 
 " Then I am off," said Rastignac, " for fear I should drop 
 a word to Madame de 1'Estorade. I shall be able to amuse 
 the King to-morrow by telling him of our little plot and the 
 education of children to be political go-betweens." 
 
 "Well, well," said Monsieur de 1'Estorade philosophically, 
 " is not this the whole history of life : great effects from small 
 causes ? ' ' 
 
 Rastignac had only just left when Madame de 1'Estorade, 
 her daughter Nals, and her friends Monsieur and Madame 
 Octave de Camps came into the drawing-room where the con- 
 spiracy had been laid against the new deputy's independence 
 a plot here recorded at some length as a specimen of the 
 thousand-and-one trivialities to which a constitutional minister 
 up{ infrequently has to attend.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 291 
 
 "And do you not smell the scent of a minister here?" 
 said Monsieur de I'Estorade. 
 
 " Not such a very delicious scent, I am sure," replied Mon- 
 sieur de Camps, who, as a Legitimist, belonged to the Oppo- 
 sition. 
 
 " That is a matter of taste," said the peer. " My dear,", 
 he went on, addressing his wife, " you have come so late that 
 you have missed a distinguished visitor." 
 
 " Who is that?" the countess asked indifferently. 
 
 " The minister of Public Works, who came to offer you an 
 apology. He had noted with regret the unpleasant impres- 
 sion made upon you by the theories put forward by that 
 wretch of a Ronquerolles." 
 
 "That is disturbing himself fora very small matter," re- 
 plied Madame de 1'Estorade, who was far from sharing her 
 husband's excitement. 
 
 "At any rate," replied he, " it was very polite of him to 
 have noticed the matter." 
 
 Madame de 1'Estorade, without seeming to care much, 
 asked what had passed in the course of the visit. 
 
 "We discussed indifferent subjects," said Monsieur de 
 1'Estorade craftily. "However, I took the opportunity of 
 getting a word in on the subject of Monsieur de Camps' 
 business." 
 
 "Much obliged," said Octave, with a bow. "If only 
 you could have persuaded the gentleman to grant me a sight 
 of his private secretary, who is as invisible as himself, be- 
 tween them they might arrange to give me an interview." 
 
 "You must not be annoyed with him," said Monsieur de 
 1'Estorade. "Though his office is not strictly political, Ras- 
 tignac has, of course, been much taken up with election 
 matters. Now that he is freer, we will, if you like, call on 
 him together one morning." 
 
 " I hesitate to trouble you about a matter that ought to go 
 smoothly of itself; I am not asking a favor. I never will ask
 
 292 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 one of this Government ; but since Monsieur de Rastignac is 
 the dragon in charge of the metallic treasures of the soil, 
 I am bound to go through the regular channel and apply to 
 him." 
 
 " We can settle all that, and I have started the thing in 
 the right direction," replied Monsieur de 1'Estorade. 
 
 Then, to change the conversation, he said to Madame de 
 Camps 
 
 " Well, and the chalet, is it really such a marvel? " 
 
 "Oh," said Madame Octave, "it is a fascinating place; 
 you can have no idea of such elegant perfection and such ideal 
 comfort." 
 
 " And Marie-Gaston ? " asked Monsieur de 1'Estorade, much 
 as Orgon asks, "And Tartuffe? " but with far less anxious 
 curiosity. 
 
 " He was I will not say quite calm," replied Madame de 
 1'Estorade*, " but certainly quite master of himself. His be- 
 havior was all the more satisfactory because the day began 
 with a serious disappointment." 
 
 "What happened?" asked Monsieur de 1'Estorade. 
 
 " Monsieur de Sallenauve could not come with him," cried 
 NaYs, making it her business to reply. 
 
 She was one of those children, brought up in a hot-house, 
 who intervene rather oftener than they ought in matters that 
 are discussed in their presence. 
 
 "Na'is," said her mother, "go and ask Mary to put your 
 hair up." 
 
 The child perfectly understood that she was sent away to 
 her English nurse for having spoken out of season, and she 
 went off with a little pout. 
 
 "This morning," said Madame de 1'Estorade, as soon as 
 Na'is had closed the door, " Monsieur Marie-Gaston and Mon- 
 sieur de Sallenauve were to have set out together for Ville- 
 d'Avray, to receive us there, as had been arranged ; last even- 
 ing they had a visit from the organist who was so active in
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 293 
 
 
 
 promoting Monsieur de Sallenauve's election he came to 
 hear the Italian housekeeper sing and decide as to whether she 
 were fit to appear in public." 
 
 "To be sure!" said Monsieur de 1'Estorade. "Now we 
 have ceased to make statues, we must quarter her somewhere ! " 
 
 "As you say," answered his wife, rather tartly. "Mon- 
 sieur de Sallenauve, to silence slander, was anxious to enable 
 her to follow out her own idea of going on the stage; but he 
 wished first to have the opinion of a judge who is said to be 
 remarkably competent. The two gentlemen went with the 
 organist to Saint-Sulpice, where the handsome Italian sings 
 every evening in the services for the month of Mary. After 
 hearing her ' That contralto has at least sixty thousand francs 
 in her throat ! ' the organist remarked." 
 
 "Just the income I derive from my forges!" remarked 
 Octave de Camps. 
 
 "On returning home," Madame de 1'Estorade went on, 
 " Monsieur de Sallenauve told his housekeeper of the opinion 
 pronounced on her performance, and with the utmost circum- 
 spection he insinuated that she must now soon be thinking of 
 making her living, as she had always intended. ' Yes, I think 
 the time is come,' said Signora Luigia. Then she closed the 
 conversation, saying, ' We will speak of it again.' This morn- 
 ing at breakfast they were much surprised at having seen 
 nothing of the signora, who was habitually an early riser. 
 Fancying she must be ill, Monsieur de Sallenauve sent a 
 woman who comes to do the coarser cleaning to knock at her 
 door. No answer. More and more anxious, the two gentle- 
 men went themselves to find out what was happening. 
 
 "After knocking and calling in vain, they determined to 
 turn the key and go in. In the room nobody ; but instead, 
 a letter addressed to Monsieur de Sallenauve. In this letter 
 the Italian said that, knowing herself to be in his way, she 
 was retiring to the house of a woman she knew, and thanked 
 him for all his kindness to her."
 
 294 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " The bird had felt its wings ! " said Monsieur de 1'Estor- 
 ade. "It had flown away." 
 
 "That was not Monsieur de Sallenauve's idea," said the 
 countess. " He does not for an instant suspect her of an im- 
 pulse of ingratitude. Before explaining to the meeting of 
 voters the relation in which they stood, Monsieur de Salle- 
 nauve, having ascertained that he would be questioned about 
 it, had with great delicacy written asking her whether this 
 public avowal would not be too painful to her. She replied 
 that she left it entirely to him. At the same time, he no- 
 ticed on his return that she was out of spirits, and treated him 
 with more than usual formality; whence he now concludes 
 that, fancying herself a burden to him, in one of those fits of 
 folly and temper of which she is peculiarly capable, she has 
 thought it incumbent on her to leave his house without allow- 
 ing him in any way to concern himself with providing for her 
 in the future." 
 
 "Well, well," said Monsieur de 1'Estorade, " luck go with 
 her! A good riddance." 
 
 "Neither Monsieur de Sallenauve nor Monsieur Marie- 
 Gaston takes such a stoical view of the matter. Knowing the 
 woman's determined and headstrong nature, they fear lest she 
 should have laid violent hands on her life an idea which her 
 previous history justifies. Or else they fear that she has been 
 ill advised." 
 
 " I adhere to my opinion," replied Monsieur de 1'Estorade. 
 "And in spite of immaculate virtue on both sides, I maintain 
 that he has been caught by her." 
 
 "At any rate," remarked Madame de 1'Estorade, empha- 
 sizing the word, " it does not seem that she has been caught" 
 
 "I do not agree with you," said Madame de Camps. 
 "Flying from a person is more than often a proof of very 
 true love." 
 
 Madame de 1'Estorade looked at her friend with some 
 vexation, and a faint color flushed her cheeks. But this no
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 295 
 
 one noticed, the servant having thrown the double doors open 
 and announced that dinner was served. 
 
 After dinner, they proposed to go to the play ; it is one of 
 the amusements that Parisians most miss in the country ; and 
 Monsieur Octave de Camps, whose odious ironworks, as 
 Madame de 1'Estorade called them, had made him a sort of. 
 " Wild Man of the Woods," had come to town eager for this 
 diversion, for which his wife, a serious and stay-at-home 
 woman, was far from sharing his taste. 
 
 So when Monsieur de Camps spoke of going to the Porte 
 Saint-Martin to see a fairy piece that was attracting all Paris, 
 his wife replied 
 
 " Neither I nor Madame de 1'Estorade have any wish to go 
 out. We are very tired with our expedition, and will give up 
 our places to NaTs and Rene, who will enjoy the marvels of 
 the 'Rose-fairy' far more than we should." 
 
 The two children awaited the ratification of this plan with 
 such anxiety as may be imagined. Their mother made no 
 objection ; and thus, a few minutes later, the two ladies, who 
 since Madame de Camps' arrival in Paris had not once been 
 able to escape from their surroundings for a single chat, found 
 themselves left to an evening of confidential talk. 
 
 "Not at home to anybody," said Madame de 1'Estorade to 
 Lucas, when the party were fairly off. 
 
 Then, taking as her starting-point the last words spoken by 
 Madame de Camps before dinner 
 
 " You really have, my dear friend," said she, "a stock of 
 the sharpest little arrows, which go as straight to their mark 
 as so many darts." 
 
 " Now that we are alone," replied Madame Octave, " I am 
 going to deal you blows with a bludgeon ; for, as you may 
 suppose, I have not traveled two hundred leagues and aban- 
 doned the care of our business, which Monsieur de Camps 
 has trained me to manage very competently when he is absent, 
 only to tell you sugared truths."
 
 296 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " I am willing to hear anything from you," said Madame 
 de 1'Estorade, pressing her friend's hand her dear conscience- 
 keeper, as she called her. 
 
 "Your last letter simply frightened me." 
 
 " Why ? Because I myself told you that this man frightened 
 me, and that I would find some means of keeping him at a 
 distance?" 
 
 "Yes. Until then I had doubted what my advice ought to 
 be ; but from that moment I became so uneasy about you, that 
 in spite of all Monsieur de Camps' objections to my making 
 the journey, I was determined to come and here I am." 
 
 " But, I assure you, I do not understand " 
 
 " Well, supposing Monsieur de Camps, Monsieur Marie- 
 Gaston or even Monsieur de Rastignac, though his visits 
 intoxicate your husband with delight were either of them to 
 get into the habit of regular calling^ would it disturb you as 
 much?" 
 
 " No, certainly not ; but neither of these men has any 
 such claim on me as this man has." 
 
 " Do you believe, tell me truly, that Monsieur de Salle- 
 nauve is in love with you?" 
 
 "No. I believe, I am perfectly certain, that he is not; 
 but I also believe that on my part " 
 
 " We will come to that presently. What I want to know 
 now is whether you wish that Monsieur de Sallenauve should 
 fall in love with you?" 
 
 "God forbid?" 
 
 " Well, an excellent way of drawing him to your heel is to 
 hurt his conceit, to be unjust and ungrateful to cpmpel him, 
 in short, to think about you." 
 
 "But is not that a rather far-fetched notion, my'dear?" 
 
 " Why, my dear child, have you never observed that men, 
 if they have any subtlety of feeling, are more readily caught 
 by severity than by softness; that we plant ourselves most 
 solidly in their minds by a stern attitude ; that they are very
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 297 
 
 like those little lap-dogs, who never want to bite till you 
 snatch away your hand ? " 
 
 " If that were tt>e case, every man we scorn and never even 
 think of glancing at would be a lover ! " 
 
 " Now, my dear, do not put nonsense into my mouth. 
 Though he may not love you, he loves your semblance; and, 
 as you said the other day, wittily enough, what is there to 
 prevent him, now that the other is evidently lost beyond 
 recall, from a ricochet into love for you? " 
 
 " But, on the contrary, he has better hopes than ever of 
 finding the lady, by the help of a very clever seeker who is 
 making inquiry." 
 
 " Well and good ; but supposing he should not find her for 
 a long time to come, are you to spend the time in getting him 
 on your hands?" 
 
 " Dear Dame Morality, I do not at all accept your theory, 
 at any rate so far as he is concerned : he will be very busy ; 
 he will be far more devoted to the Chamber than to me ; he is 
 a man of high self-respect, who would be disgusted by such 
 mean behavior on my part, and think it supremely unjust and 
 ungrateful ; and if I try to put two feet of distance between 
 us, he will put four, you may be quite certain." 
 
 "But you, my dear?" said her friend. 
 
 "How I?" 
 
 " Yes you who are not so busy, who have not the Chamber 
 to absorb you, who have I will allow plenty of self-respect, 
 but who know as much about affairs of the heart as a school- 
 girl or a wet-nurse what is to become of you under the per- 
 ilous regimen you propose to follow?" 
 
 "I! If I do not love him when I see him, I shall still 
 less love him when he is absent." 
 
 " So that if you found him accepting this ostracism with 
 indifference, your woman's pride would not be in the least 
 shocked?" 
 
 " Of course not ; it is that at which I aim."
 
 298 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "And NaTs, who dreams only of him, and who will say even 
 more emphatically than on the day when he first dined with 
 you : ' How well he talks, mamma ! ' ' 
 
 " Oh ! if you take a child's silly chatter into account " 
 
 "And Monsieur de 1'Estorade, who annoys you already 
 when, in his blind devotion to party spirit, he utters some ill- 
 natured insinuation about Monsieur de Sallenauve will you 
 silence him on every occasion when he is perpetually talking 
 about this man, denying his talents, his public spirit? You 
 know the verdict men always pronounce on those who do not 
 agree with their opinions." 
 
 "In short," said Madame de 1'Estorade, " you mean to say 
 that I shall never be so much tempted to think of him as when 
 he has gone quite out of my ken ? " 
 
 "What has happened to you once, my dear, when he fol- 
 lowed you about, and his sudden disappearance surprised you, 
 like the silence when a drum that has been deafening you for 
 an hour on end abruptly stops its clatter." 
 
 "In that there was reason. His absence upset a plan." 
 
 "Listen to me, my dear," said Madame de Camps gravely; 
 "I have read and re-read your letters. In them you were 
 more natural and less argumentative ; and they left me one 
 clear impression that Monsieur Sallenauve had certainly 
 touched your heart if he had not invaded it." 
 
 At a gesture of denial from Madame de 1'Estorade, her 
 strenuous Mentor went on 
 
 "I know you have fortified yourself against such a notion. 
 And how could you admit to me what you have so carefully 
 concealed from yourself? But the thing that is, is. You 
 cannot feel the magnetic influence of a man ; you cannot be 
 aware of his gaze even without meeting his eye ; you cannot 
 exclaim, 'You see, madame, I am invulnerable to love,' with- 
 out having been more or less hit already.'^ 
 
 " But so many things have happened since I wrote those 
 preposterous things ! "
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 299 
 
 "It is true, he was only a sculptor, and now, in the course 
 of time, he may possibly be in the Ministry, like I will not 
 say Monsieur de Rastignac, for that is not saying much, but 
 like Canalis the great poet." 
 
 "I like a sermon to have some conclusion," said Madame 
 de 1'Estorade pettishly. 
 
 "You say to me," replied Madame de Camps, "exactly 
 what Vergniaud said to Robespierre on the 3ist of May, for 
 in the solitude of our wilderness I have been reading the his- 
 tory of the French Revolution ; and I reply in Robespierre's 
 words, ' Yes, I am coming to the conclusion ' a conclusion 
 against your pride as a woman, who having reached the age of 
 two-and-thirty without suspecting what love might be even in 
 married life, cannot admit that at so advanced an age she 
 should yield to the universal law ; against the memory of 
 all your sermons to Louise de Chaulieu, proving to her that 
 there is no misfortune so great as a passion that captures the 
 heart very much as if you were to argue that an inflammation 
 of the lungs was the worst imprudence a sick man could 
 commit ; against your appalling ignorance, which conceives 
 that merely saying '/ will not ' in a resolute tone is stronger 
 than an inclination complicated by a. concurrence of circum- 
 stances from which the cleverest woman could scarcely shake 
 herself free." 
 
 "But the practical conclusion?" said Madame de 1'Esto- 
 rade, impatiently patting her knee with her pretty hand. 
 
 " My conclusion is this," replied her friend. "I do not 
 really see any danger of your drowning unless you are so 
 foolish as to try to stem the stream. You are firm-tempered, 
 you have good principles, and are religious ; you worship your 
 children, and for their sakes you esteem their father, Monsieur 
 de 1'Estorade, who has now for more than fifteen years been 
 the companion of your life. With so much ballast you will 
 not upset, and, believe me, you are well afloat." 
 
 "Well, then?" said Madame de 1'Estorade.
 
 300 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "Well, then, there is no necessity for violent efforts, with 
 very doubtful results, in my opinion, to preserve an unmoved 
 attitude under impossible conditions, when you have already 
 to a great extent abandoned it. You are quite sure that Mon- 
 sieur de Sallenauve will never think of inviting you to take a 
 step further; you have said that he is leagues away from 
 thinking of such a thing." 
 
 " Then I am to make a friend of Monsieur de Sallenauve ? " 
 said Madame de 1'Estorade pensively. 
 
 "Yes, my dear, to save yourself from his becoming a fixed 
 idea a regret a remorse three things which poison life." 
 
 " With the world looking on ; with my husband, who has 
 already had one fit of jealousy ! " 
 
 " My dear, you may compromise yourself just as much or 
 more in the eyes of the world by your efforts to mislead it as 
 by the liberty you frankly allow yourself. Do you imagine, 
 for instance, that your abrupt departure last evening from the 
 Rastignacs', in order to avoid any discussion of your obliga- 
 tions to Monsieur de Sallenauve, can have escaped observa- 
 tion ? 
 
 "Your husband is, I think, somewhat altered, and not for 
 the better. What used to be attractive in him was the perfect 
 respect, the unlimited deference he showed for your person, 
 your ideas, your impressions, everything about you ; that sort 
 of dog-like submissiveness gave him a dignity he had no idea 
 of, for there is real greatness in knowing how to obey and to 
 admire. I may be mistaken, but I think politics have spoilt 
 him ; as you cannot fill his seat in the Upper Chamber, it has 
 dawned on his mind that he could quite well live without 
 you. In your place I should keep a sharp eye on such fancies 
 for independence ; and since this question is the order of the 
 day, I should make it a cabinet question on the point of Mon- 
 sieur de Sallenauve." 
 
 "But do you know, my dear friend," said Madame de 
 1'Estorade, laughing, " that you are delightfully pestilential,
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 301 
 
 and that if I acted on your advice I should bring down fire 
 and sword ? ' ' 
 
 " Not at all, my .child ; I am simply a woman of five-and- 
 forty, who has always looked on things in their practical 
 aspect ; and I did not marry my husband, to whom I am 
 passionately attached, till I was well assured, by putting him 
 to a severe test, that he also was worthy of my esteem. It is 
 not I who make life what it is ; I take it as I find it, trying to 
 bring order and possibility into all the incidents that may 
 occur. I am not frantic passion like Louise de Chaulieu, nor 
 am I exaggerated good sense like Renee de 1'Estorade. I am 
 a sort of Jesuit in petticoats, convinced that rather wide sleeves 
 are more serviceable than sleeves that are too tight about the 
 wrists ; and I never set my heart on the Quest of the Abso- 
 lute." 
 
 At this moment Lucas opened the drawing-room door and 
 announced Monsieur de Sallenauve. 
 
 As Sallenauve took his seat in a chair the man pushed for- 
 ward for him 
 
 "You see," Madame de Camps whispered to her friend, 
 " the servants even have an instinctive idea that he is not a 
 mere 'anybody.' ' 
 
 Madame de Camps, who had never met the new deputy, 
 devoted her whole attention to studying him, and saw no 
 reason to repent of preaching that he was not to be outraged. 
 Sallenauve accounted for his visit by his anxious curiosity to 
 know how matters had gone off at Ville-d' Avray ; if he should 
 hear that Marie-Gaston had been too much upset, he was quite 
 prepared, though it was already late, to set out at once and 
 join him. 
 
 As to the business that had occupied his day, he had as yet 
 had no form of success. He had availed himself of his title 
 of deputy, a sort of universal pass-key, to interview the pre- 
 fect of police, who had referred him to Monsieur de Saint- 
 Esteve of the detective department, Sallenauve, knowing, as
 
 302 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC1S. 
 
 all Paris knew, the past history of this man, was amazed to 
 find him an official of good manners. But the great detective 
 had not given him much hope. 
 
 "A woman hidden in Paris," said he, "is literally an eel 
 hidden in the deepest hole." 
 
 He himself, with the help of Jacques Bricheteau, meant to 
 continue the search during the whole of the next day ; but if, 
 by the evening, neither he nor the great official inquisitor had 
 discovered anything, he was determined to go then to Ville- 
 d'Avray to be with Marie-Gaston, concerning whom he was 
 far more uneasy than Madame de 1'Estorade. 
 
 As he said good-night, before the return of Monsieur de 
 1'Estorade and Monsieur de Camps who was to call for his 
 wife 
 
 "Do not forget," said Madame de 1'Estorade, "that NaTs' 
 party is on the evening after to-morrow. You will offend her 
 mortally if you fail to appear. Try to persuade Marie-Gaston 
 to come with you; it will be a little diversion at any rate." 
 
 On coming in from the theatre, Monsieur Octave de Camps 
 declared that it would be many a long day before he would 
 ever go to another fairy extravaganza. NaTs, on the contrary, 
 still bewitched by the marvels she had seen, began to give an 
 eager report of the play, which showed how deeply it had 
 struck her young imagination. 
 
 As Madame de Camps went away with her husband, she 
 remarked 
 
 "That little girl would make me very anxious; she re- 
 minds me of Mo'ina d'Aiglemont. Madame de 1'Estorade 
 has brought her on too fast, and I should not be surprised if 
 in the future she gave them some trouble." 
 
 It is difficult to fix the exact date in the history of modern 
 manners, when a sort of new religion had its rise which may 
 be called the worship of children. Nor would it be any easier 
 to determine what the influence was under which this cult 
 Acquired the extensive vogue it has. now attained, Children
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 303 
 
 now fill the place in the family which was held among the 
 ancients by the household gods; and the individual who 
 should fail to share this devotion would be thought not so 
 much a fractious and cross-grained person, perverse and con- 
 tradictory, as simply an atheist. The influence of Rousseau, 
 however who for a while persuaded all mothers to suckle 
 their infants has now died out ; still, he must be a superficial 
 observer who would find a contradiction in this to the next 
 remark. Any one who has ever been present at the tremen- 
 dous deliberations held over the choice of a wet-nurse to live 
 in the house, and understood the position this queen of the 
 nursery at once takes up in the arrangements of the household, 
 may be quite convinced that the mother's renunciation of her 
 rights is on her part only the first of many acts of devotion 
 and self-sacrifice. The doctor and the accoucheur, whom she 
 does not try to influence, declare that she is not equal to the 
 task ; and it is an understood thing that, solely for the sake 
 of the being she has brought into the world, she resigns 
 herself to the inevitable. But, then, having secured for the 
 child what schoolmasters describe as excellent and abundant 
 board, what frantic care and anxiety surround it ! How often 
 is the doctor called up at night to certify that the mildest in- 
 digestion is not an attack of much-dreaded croup ! How 
 often is he snatched away from the bedside of the dying, and 
 urgently plied with agonized questions by a mother in tears, 
 who fancies that her cherub looks "peeky" or "pasty," or 
 has not soiled its napkins quite as usual ! 
 
 At last the baby has got over this first difficult stage ; re- 
 leased from the wet-nurse's arms, it no longer wears a King 
 Henry IV. hat, decked with plumes and tufts like an Andalusian 
 mule; but then the child, and its companions, still remind us 
 of Spain : dedicated to the Virgin and arrayed in white, they 
 might be taken for young statues of the Commendatore in the 
 opera of " Don Giovanni." Others, reminding us of Walter 
 Scott and the " White Lady," look as if they had come down
 
 304 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 from the Highlands, of which they display the costume the 
 short jacket and bare knees. 
 
 More often the sweet idols supply in their dress what M. 
 Ballanche would have called a palingenesis of national history. 
 As we see, in the Tuileries, hair cut square a la Charles VI., 
 the velvet doublets, lace and embroidered collars, the cavalier 
 hats, short capes, ruffles and shoes with roses, of Louis XIII. 
 and Louis XIV., we can go through a course of French 
 history related by tailors and dressmakers with stricter exacti- 
 tude than by Mezeray and President Renault. 
 
 Next come anxieties, if not as to the health, at any rate as 
 to the constitution of our little household gods for they are 
 always so delicate ; and to strengthen them, a journey every 
 year to the sea, or the country, or the Pyrenees, is imperatively 
 ordered. And, of course, during the five or six months spent 
 by the mother in these hygienic wanderings, the husband, if 
 he is detained in Paris, must make the best of his widowhood, 
 of his empty and dismantled house, and the upheaval of all 
 his habits. 
 
 Winter, however, brings the family home again ; but do 
 you suppose that these precious darlings, puffed up with pre- 
 cocity and importance, can be amused, like the children born 
 in the ages of heartless infanticide, with rattles, dolls, and 
 twopenny Punches ? What next, indeed ! The boys must 
 have ponies, cigarettes, and novels; the little girls must 
 be allowed to play on a grand scale at being grown-up mistress 
 of the house ; they give afternoon dances, and evening parties 
 with the genuine Guignol puppets from the Champs-Elysees, 
 or Robert Houdin promised on the invitation card ; nor are 
 these like Lambert and Moliere, you may depend on it ; once 
 on the programme, they are secured. 
 
 Finally, now and again these little autocrats, like NaTs de 
 1'Estorade, get leave to give a party on a sufficiently grown-up 
 scale to make it necessary to engage a few police to guard the 
 door; while at Nattier's, at Delisle's, and at Provost's the
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 305 
 
 event casts its shadow before in the purchase of silks, artificial 
 flowers, and real bouquets for the occasion. From what we 
 have seen of NaTs, it will be understood that no one was more 
 capable than she of filling the part and the duties that devolved 
 on her by her mother's temporary abdication in her favor of 
 all her power and authority. 
 
 This abdication had dated from some days before the even- 
 ing now arrived ; for it was Mademoiselle NaTs de 1'Estorade 
 who, in her own name, had requested the guests to do her the 
 honor of spending the evening with her; and as Madame de 
 1'Estorade would not carry the parody to such a length as to 
 allow the cards to be printed, NaYs had spent several days 
 in writing these invitations, taking care to add in the corner 
 the sacramental formula " Dancing." 
 
 Nothing could be stranger, or, as Madame Octave de Camps 
 would have said, more alarming than the perfect coolness of 
 this little girl of thirteen, standing, as she had seen her 
 mother do on similar occasions, at the drawing-room door, 
 and toning the warmth of her welcome to the finest shades as she 
 received her guests, from the most affectionate cordiality to a 
 coolness verging on disdain. With her bosom friends she 
 warmly shook hands in the English fashion : for others, she had 
 smiles graduated for different degrees of intimacy ; a bow or 
 nod to those whom she did not know or care for ; and from 
 time to time the most amusing little motherly air and pet 
 words for the tiny ones who are necessarily included in these 
 juvenile routs, difficult and perilous as such company is to 
 manage. 
 
 To the fathers and mothers of her guests, as the party 
 was not given for them, and she was acting strictly on the 
 Evangelical precept, Sinite parvulos venire ad me, NaTs aimed 
 at distant but respectful politeness. But when Lucas, revers- 
 ing the usual order of things, in obedience to her instructions, 
 announced: " Mesdemoiselles de la Roche-Hugon, Madame 
 la Baronne de la Roche-Hugon, and Madame la Comtcsse de 
 20
 
 306 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Rastignac," the cunning little puss abandoned this studied 
 reserve ; she rushed forward to meet the minister's wife, and, 
 with the prettiest possible grace, she seized her hand and 
 kissed it. 
 
 Nai's could not accept every invitation to dance which the 
 elegant little dandies vied with each other in pressing on her, 
 and, indeed, she got a little confused over the order of her 
 engagements. In spite of the famous "entente cordialc" her 
 heedlessness was near causing a revival of the perennial rivalry 
 of France and perfidious Albion. A quadrille promised twice 
 over to a young English nobleman, aged ten, and a boy from 
 a preparatory naval school Barniol's school was about to 
 result in something more than railing accusations, for the 
 young heir to the English peerage had already doubled his 
 fist in attitude to box. 
 
 This squabble being settled, another disaster befell : a very 
 small boy, seeing the servant bring in a tray of cakes and 
 cooling drinks after a polka, which had made him very hot, 
 was anxious to refresh himself; but as he was too short to 
 reach the level at which the objects of his desire were held by 
 the footman, he unfortunately tried clinging to the rim of the 
 tray to bring it within reach; the tray tilted, lost its balance, 
 and one of its corners serving as a gutter, there flowed, as 
 from the urn of a mythological river-god, a sort of cascade of 
 mingled orgeat, currant-syrup, and capillaire, of which the 
 fountain-head was the overturned glasses. It would have been 
 well if only the rash infant himself had suffered from the sud- 
 den sticky torrent ; but in the confusion caused by the catas- 
 trophe, ten innocent victims were severely splashed, among 
 them five or six infant bacchantes, who, enraged at seeing 
 their garments stained, seemed ready to make a second Or- 
 pheus of the luckless blunderer. 
 
 While he was rescued with difficulty from their hands, and 
 delivered over to those of a German governess, who had has- 
 tened to the scene of the uproar
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS.^ 307 
 
 "What could Na'is be thinking of," said a pretty, fair- 
 haired little girl to a youthful Highlander with whom she had 
 been dancing all the evening, " to invite little children no 
 bigger than that?" 
 
 " Oh, I quite understand," said the Highlander; " he is a 
 little boy belonging to the Accountant Office people ; Na'fs 
 was obliged to ask him on account of his parents ; it was a 
 matter of civility." 
 
 At the same time putting his hand through a friend's arm 
 
 "I say, Ernest," he went on, "I could smoke a cigar! 
 Suppose we try and find a corner out of all this riot." 
 
 "I cannot, my dear fellow," replied Ernest mysteriously. 
 "You know that Leontine always makes a scene when she 
 finds out that I have been smoking. She is in the sweetest 
 mood to-night. There, look what she has just given me ! " 
 
 "A horse-hair ring, with two flaming hearts!" said the 
 Highlander scornfully. "Why, every schoolboy makes 
 them ! " 
 
 "Then, pray, what have you to show?" retorted Ernest, 
 much nettled. 
 
 " Oh ! " said the Highlander, " better than that." 
 
 And with a consequential air he took out of the sporran,* 
 which formed part of his costume, a sheet of scented blue 
 paper. 
 
 "There," said he, holding it under Ernest's nose, "just 
 smell that." 
 
 Ernest, with conspicuous lack of delicacy, snatched at the 
 note and got possession of it ; the Highlander, in a rage, 
 struggled to get it back. Then Monsieur de 1'Estorade inter- 
 vened, and having not the remotest suspicion of the cause 
 of the fray, separated the combatants, so that the spoiler 
 could enjoy the fruits of his crime unmolested in a corner. 
 The paper was blank. The young rascal had stolen the sheet 
 of scented paper that morning from his mamma's blotting- 
 
 * The pouch of fur worn in front of the kilt.
 
 308 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 book she perhaps would have made some less immaculate 
 thing of it. 
 
 Ernest presently returned it to the Highlander 
 
 " Here; I give you back your letter," said he, in a tone of 
 derision. "It is desperately compromising ! " 
 
 "Keep it, sir," replied the other. " I will ask you for it 
 to-morrow under the chestnut-trees in the Tuileries. Mean- 
 while, you must understand that we can have nothing more to 
 say to each other ! " 
 
 Ernest's demeanor was less chivalrous. His only reply was 
 to put the thumb of his right hand to his nose, spreading his 
 fingers and turning an imaginary handle an ironical demon- 
 stration which he had learned from seeing it performed by his 
 mother's coachman. Then he went off to find his partner 
 for a quadrille that was being formed. 
 
 Sallenauve, who had returned about four in the afternoon 
 from spending two days at Ville-d'Avray, could not give 
 Madame de 1'Estorade a good report of his friend. Under 
 a mask of cold resignation, Marie-Gaston was in deep dejec- 
 tion ; and the most serious cause of anxiety, because it was so 
 unnatural, was that he had not yet been to visit his wife's 
 grave ; it was as though he foresaw the risk of such agitation 
 as he really dared not face. This state of mind had so 
 greatly disturbed Sallenauve, that, but for fear of really dis- 
 tressing NaYs by not appearing at her ball, he would not have 
 left his friend, who was by no means to be persuaded to come 
 to Paris with him. 
 
 It maybe remembered that one of Bixiou's chief grievances 
 against Dorlange had been the sculptor's ambition, if not 
 indeed to know everything, at any rate to examine every- 
 thing. During the last year especially Sallenauve, having 
 spent no time in his art but what was needed for the " Sainte- 
 Ursule," had been at leisure to devote himself to the scientific 
 Studies which justify a parliamentary representative in speak-
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 309 
 
 ing with authority when they can serve to support or illustrate 
 his political views. 
 
 Hence, though in talking to Monsieur Godivet, the registrar 
 of taxes at Arcis, he had modestly expressed himself as igno- 
 rant of the details of that official's functions, he had given his 
 attention to the various elements on which they bore the 
 customs, conveyancing-fees, stamps, and direct or indirect 
 taxes. Then, in turning to the science so problematical, 
 and yet so self-confident that it has assumed a name Poli- 
 tical Economy Sallenauve had studied with no less care the 
 various sources which contribute to form the mighty river of 
 the nation's wealth ; and the branch of the subject relating to 
 mines, the matter just now of preponderating interest to Mon- 
 sieur de Camps, had not been neglected. The ironmaster had 
 been so exclusively interested in the question of iron ores 
 that he had much to learn in the other branches of metallurgy, 
 and his delight may be imagined on hearing from the newly 
 made deputy a sort of "Arabian Nights' " tale of the riches 
 of the land, though, certified by science, there could be no 
 doubt of the facts. 
 
 "Do you mean, monsieur," cried Monsieur de Camps, 
 " that beside our coal and iron mines we have deposits of 
 copper, lead, and even of silver? " 
 
 "If you will only consult some specialist, he will tell you 
 that the famous mines of Bohemia and Saxony, of Russia and 
 of Hungary, are not to be compared to those that exist in the 
 Pyrenees ; in the Alps from Briancon to the Isere ; in the 
 Cevennes, especially about the Lozere ; in the Puy-de-D6me ; 
 in Brittany and in the Vosges. In the Vosges, not far from 
 the town of Saint-Die, I can tell you of a single vein of silver 
 ore that runs with a width of from fifty to eighty metres for a 
 distance of about eight miles." 
 
 " How is it, then, that this mineral wealth has never been 
 worked?" 
 
 " It was, at one time," said Sallenauve, " at a distant period,
 
 310 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 especially during the Roman dominion in Gaul. These mines 
 were abandoned at the fall of the Roman Empire, but worked 
 again during the Middle Ages by the clergy and the lords of 
 the soil ; then, during the struggle between the feudal nobles 
 and the sovereign, and the long civil wars which devastated 
 the country, the working was given up, and no one has taken 
 it up since." 
 
 " And- you are sure of the facts? " 
 
 "Ancient writers, Strabo and others, all speak of these 
 mines ; the tradition of their working survives in the districts 
 where they lie ; imperial decrees and the edicts of kings bear 
 witness to their existence and to the value of their output ; 
 and in some places there is still more practical evidence in 
 excavations of considerable length and depth, shafts and 
 caverns hewn out of the living rock, and all the traces which 
 bear witness to the vast undertakings that immortalized Roman 
 enterprise. To this may be added the evidence of modern 
 geological science, which has everywhere confirmed and am- 
 plified these indications." 
 
 But here Lucas threw open the drawing-room door and 
 announced in his loudest and most impressive tones: " Mon- 
 sieur the Minister of Public Works." 
 
 The effect on the assembly was electrical ; it even broke in 
 on the ttte-a-t$tc of the two new friends. 
 
 " Let us have a look at this little Rastignac who has blos- 
 somed into a public personage," said Monsieur de Camps dis- 
 dainfully, as he rose. 
 
 But in his heart it struck him that this was an opportunity 
 of getting hold of the inaccessible minister ; in virtue of the 
 sound principle that a bird in hand is worth two in the bush, 
 he left the hidden fortune revealed to him by Sallenauve to 
 rest in peace, and went back to his iron-mine. Sallenauve, 
 on his part, foresaw an introduction to be inevitable ; it seemed 
 to him impossible but that Monsieur de 1'Estorade's Conser- 
 vative zeal would contrive to bring it about.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 311 
 
 And what would his allies of the Opposition say to the 
 news, which would certainly be reported on the morrow, that 
 a representative of the Extreme Left had been seen in a 
 drawing-room in conversation with a minister so noted for his 
 ardor and skill in making political proselytes? Sallenauve 
 had already had a taste of his party's ideas of tolerance in the 
 office of the " National ; " he had heard it insinuated that the 
 affectation of moderation promised by his profession of polit- 
 ical faith was not to be taken literally as to his parliamentary 
 conduct ; that, in fact, he would soon find himself deserted 
 if he should attempt to make his practice agree with his 
 theories. 
 
 Anxious as he was, too, about Marie-Gaston, having put in 
 an appearance at NaTs' party, he was eager now to return to 
 the Ville-d'Avray, and for all these reasons he determined to 
 profit by the general excitement and beat a retreat. By quiet 
 and simple tactics he got round to the door, and hoped to 
 escape without being observed. But he had reckoned without 
 NaVs, to whom he had promised a quadrille. The instant he 
 laid his hand on the door-handle the little girl sounded the 
 alarm, and Monsieur de 1'Estorade, with what precipitancy 
 may be imagined, took her part to detain the deserter. Seeing 
 that his ruse had failed, Sallenauve dared not commit himself 
 to a retreat which would have been in bad taste by assuming 
 an importance suggestive of political priggishness ; so he took 
 his chance of what might happen, and, after graciously allow- 
 ing himself to be reinstated on Mademoiselle NaTs' list of 
 partners, he remained. 
 
 Monsieur de 1'Estorade knew Sallenauve to be too clever a 
 man to become the dupe of any finessing he might attempt to 
 throw in the minister's way. He therefore acted with perfect 
 simplicity; and a quarter of an hour after Monsieur de Ras- 
 tignac's arrival, they came to the deputy arm in arm, the host 
 saying 
 
 " Monsieur de Rastignac, minister of Public Works, has
 
 312 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 desired me before the battle begins to introduce him to one 
 of the generals of the hostile force." 
 
 "Monsieur le Ministre does me too much honor," said 
 Sallenauve ceremoniously. " Far from being a general, I 
 am but one of the humblest and least known of the rank and 
 file." 
 
 " Nay ! " said the minister, "the fight at Arcis-sur-Aube was 
 no small victory ; you sent our men pretty smartly to the right- 
 about, monsieur." 
 
 "There was nothing," said de Sallenauve, "very astonish- 
 ing in that, monsieur ; as you may have heard, we had a saint 
 on our side." 
 
 "At any rate," replied Rastignac, " I prefer such an issue 
 to that which had been planned for us by a man whom I had 
 believed to be more capable, and whom we sent down to the 
 scene of action. That Beauvisage would seem to be hope- 
 lessly stupid ; he would have reflected on us if we had got him 
 in ; and, after all, he was only Left Centre, like that lawyer, 
 Giguet. Now the Left Centre is, in fact, our worst enemy, 
 because, while traversing our politics, it aims ? r i r .cipally at 
 getting into office." 
 
 " Oh ! " said Monsieur de 1'Estorade, " from what you were 
 told of the man, he would have been whatever he was bidden 
 to be." 
 
 " No, no, my dear fellow, don't fancy that. Fools often 
 cling more closely than you might believe to the flag under 
 which they have enlisted. Going over to the enemy implies 
 a choice, and that means a rather complicated mental process; 
 obstinacy is far easier." 
 
 "I quite agree with the minister," said Sallenauve; "the 
 extremes of innocence and cunning are equally proof against 
 being talked over." 
 
 "You kill your man kindly," said Monsieur de 1'Estorade, 
 patting Sallenauve on the shoulder. 
 
 Then seeing, or pretending to see, in the mirror over the
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 313 
 
 chimney-shelf by which they stood, a signal that he was 
 wanted 
 
 "Coming," said he over his shoulder, and having thus 
 thrown the foes together, he went off, as if he were required 
 for some duty as host. 
 
 Sallenauve was determined not to look like a schoolgirl 
 frightened out of her wits at the notion of being left alone with 
 a gentleman ; since they had met, he would put a good face on 
 the matter, and, speaking at once, he asked whether the min- 
 istry had any large number of bills to lay before the Houses, 
 which would meet a few days hence. 
 
 "No, very few," replied Rastignac. "We honestly did 
 not expect to remain in office ; we appealed to an election 
 because in the confusion of public opinion forced on by the 
 press, we felt it our duty to bring it to its bearings, and com- 
 pel it to know its own mind by requiring it to declare itself. 
 We had no hope of the result proving favorable to ourselves ; 
 and the victory, it must be confessed, finds us quite unpre- 
 pared." 
 
 "Like the peasant," said Sallenauve, laughing, "who, 
 expecting the end of the world, did not think it worth while 
 to sow his field." 
 
 " Oh ! " said Rastignac modestly, "we did not regard our 
 retirement as the end of the world. We believe that there 
 will be men after us, and many of them, perfectly able to 
 govern ; only, in that temporary sojourn known as office, as 
 we expected to give very few performances, we did not unpack 
 our scenery and dresses. The session was not in any case to 
 be one of business ; the question now to be decided is between 
 what is called the Chateau, the personal influence of the sov- 
 ereign, and parliamentary supremacy. This question will 
 inevitably come to the front when we are required to ask for 
 the Secret Service fund. When it has been settled one way or 
 the other, the appropriations are passed, and a few acts of 
 minor importance, parliament will have gotten through its
 
 314 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 task with credit, for it will have put an end to a heart-breaking 
 struggle, and the country will know once and for all to which 
 of the two powers it is to look with assurance for the promo- 
 tion of its prosperity." 
 
 "Then you think," said Sallenauve, "that this is a very 
 useful question to settle in the economy of a constitutional 
 government?" 
 
 " Well, it was not we who raised it," said Rastignac. "It 
 is perhaps the outcome of circumstances ; and, to a great ex- 
 tent, of the impatience of some ambitious men, and of party 
 tactics." 
 
 " So that, in your opinion, sir, one of those powers is in no 
 respect to blame, and has nothing whatever to repent of?" 
 
 "You are a Republican," replied Rastignac, "and conse- 
 quently a priori an enemy of the dynasty. It would be, I 
 conceive, pure waste of time on my part to try to rectify your 
 ideas as to what constitutes the course of conduct of which 
 you accuse it." 
 
 "You are quite mistaken," said the supporter of the theo- 
 retical, imaginable future republic. " I have no preconceived 
 hatred of the reigning dynasty. I even think that in its past 
 history, variegated, if I may say so, with royal relationship 
 and revolutionary impulses, there are all the elements that 
 should commend it to the liberal and monarchical instincts of 
 the people. At the same time, you will fail to convince me 
 that the present head of the royal family is untainted by those 
 extravagant notions of personal prerogative which, in the long 
 run, must undermine, disfigure, and wreck the most admirable 
 and the strongest institutions." 
 
 "Yes," said Rastignac sarcastically, "their salvation is to 
 be found in the famous saying of the member for Sancerre : 
 ' The King reigns ; he does not govern ! ' ' 
 
 Whether it was that he was tired of standing or that he 
 wished to show that he was quite at his ease in avoiding the 
 pitfall that had so evidently been laid for him, Sallenauve,
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 315 
 
 before he answered, pulled forward an armchair for the min- 
 ister, and, after seating himself, replied 
 
 "Will you allSw. me, monsieur, to quote the example of 
 another royal personage ? a prince who was not thought to be 
 indifferent to the prerogatives of his crown, and who certainly 
 was not ignorant of constitutional procedure. In the first 
 place, because, like our present King, he was not ignorant on 
 any subject whatever ; and, in the second place, because he 
 himself had introduced the constitutional system into our 
 country." 
 
 "Louis XVIII.," said Rastignac, "or, as the newspapers 
 have it : ' The illustrious author of the Charter ? ' ' 
 
 " Just so," said Sallenauve. " Now, let me ask you, where 
 did he die?" 
 
 "At the Tuileries, of course." 
 
 " And his successor ? " 
 
 "In exile. I see your point." 
 
 " My point is not, in fact, very difficult to discern. But 
 have you observed, sir, the inference to be drawn from that 
 royal career for which I, for my part, profess entire respect ? 
 Louis XVIII.* was not a citizen king. He vouchsafed the 
 Charter ; it was not wrung from him. He was born nearer 
 to the throne than the King whose unfortunate tendencies I 
 have mentioned and was bound to inherit a larger share of 
 the ideas, infatuations, and prejudices of Court life. His per- 
 son was laughable and this in France means degeneracy ; he 
 had to make the best of a new regime following a government 
 which had intoxicated the people with that fine gilded smoke 
 called glory ; also, if he was not actually brought in by for- 
 eigners, he at least came in at the heels of an invasion by 
 Europe in arms. And now, shall I tell you why, in spite of 
 his own original sin, and in spite of a standing conspiracy 
 against his rule, he was allowed to die in peace under his 
 canopy at the Tuileries ? " 
 
 * This king favored the Revolution in its first stages.
 
 316 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "Because he was constitutional?" said Rastignac, with a 
 shrug. " But can you say that we are not ? " 
 
 " In the letter, yes ; in the spirit, no. When King Louis 
 XVIII. placed his confidence in a prime minister, it was com- 
 plete and entire ; he played no underhand game, but supported 
 him to the utmost. Witness the famous edict of the 5th of 
 September, and the dismissal of the undiscoverable Chamber, 
 which was more royalist than himself a thing he was well 
 advised enough to disapprove. Later, a revulsion of opinion 
 shook the minister who had prompted him to this action. 
 That minister was his favorite his child, as he called him. 
 No matter; yielding to constitutional necessity, after wrapping 
 him in orders and titles, and everything that could deaden 
 the shock of a fall, he courageously sent him abroad ; and 
 then he did not dig mines, or set watch, or try to make 
 opportunities for surreptitiously recalling him to power. That 
 minister never held office again." 
 
 "For a man who does not hate Us," said Rastignac, "you 
 are pretty hard upon Us. We are little short of forsworn to 
 the constitutional compact, and Our policy, by your account, 
 is ambiguous and tortuous, and suggests a certain remote like- 
 ness to M. Doublemain, the sly and wily clerk in the ' Mariage 
 de Figaro.' " 
 
 " I would not say that the evil lay so deep or came from 
 so far," replied Sallenauve. " We are perhaps merely a busy- 
 body only in the sense, of course, of loving to have a finger 
 in everything." 
 
 " Well, monsieur, but if We were the cleverest politician in 
 the kingdom ! " 
 
 " That does hinder the kingdom which is all the world 
 from having the luck now and again of being as clever as We 
 are." 
 
 " On my word ! " said Rastignac, in the tone which seems 
 to emphasize the climax of a conversation, "I wish I could 
 realize a dream "
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 317 
 
 ' ' Of what ? ' ' said Sallenauvc. 
 
 ' ' Of seeing you face to face with that meddlesome clever- 
 ness which you seem to me to hold so cheap." 
 
 "You know, monsieur, that three-quarters of every man's 
 life are spent in imagining the impossible." 
 
 "Impossible! Why? Would you be the first Opposition 
 member ever seen at the Tuileries ? And an invitation to 
 dinner quite publicly and ostensibly given that would 
 bring you nearer to what you judge so hardly from a dis- 
 tance ?" 
 
 "I should do myself the honor of refusing it, monsieur," 
 and he accentuated the honor in such a way as to give his own 
 meaning to the word. 
 
 "That is just like you, all you men of the Opposition," 
 cried Rastignac, " refusing to see the light when the occasion 
 offers incapable of seeing it, in fact ! " 
 
 " Do you see the light to any particular advantage, mon- 
 sieur, when, in the evening, as you pass a druggist's store, 
 you get full in your eyes a glare from those gigantic glass 
 jars which seem to have been invented expressly to blind peo- 
 ple?" 
 
 "You are not afraid of Our beams, but of the dark lantern 
 of your colleagues making their rounds." 
 
 " There is perhaps some truth in that, Monsieur le Ministre. 
 A party, and the man who craves the honor of representing 
 it, are like a married couple, who, if they are to get on to- 
 gether, must treat each other with mutual consideration, sin- 
 cerity, and fidelity, in fact as well as in form." 
 
 "Then try to be moderate! Your dream, indeed, is far 
 more impossible to realize than mine ; you will have some ex- 
 perience yet of the consideration shown you by your chaste 
 spouse." 
 
 " If there was any misfortune I might be certain of, it was 
 that, no doubt." 
 
 "You think that ! And you, with the noble and generous
 
 318 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 feeling that is evident in you can you even endure unmoved 
 the slander which is perhaps already sharpening its darts?" 
 
 "Have you yourself, monsieur, never felt its sting? or, if 
 you have, did it turn you aside from the road you were follow- 
 ing?" 
 
 "But if I were to tell you," said Rastignac, lowering his 
 voice, " that I have already had occasion to decline certain 
 officious proposals to stir the depths of your private life, on 
 a side, which, being a little less open to daylight than the 
 others, has seemed particularly adapted for the setting of a 
 snare ? ' ' 
 
 " I will not thank you, sir, for merely doing yourself justice 
 by scorning the attemps of these meddlers, who are neither of 
 your party nor of mine whose only party is that of their own 
 low greed and interest. But even if by some impossible chance 
 they had found a loophole through which to approach you, 
 believe me, that any purpose sanctioned by my conscience 
 would not have been in the least affected." 
 
 " Still, do but consider the constituent elements of your 
 party : a rabble of disappointed schemers, of envious bru- 
 tality, base imitators of '93, despots disguised as devotees of 
 liberty." 
 
 "My party has not, and wants to have. Yours calls itself 
 Conservative and with good reason its principal aim being 
 to keep power, places, fortune, everything it has, in its clutches. 
 But at bottom, monsieur, the cooking is the same : eat, but do 
 not see the process ; for, as la Bruyere says: ' If you see a meal 
 anywhere but on a well-laid table, how foul and disgusting it 
 is ! ' " 
 
 " But, at any rate, monsieur, We are not a blind alley We 
 lead to something. Now, the more you rise by superior 
 character and intelligence, the less you will be allowed to get 
 through with your horde of democrats in your train, for its 
 triumph would mean not a mere change of policy, but a 
 revolution."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 319 
 
 " But who says that I want to get through, to arrive any- 
 where ? ' ' 
 
 " What, merely march without trying to attain ! A certain 
 breadth of faculty n'ot only gives a man the right to aim at 
 the conduct of affairs, it makes it his duty." 
 
 "To keep an eye on those who conduct them is surely a 
 useful function too, and, I may add, a very absorbing one." 
 
 " You do not imagine, my dear sir," said Rastignac, " that 
 I should have taken so much trouble to convince Beauvisage ; 
 to be sure, it must be said that with him I should have had an 
 easier task." 
 
 " One happy result will ensue from the introduction which 
 chance has brought about," said Sallenauve. " We shall feel 
 that we know each other, and in our future meetings shall be 
 pledged to courtesy which will not diminish the strength of 
 our convictions." 
 
 " Then I am to tell the King, for I had special instructions 
 from his majesty " 
 
 Rastignac could not finish the sentence which was his last 
 cartridge, as it were ; for, as the band played the introductory 
 bars of a quadrille, NaYs rushed up to him, and, with a coquet- 
 tish curtsey, said 
 
 " Monsieur le Ministre, I am very sorry, but you have taken 
 possession of my partner, and you must give him up to me. 
 I have his name down for the eleventh quadrille, and if I miss 
 a turn it makes such dreadful confusion ! " 
 
 " You will excuse me, monsieur," said Sallenauve, laughing. 
 "You see I am not a very red Republican." 
 
 And he went with NaTs, who dragged him away by the hand. 
 
 Madame de 1'Estorade had had a kindly thought. It had 
 occurred to her that Sallenauve's good-natured consent to 
 humor NaTs might cost his dignity a prick, so she had con- 
 trived that some papas and mammas should join in the quad- 
 rille he had been drawn into ; and she herself, with the young 
 Highlander, the hero of the blank billets-doux who, little as
 
 320 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 she suspected it, was quite capable of making mischief for her 
 took the place of vis-a-vis to the little girl. 
 
 Na'is was beaming with pride and delight ; and at a moment, 
 when in the figure of the dance she had to take her mother's 
 hand 
 
 "Poor mamma," said she, giving it an ecstatic clutch, 
 " but for him you would not have me here now ! " 
 
 The sudden and unexpected expression of this reminiscence 
 so startled Madame de 1'Estorade that she was seized with a 
 return of the nervous spasm that had attacked her at the sight 
 of the child's narrow escape. She was obliged to take a seat, 
 and seeing her turn pale, Sallenauve, Na'is, and Madame de 
 Camps all three came up to know if she was ill. 
 
 " It is nothing," said Madame de 1'Estorade, as she turned 
 to Sallenauve "only this child reminded me of our immense 
 obligation to you. ' But for him,' she said to me, ' you would 
 not have me here, poor mamma ! ' And it is true, monsieur, 
 but for your magnanimous courage, where would she be now ? " 
 
 "Come, come, be calm," said Madame Octave, hearing 
 that her friend's voice was broken and hysterical. " Have you 
 no sense that you can be so upset by a little girl's speech?" 
 
 "She has more feeling than we have," replied Madame de 
 1'Estorade, throwing her arms round NaYs, who, with the rest, 
 was saying: " Come, mamma, be calm." 
 
 " There is nothing in the world that she thinks more of 
 than her preserver while her father and I we have hardly 
 expressed our gratitude." 
 
 "Why, you have overwhelmed me, madame," said Salle- 
 nauve politely. 
 
 " Overwhelmed ? " said Na'fs, shaking her pretty head dubi- 
 ously. "If anyone had saved my daughter, I should treat 
 him very differently ! " 
 
 "Na'is," said Madame de Camps severely, "little girls 
 should be seen and not heard when their opinion is not 
 asked."
 
 Tffg DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 321 
 
 "What is the matter? " said Monsieur de 1'Estorade, who 
 now joined the group. 
 
 "Nothing," said Madame de Camps. "Dancing made 
 Renee a little giddy." 
 
 " And is she all right again ? " 
 
 " Yes, I have quite recovered," replied Madame de 1'Esto- 
 rade. 
 
 " Then come to say good-night to Madame de Rastignf^,; 
 she is just going." 
 
 In his eagerness to attend the minister's wife, Monsieur de 
 1'Estorade did not think of giving his arm to his own wife. 
 Sallenauve offered her his. As they crossed the room, Mon- 
 sieur de 1'Estorade leading the way so that he could not hear, 
 his wife said to Sallenauve 
 
 " You were talking to Monsieur de Rastignac for a long 
 time. He tried, no doubt, to convert you? " 
 
 " Do you think he has succeeded? " asked Sallenauve. 
 
 " No ; but these attempts at inveiglement are always un- 
 pleasant. I can only beg you to believe that I was no party 
 to the conspiracy. I am not such a frenzied ministerialist as 
 my husband." 
 
 " Nor am I such a rabid revolutionary as seems to be sup- 
 posed." 
 
 " I only hope that these vexatious politics, which will bring 
 you more than once into antagonism with Monsieur de 1'Esto- 
 rade. will not sicken you of including us among your friends." 
 
 "Nay, madame, that is an honor and a happiness." 
 
 " It is not honor but pleasure that I would have you look 
 for," said Madame de 1'Estorade eagerly. " I must parody 
 Na'i5 ' If I had saved anybody's daughter, I should be less 
 ceremonious.' " 
 
 And having said this, without waiting for a reply, she re- 
 leased her hand from Sallenauve's arm, and left him not a 
 little surprised at her tone. 
 
 21
 
 322 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 My readers will hardly be surprised to find Madame de 
 1'Estorade so entirely obedient to Madame Octave's advice, 
 ingenious perhaps rather than judicious. In fact, they must 
 long since have suspected that the unimpressionable countess 
 had yielded to a certain attraction toward the man who had 
 not only saved her child's life, but also appealed to her imag- 
 ination through such singular and romantic accessory facts. 
 No one but herself, it is quite certain, had been deluded into 
 security by a conviction of Sallenauve's perfect indifference. 
 The certainty of his not caring for her was, in fact, the only 
 snare into which she could trip ; as a declared lover he would 
 have been infinitely less dangerous. 
 
 In considering the success that had hitherto crowned her 
 stern task, one of the first elements to be reckoned with was 
 the circumstance of Louise de Chaulieu. To her that poor 
 reasonless woman had been like the drunken slaves, by whose 
 example the Spartans were wont to give a living lesson to 
 their children, and a sort of tacit wager had existed between 
 the two friends. Louise de Chaulieu having thrown herself 
 into the part of unchecked passion, Renee had assumed that 
 of sovereign reason ; and, to gain the stakes, she had exerted 
 such brave good sense and prudence as, but for this incite- 
 ment, would perhaps have seemed a far greater sacrifice. But 
 here was a man who cared not for her, though he thought her 
 beauty ideal, who perhaps loved another woman ; a man who, 
 after snatching her child from death, looked for no reward ; 
 who was dignified, reserved, and absorbed in quite other in- 
 terests how, when he came into her life by a side-path, was 
 she to think of him as dangerous, or to refuse him from the 
 first the calm cordiality of friendship? 
 
 Sallenauve, meanwhile, was on his way to Ville-d'Avray, 
 whither he had set out in spite of the lateness of the hour, pos- 
 sessed by his fears for his friend. And this was what he was 
 thinking about 
 
 Without having anything definite to complain of in the
 
 TH DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 323 
 
 countess' attitude, Sallenauve had certainly never found her 
 at all warm in her regard, and he had formed the same estimate 
 of her temper and character as the rest of the world around 
 her. He had seen her as a woman of remarkable intellectual 
 gifts, but paralyzed as to her heart, by her absorbing and ex- 
 clusive passion for her children. "The ice-bound Madame 
 de 1'Estorade," Marie-Gaston had once called her; and it was 
 correct if he had ever thought of making a friend of her that 
 is to say, of becoming her lover. 
 
 Nor was it only as regarded Madame de 1'Estorade, but as 
 regarded her husband, too, that Sallenauve had doubted the 
 future permanency of their alliance. " We shall quarrel over 
 politics," he had told himself a dozen times, and the reader 
 may remember one of his letters in which he had contem- 
 plated this conclusion with some bitterness. So when Mad- 
 ame de 1'Estorade had seemed to encourage him to take up 
 an attitude of more effusive intimacy with her, what had most 
 surprised him was the marked distinction she had drawn be- 
 tween her husband's probable demeanor and her own. Before 
 a woman would say with such agitation as she had put into the 
 inviting words : " I only hope that these vexatious politics will 
 not disgust you with us as friends," she must have, Sallenauve 
 thought, to speak so warmly, a warmer heart than she was 
 generally credited with ; and this profession of alliance was 
 not, he felt sure, to be taken as a mere drawing-room civility, 
 or the thoughtless utterance of a transient and shallow im- 
 pulse, as the little nervous attack had been which led to it 
 all. 
 
 Having thus analyzed this somewhat serious flirtation to 
 repay Madame de 1'Estorade's politeness the statesman did 
 not scorn to descend to a remark, which was illogical, it must 
 be owned, as regards his usual reserve, and certain memories 
 of his past life. He recollected that more than once, at 
 Rome, he had seen Mademoiselle de Lanty dance, and, com- 
 paring the original with the duplicate, he could assure himself
 
 324 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 that, notwithstanding the difference in their age, the girl had 
 not a more innocent air, nor had she struck him as more 
 elegant and graceful. 
 
 And in view of this fact, will not the clear-sighted reader 
 who may some time since have begun to suspect that these 
 two natures, apparently so restrained, so intrenched in their 
 past experiences, might ultimately come into closer contact 
 discern a certain convergence of gravitation though hitherto 
 scarcely perceptible ? It was, if you please, solely out of def- 
 erence to Madame de Camps' advice that Madame de 1'Es- 
 torade had so completely modified her austere determination ; 
 still, short of admitting some slight touch of the sentiment 
 her friend had hinted at, is it likely that she would have given 
 such singular vehemence to her expression of grateful regard, 
 or that a mere remark from a child would have strung her 
 nerves up to such a point as to surprise her into making the 
 outburst ? 
 
 On his part, not having taken advantage of the privileged 
 position thus recklessly thrown open to him, our deputy was 
 tempted to think, with a persistency which, if not very im- 
 prudent, was at least very unnecessary, of these superficial 
 graces. Madame de Camps had spoken truly: "Friendship 
 between a man and woman is neither an impossible dream 
 nor an ever-yawning gulf." But in practice, it must be said, 
 that this sentiment, by which we delude ourselves, proves to 
 be a very narrow and baseless bridge across a torrent, need- 
 ing in those who hope to cross it without difficulty much 
 presence of mind on both sides and nerves less sensitive than 
 Madame de 1'Estorade's; while it is a necessary precaution 
 never to look to right and left, as Sallenauve had just been 
 doing. 
 
 However, on arriving at Ville-d'Avray, Sallenauve found 
 himself face to face with a strange event ; and who does not 
 know how, in spite of our determination, events often disperse 
 our maturest plans ?
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 325 
 
 Sallenauve had not been mistaken in his serious anxiety as 
 to his friend's mental condition. 
 
 When Marie-Gaston abruptly fled after his wife's death 
 from the spot where that cruel parting had occurred, he would 
 have been wise to pledge himself never to see it again. 
 Nature and Providence have willed it that in presence of the 
 stern decrees of Death he who is stricken through the person 
 of those he loves, if he accepts the stroke with the resignation 
 demanded under the action of every inevitable law, does not 
 for long retain the keen stamp of the first impression. In his 
 famous letter against suicide, Rousseau says : " Sadness, weari- 
 ness, regret, despair are but transient woes which never take 
 root in the soul, and experience exhausts the feeling of bitter- 
 ness which makes us think that our sorrow must be eternal." 
 
 But this is no longer true for those rash beings who, trying 
 to escape from the first grip of the jaws of grief, evade it 
 either by flight or by some immoderate diversion. All mental 
 suffering is a kind of illness for which time is a specific, and 
 which presently wears itself out, like everything violent. If, 
 on the contrary, instead of being left to burn itself out slowly 
 on the spot, it is fed by change of scene or other extreme 
 measures, the action of Nature is hampered. The sufferer 
 deprives himself of the balm of comparative forgetfulness 
 promised to those who can endure ; he merely transforms into 
 a chronic disease, less visible perhaps, but more deeply seated, 
 an acute attack, thrown in by checking its healthy crisis. 
 The imagination sides with the heart, and, as the heart is by 
 nature limited while the fancy is boundless, there is no possi- 
 bility of calculating the violence of the excesses by which a man 
 may be carried away under its ere-long absolute dominion. 
 
 Marie-Gaston, as he wandered through this home where he 
 had believed that after the lapse of two years he should find 
 only the pathos of remembrance, had not taken a step, had 
 not met with an object in his path that could fail to revive all 
 his happiest days and at the same time the disaster that had
 
 326 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 ended them. The flowers his wife had loved, the lawns and 
 trees verdurous under the soft breath of spring, while she 
 who had formed the lovely spot lay under the cold earth all 
 the dainty elegance brought together to decorate this exquisite 
 nest for their love, combined to sing a chorus of lamentation, 
 a long-drawn wail of anguish in the ears of him who dared to 
 breathe the dangerous atmosphere. Terrified when half-way 
 by the overwhelming sorrow that had seized on him, Marie- 
 Gaston, as Sallenauve had observed, had not dared accomplish 
 the last station of his Calvary. In absence, he had calmly 
 busied himself with drawing up an estimate for the private 
 tomb he had intended to build for the remains of his beloved 
 Louise ; but here he could not endure even to do them pious 
 homage in the village graveyard where they were laid. 
 
 The worst, in short, might be feared from a sorrow which, 
 instead of being soothed by the touch of time, was, on the 
 contrary, aggravated by duration, having as it seemed found 
 fresh poison for its sting. 
 
 The door was opened by Philippe, the old man who in 
 Madame Marie-Gaston's time had been the house steward. 
 
 " How is your master? " asked Sallenauve. 
 
 " He is gone, sir," replied Philippe. 
 
 "Gone where?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, with the English gentleman who was here when 
 you left." 
 
 " But without a word for me, without telling you where 
 they were going?" 
 
 "After dinner, when all was well, my master suddenly said 
 that he wanted a few things packed for a journey, and he saw 
 to them himself. At the same time, the Englishman, after 
 saying he would walk in the park and smoke a cigarette, 
 mysteriously asked me where he could write a letter without 
 being seen by my master. I took him into my own room, but 
 I dared not ask him anything about this journey, for I never saw 
 any one less communicative or open. When he had written
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 327 
 
 the letter everything was ready ; and then, without a word of 
 explanation, the two gentlemen got into the English gentle- 
 man's chaise, and I heard them tell the coachman to drive to 
 Paris " 
 
 "But the letter?" said Sallenauve. 
 
 "It is addressed to you, sir, and the Englishman gave it 
 me in secret, as he had written it." 
 
 "Then give it me, my goodman ! " cried Sallenauve; and 
 without going any farther than the hall where he had stood 
 questioning Philippe, he hastily read it. 
 
 His features, as the man studied them, showed great distress. 
 
 " Tell them not to take the horses out," said he. And he 
 read the letter through a second time. 
 
 When the old servant came back from delivering the order 
 
 " At what hour did they start?" Sallenauve inquired. 
 
 " At about nine o'clock." 
 
 "They have three hours' start," said the new deputy to 
 himself, looking at his watch, which marked some minutes 
 past midnight. 
 
 He turned to get into the carriage that was to take him 
 away again. Just as he was stepping into it, the steward ven- 
 tured to ask: "There is nothing alarming, I hope, in that 
 letter, sir?" 
 
 " No, nothing. But your master may be absent some little 
 time; take care to keep the house in good order." 
 
 And then, like the two who had preceded him, he said: 
 "To Paris." 
 
 Next morning, pretty early, Monsieur de 1'Estorade was in 
 his study very busy in a strange way. It may be remembered 
 that Sallenauve had sent him a statuette of Madame de 1'Es- 
 torade ; he had never been able to find a place where the work 
 stood to his mind in a satisfactory light. But ever since the 
 hint given him by Rastignac that his friendship with the 
 sculptor might serve him but ill at Court, he had begun to agree
 
 328 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 with his son Armand that the artist had made Madame de 
 1'Estorade look like a milliner's apprentice; and now, when 
 by his obduracy to the minister's inveiglements Sallenauve 
 had shown himself irreclaimably opposed to the Government, 
 the statuette its freshness a little dimmed, it must be owned, 
 by the dust no longer seemed presentable, and the worthy 
 peer was endeavoring to discover a corner, in which it would 
 be out of sight, so that he might not be required to tell the 
 name of the artist, which every visitor asked, without making 
 himself ridiculous by removing it altogether. So he was 
 standing on the top step of a library ladder with the sculptor's 
 gift in his hands and about to place it on the top of a tall 
 cabinet. There the hapless sketch was to keep company with 
 a curlew and a cormorant, shot by Armand during his last 
 holidays. They were the firstfruits of the young sportsman's 
 prowess, and paternal pride had decreed them the honors of 
 stuffing. 
 
 At this juncture Lucas opened the door to show in 
 
 "Monsieur Philippe." 
 
 The worthy steward's age, and the confidential position he 
 held in Marie-Gaston's household, had seemed to the 1'Esto- 
 rade's factotum to qualify him for the title of " monsieur " a 
 civility to be, of course, returned in kind. 
 
 The master of the house, descending from his perch, asked 
 Philippe what had brought him, and whether anything had 
 happened at Ville-d'Avray. The old man described his mas- 
 ter's strange departure, followed by the no less strange disap- 
 pearance of Sallenauve, who had fled as if he were at the heels 
 of an eloping damsel, and then he went on 
 
 "This morning, as I was putting my master's room tidy, a 
 letter fell out of a book, addressed to Madame la Comtesse. 
 As it was sealed and ready to be sent off, I thought that, per- 
 haps in the hurry of packing, my master had forgotten to give 
 it to me to mail. At any rate, I have brought it ; Madame 
 la Comtesse may, perhaps, find that it contains some explana-
 
 LUCAS OPENED THE DOOR TO SHOW IN MONSIEUR 
 PHILIPPE."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 329 
 
 tion of this unexpected journey I have dreamed of nothing 
 else all night." 
 
 Monsieur de 1'Estorade took the letter. 
 
 "Three black seals," said he, turning it over. 
 
 "It is not the color that startles me," said Philippe. 
 "Since madame died, monsieur uses nothing but black; but 
 I confess the three seals struck me as strange." 
 
 "Very good," said Monsieur de 1'Estorade; "I will give 
 the letter to my wife." 
 
 " If there should be anything to reassure me about my 
 master," said Philippe wistfully, "would you let me know, 
 Monsieur le Comte?" 
 
 ''You may rely on it, my good fellow. Good-morning." 
 
 " I humbly beg pardon for having an opinion to offer," 
 said the old servant, without taking the hint thus given him ; 
 "but for fear of there being any bad news in the letter, do 
 not you think, Monsieur le Comte, that it would be well to 
 know it, so as to prepare Madame la Comtesse ?" 
 
 "Why! What! Do you suppose? " Monsieur de 
 
 1'Estorade began, without finishing his question. 
 
 " I do not know. My master has been very much depressed 
 these last few days." 
 
 "It is always a very serious step to open a letter not ad- 
 dressed to one's self," said the accountant-general. "This case 
 is peculiar the letter is addressed to my wife, but in fact was 
 never sent to her it is really a puzzling matter " 
 
 "Still, if by reading it you could prevent something dread- 
 ful " 
 
 "Yes that is just what makes me hesitate." 
 
 Madame de 1'Estorade settled the question by coming into 
 the room. Lucas had told her of old Philippe's arrival. 
 
 "What can be the matter?" she asked, with uneasy curi- 
 osity. 
 
 All Sallenauve's apprehensions of the night before recurred 
 to her mind.
 
 330 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 When the steward had repeated the explanations he had 
 already given to Monsieur de 1'Estorade, she unhesitatingly 
 broke the seals. 
 
 " I know so much now," she said to her husband, who tried 
 to dissuade her, " that the worst certainly would be preferable 
 to the suspense we should be left in." 
 
 Whatever the contents of this alarming epistle, the countess' 
 face told nothing. 
 
 " And you say that your master went off accompanied by 
 this English gentleman," said she, " and not under any com- 
 pulsion ?" 
 
 "On the contrary, madame, he seemed quite cheerful." 
 
 " Well, then, there is nothing to be frightened about. 
 This letter has been written a long time ; and, in spite of the 
 three black seals, it has no bearing on anything to-day." 
 
 Philippe bowed and departed. When the husband and wife 
 were alone : 
 
 "What does he say?" asked Monsieur de 1'Estorade, and 
 he put out his hand for the letter his wife still held. 
 
 "No. Do not read it," said the countess, not surrender- 
 ing it. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " It will pain you. It is quite enough that I should have 
 had the shock, and in the presence of the old steward, before 
 whom I had to control myself." 
 
 " Does it speak of any purpose of suicide ? " 
 
 Madame de 1'Estorade did not speak, but she nodded 
 affirmatively. 
 
 " But a definite, immediate purpose?" 
 
 "The letter was written yesterday morning; and to all 
 appearance, but for the really providential presence of this 
 stranger, last evening, during Monsieur de Sallenauve's ab- 
 sence, the wretched man would have carried out his fatal 
 purpose." 
 
 " The Englishman has, no doubt, carried him off solely to
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 331 
 
 hinder it. That being the case, he will not lose sight of 
 him." 
 
 " We may also count on Monsieur de Sallenauve's interven. 
 tion," observed Madame de 1'Estorade. " He has probably 
 followed them." 
 
 "Then there is nothing so very alarming in the letter," 
 said her husband. And again he held out his hand for it. 
 
 "But when I entreat you not to read it," said Madame de 
 1'Estorade, holding it back. "Why do you want to agitate 
 yourself so painfully? It is not only the idea of suicide our 
 unhappy friend's mind is completely unhinged." 
 
 At this instant piercing shrieks were heard, uttered by 
 Rene, the youngest of the children, and this threw his mother 
 into one of those maternal panics of which she was quite 
 unable to control the expression. 
 
 " Good God ! What has happened?" she cried, rushing 
 out of the room. 
 
 Monsieur de 1'Estorade, less easily perturbed, only went as 
 far as the door to ask a servant what was the matter. 
 
 " It is nothing, Monsieur le Comte. Monsieur Rene in 
 shutting a drawer pinched the tip of his finger." 
 
 The peer of France did not think it necessary to proceed 
 to the scene of the catastrophe ; he knew that in these cases 
 he must leave his wife to give free course to her extravagant 
 motherly solicitude, or take a sharp wigging. As he returned 
 to his seat by the table he felt a paper under his foot ; it was 
 the famous letter, which Madame de 1'Estorade had dropped 
 as she flew off without observing its fall. 
 
 Opportunity, and a sort of fatality that rules human 
 affairs, prompted M. de 1'Estorade, who could not under- 
 stand his wife's objections ; he hastened to satisfy his curiosity. 
 
 Marie-Gaston wrote as follows : 
 
 " MADAME : This letter will not be so amusing as those I 
 wrote to you from Arcis-sur-Aube. But you must not be
 
 332 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 frightened by the determination to which I have come. I am 
 simply going to join my wife, from whom I have been too 
 long parted, and to-night, soon after midnight, I shall be with 
 her, never to leave her again. You and Sallenauve have, no 
 doubt, remarked that it is strange that I should not yet have 
 been to visit her tomb ; two of my servants were saying so 
 the other day, not knowing that I could overhear them. But 
 I should have been a great fool to go to a graveyard and stare 
 at a block of stone that cannot speak to me, when every night 
 as midnight strikes I hear a little tap at my bedroom door, 
 which I open at once to our dear Louise, who is not altered 
 at all ; on the contrary, I think she is fairer and lovelier. 
 She has had great difficulty in getting my discharge from this 
 world from Mary the queen of the angels ; but last night she 
 brought me my papers properly made out, sealed with a large 
 seal of green wax, and at the same time she gave me a tiny 
 phial of hydrocyanic acid. One drop sends me to sleep, and 
 when I wake I am on the other side. 
 
 "Louise also gave me a message for you; to tell you that 
 Monsieur de 1'Estorade has a liver complaint and cannot live 
 long ; and that when he is dead you are to marry Sallenauve, 
 because over there you are always, restored to the husband you 
 loved ; and she thinks our party of four will be much pleas- 
 anter with you and me and Sallenauve than with your Mon- 
 sieur de 1'Estorade, who is enough to bore you to death, and 
 whom you married against your will. 
 
 " My message delivered, I have only to wish you good 
 patience, madame, during the time you have still to spend 
 down here, and to subscribe myself your affectionate humble 
 servant." 
 
 If, on finishing this letter, it had occurred to Monsieur de 
 1'Estorade to look at himself in a glass, he would have seen 
 in the sudden crestfallen expression of his features the effects 
 of the unavowed but terrible blow he nad dealt himself by his
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 333 
 
 -- 
 
 luckless curiosity. His feelings, his mind, his self-respect had 
 all felt one and the same shock ; and the quite obvious in- 
 sanity revealed in the prediction of which he was the subject 
 only made it seem more threatening. Believing, like the 
 Moslems, that madmen are gifted with a sort of second- 
 sight, he gave himself over at once, felt a piercing pain in his 
 diseased liver, and was seized with a jealous hatred of Salle- 
 nauve, his designate successor, such as must cut off any kind 
 of friendly relations between them. 
 
 At the same time, as he saw how ridiculous, how absolutely 
 devoid of reason, was the impression that had taken possession 
 of him, he was terrified lest any one should suspect its exist- 
 ence; and with the instinctive secretiveness which always 
 prompts the mortally sick to hide the mischief, he began to 
 consider how he could keep from his wife the foolish act that 
 had blighted his whole existence. It would seem incredible 
 that lying under his very eye the fatal letter should have 
 escaped his notice ; and from this to the suspicion that he had 
 read it the inference was only too plain. 
 
 He rose, and softly opening the door of his room, after 
 making sure that there was nobody in the drawing-room be- 
 yond, he went on tiptoe to throw the letter on the floor at" 
 the farthest side of the room, where Madame de 1'Estorade 
 would suppose that she had dropped it. Then, like a school- 
 boy who had been playing a trick, and wishes to put the 
 authorities off the scent by an affectation of studiousness, he 
 hastily strewed his table with papers out of a bulky official 
 case, so as to seem absorbed in accounts when his wife should 
 return. 
 
 Meanwhile, as need scarcely be said, he listened in case 
 anybody but Madame de 1'Estorade should come into the 
 outer room where he had laid his trap ; in that case he would 
 have intervened at once to hinder indiscreet eyes from inves- 
 tigating the document that held such strange secrets. 
 
 Madame de 1'Estorade's voice speaking to some one, and
 
 334 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 her appearance in his room in a few minutes after with Mon- 
 sieur Octave de Camps, showed that the trick had succeeded. 
 By going forward as his visitor came in, he could see through 
 the half-open door the spot where he had left the letter. Not 
 only was it gone, but he could detect by a movement of his 
 wife's that she had tucked it into her morning-gown in the 
 place where Louis XIII. dared not seek the secrets of Made- 
 moiselle de Hautefort. 
 
 " I have come to fetch you to go with me to Rastignac, as 
 we agreed last evening," said de Camps. 
 
 "Quite right,' said his friend, putting up his papers with 
 a feverish haste that showed he was not in a normal frame of 
 mind. 
 
 "Are you ill?" said Madame de 1'Estorade, who knew her 
 husband too well not to be struck by the singular absence of 
 mind he betrayed ; and at the same time, looking him in the 
 face, she observed a strange change in his countenance. 
 
 "You do not look quite yourself, indeed," said Monsieur 
 de Camps. " If you had rather, we will put off this visit." 
 
 "Not at all," said Monsieur de 1'Estorade; " I have wor- 
 ried myself over this work, and want pulling together. But 
 what about Rene?" said he to his wife, whose inquisitive eye 
 oppressed him. "What was the matter that he screamed so 
 loud?" 
 
 "A mere trifle ! " said Madame de 1'Estorade, still studying 
 his face. 
 
 "Well, then, my dear fellow," said her husband, assuming 
 as indifferent a manner as he could command, " I have only 
 to change my coat and I am yours." 
 
 When the countess was alone with Monsieur de Camps : 
 
 "Does it not strike you," said she, "that Monsieur de 
 1'Estorade seems quite upset this morning?" 
 
 "As I said just now, he js not at all himself. But the ex- 
 planation is perfectly reasonable ; we disturbed him in the 
 middle of his work., Office work is unhealthy ; I never in my
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC IS. 335 
 
 life was so well as I have been since I took over the ironworks 
 you so vehemently abuse." 
 
 "To be sure;" said Madame de 1'Estorade, with a deep 
 sigh; "he needs exercise, an active life; there can be no 
 doubt that he has some incipient liver disease." 
 
 "Because he looks yellow? But he has looked so ever 
 since I have known him." 
 
 "Oh! monsieur, I cannot be mistaken. There is some- 
 thing seriously wrong, and you would do me the greatest 
 service " 
 
 "Madame, you have only to command me." 
 
 "When Monsieur de 1'Estorade comes back, we will speak 
 of the little damage Rene has done to his finger. Tell me 
 that trifling accidents, if neglected, may lead to serious mis- 
 chief that gangrene has been known to supervene and make 
 amputation necessary. That will give me an excuse for send- 
 ing for Dr. Bianchon." 
 
 'Certainly," said Monsieur de Camps. "I do not think 
 medical advice very necessary; but if it will reassure you 
 that " 
 
 At this moment Monsieur de 1'Estorade came back ; he had 
 almost recovered his usual looks, but a strong smell of Eau de 
 Melisse des Carmes proved that he had had recourse to that 
 cordial to revive him. Monsieur de Camps played his part 
 as Job's comforter to perfection ; as to the countess, she had 
 no need to affect anxiety; her make-believe only concerned 
 its object. 
 
 "My dear," said she to her husband, after listening to 
 the ironmaster's medical discourse, " as you come home from 
 the minister's I wish you would call on Dr. Bianchon." 
 
 "What next!" said he, shrugging his shoulders, "call 
 out such a busy man for what you yourself say is a mere 
 trifle ! " 
 
 "If you will not go, I will send Lucas. Monsieur de 
 Camps has quite upset me,"
 
 336 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " If you choose to be ridiculous," said her husband sharply, 
 " I know no means of preventing it ; but one thing I may 
 remind you, and that is, that if you send for a medical man 
 when there is nothing the matter, under serious circumstances 
 you may find that he will not come." 
 
 "And you will not go?" 
 
 "I certainly will not," said Monsieur de 1'Estorade; "and 
 if I had the honor of being master in my own house, I should 
 forbid your sending any one in my stead." 
 
 " My dear, you are the master, and since you refuse so 
 emphatically we will say no more about it. I will try not to 
 be too anxious." 
 
 "Are you coming, de Camps?" said Monsieur de 1'Esto- 
 rade, " for at this rate I shall be sent off directly to order the 
 child's funeral." 
 
 "But, my dear, are you ill," said the countess, taking his 
 hand, " that you can say such shocking things in cold blood ? 
 It is not like your usual patience with my little motherly 
 fussiness nor like the politeness on which you pride your- 
 self to everybody, including your wife." 
 
 "No, but the truth is," said Monsieur de 1'Estorade, irri- 
 tated instead of soothed by this gentle and affectionate remon- 
 strance, "your motherly care is really becoming a monomania; 
 you make life unbearable to everybody but your children. 
 Deuce take it all ! if they are our children, I am their father; 
 and if I am not adored as they are, at any rate I have the 
 right to expect that my house may not be made uninhabit- 
 able !" 
 
 While he poured out this jeremiad, striding up and down 
 the room, the countess was gesticulating desperately to Mon- 
 sieur de Camps as if to ask him whether he did not discern a 
 frightful sympton in this scene. 
 
 To put an end to this painful contest, of which he had so 
 involuntarily been the cause, he now said 
 
 "Are we going?"
 
 THE 'DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 337 
 
 if 
 
 "Come along," said Monsieur de 1'Estorade, leading the 
 way, without taking leave of his wife. 
 
 " Oh, I was forgetting a message for you," added the iron- 
 master, turning back. " Madame de Camps will call for you 
 at about two o'clock to choose some spring dress-stuffs ; she 
 has settled that we shall all four go on afterward to the flower- 
 show. When we leave Rastignac, 1'Estorade and I will come 
 back to fetch you, and if you are not in we will wait." 
 
 The countess scarcely heeded this programme ; a flash of 
 light had come to her. As soon as she was alone she took 
 out Marie-Gaston's letter, and finding it folded in the original 
 creases 
 
 "Not a doubt of it!" she exclaimed. "I remember 
 replacing it in the envelope folded inside out. The unhappy 
 man has read it." 
 
 Some hours later Madame de 1'Estorade and Madame de 
 Camps were together in the drawing-room where only a few 
 days since Sallenauve's cause had been so warmly discussed 
 and argued. 
 
 "Good heavens! what is the matter with you?" cried 
 Madame de Camps, on finding her friend in tears as she 
 finished writing a letter. 
 
 The countess told her of all that had passed, and read her 
 Marie-Gaston's letter. At any other time the disaster it so 
 plainly betrayed would have greatly grieved her friend ; but 
 the secondary misfortune which it had apparently occasioned 
 absorbed all her thoughts 
 
 "And are you quite sure that your husband mastered the 
 contents of that ill-starred letter?" she asked. 
 
 "How can I doubt it?" replied Madame de 1'Estorade. 
 "The paper cannot have turned itself inside out ; and beside, 
 when I recall it all, I fancy that at the moment when I flew 
 off to Ren6 I let something drop. As ill-luck would have it, 
 I did not stop to look." 
 22
 
 338 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " But very often, when you rack your memory, you remem- 
 ber things that did not happen." 
 
 "But, my dear friend, the extraordinary change that so 
 suddenly took place in Monsieur de 1'Estorade could only be 
 due to some overpowering shock. He looked like a man 
 struck by lightning." 
 
 "Very well; but then if it is to be accounted for by a 
 painful surprise, why do you insist on regarding it as the 
 result of a liver complaint? " 
 
 "Oh, that is no new thing to me," said Madame de 1'Es- 
 torade. " Only, when sick people make no complaints one 
 is apt to forget. Look here, my dear," she went on, pointing 
 to a volume that lay open near her, "just before your arrival 
 I was reading in this medical dictionary that persons with 
 liver disease become gloomy, restless, and irritable. And for 
 some little time past I have noticed a great change in my 
 husband's temper; you yourself remarked on it the other 
 day ; and this little scene, at which Monsieur de Camps was 
 present unprecedented, I assure you, in our married life 
 seems to me a terrible symptom." 
 
 " My dear, good child, you are like all people when they 
 are bent on worrying themselves. In the first place, you 
 study medical books, which is the most foolish thing in the 
 world. I defy you to read the description of a disease without 
 fancying that you can identify the symptoms in yourself or in 
 some one for whom you care. And beside, you are mixing up 
 things that are quite different : the effects of a fright with 
 those of a chronic complaint they have nothing on earth in 
 common." 
 
 "No, no, I am not confusing them; I know what I am 
 talking about. Do not you know that in our poor human 
 machinery, if any part is already affected, every strong emo- 
 tion attacks that spot at once?" 
 
 "At any rate," said her friend, to put an end to the medi- 
 cal question, " if that unhappy madman's letter is likely to
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 339 
 
 have some ulterior influence on your husband's health, it 
 threatens far more immediately to imperil your domestic 
 peace. That must be considered first." 
 
 "There is no alternative," said the countess. "Monsieur 
 de Sallenauve must never again set foot in the house." 
 
 "There is a good deal to be said on that point, and it is 
 just what I want to talk over with you. Do you know that 
 yesterday I found you lacking in that moderation which has 
 always been a prominent trait in your character " 
 
 "When was that?" asked Madame de 1'Estorade. 
 
 "At the moment when you favored Monsieur de Sallenauve 
 with such a burst of gratitude. When I advised you not to 
 avoid him for fear of tempting him to seek your company, I 
 certainly did not advise you to fling your kindness at his head, 
 so as to turn it ! As the wife of so zealous an adherent of the 
 reigning dynasty, you ought to know better what is meant by 
 Le juste milieu' 1 (the happy medium). 
 
 " Oh, my dear, no witticisms at my husband's expense ! " 
 
 " I am not talking of your husband, but of you, my dear. 
 You amazed me so much last night, that I felt inclined to 
 recall all I had said on my first impulse. I like my advice to 
 be followed but not too much followed." 
 
 "At any other moment I would ask you to tell me wherein 
 I so far exceeded your instructions; but now that fate has 
 settled the question, and Monsieur de Sallenauve must be 
 simply cleared out of the way, of what use is it to discuss the 
 exact limit-line of my behavior to him?" 
 
 "Well," said Madame de Camps, "to tell you the whole 
 truth, I was beginning to think the man a danger to you on 
 quite another side." 
 
 "Which is?- " 
 
 " Through Nals. That child, with her passion for her pre- 
 server, really makes me very anxious." 
 
 "Oh," said the countess, with a melancholy smile, " is not 
 that ascribing too much importance to a child's nonsense?"
 
 340 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "NaTs is a child, no doubt, but who will be a woman 
 sooner than most children. Did you not yourself write me 
 that she had intuitions on some subjects quite beyond her 
 years?" 
 
 "That is true. But in what you call her passion for Mon- 
 sieur de Sallenauve, beside its being quite natural, the dear 
 child is so frank and effusive that the feeling has a genuinely 
 childlike stamp." 
 
 "Well trust me, and do not trust to that; not even when 
 this troublesome person is out of the way ! Think, if when 
 the time came to arrange for her marriage this liking had 
 grown up with her a pretty state of things ! " 
 
 "Oh, between this and then thank heaven! " said 
 
 the countess incredulously. 
 
 "Between this and then," replied Madame de Camps, 
 " Monsieur de Sallenauve may have achieved such success 
 that his name is in everybody's mouth ; and with her lively 
 imagination, NaTs would be the first to be captivated by such 
 brilliancy." 
 
 "But still, my dear, the difference of age " 
 
 " Monsieur de Sallenauve is thirty; NaYs is nearly thirteen. 
 The difference is exactly the same as between your age and 
 Monsieur de 1'Estorade's, and you married him." 
 
 "Quite true; you may be right," said Madame de 1'Esto- 
 rade; "what I did as a matter of good sense, Na'fs might 
 insist on passionately. But be easy; I will so effectually 
 shatter her idol " 
 
 " That again, like the hatred you propose to act for your 
 husband's benefit, requires moderation. If you do not manage 
 it gradually, you may fail of your end. You must allow it to 
 be supposed that circumstances have brought about a feeling 
 which should seem quite spontaneous." 
 
 "But do you suppose," cried Madame de 1'Estorade ex- 
 citedly, " that I need act aversion for this man ? Why, I hate 
 him ! He is our evil genius ! "
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 341 
 
 "Come, come, my dear, you must compose yourself! I 
 really do not know you. You who used to be unruffled rea- 
 son incarnate ! " 
 
 Lucas at this moment came in to ask the countess if she 
 could see a Monsieur Jacques Bricheteau. 
 
 Madame de 1'Estorade looked at her friend, saying 
 
 " The organist who was so helpful to Monsieur de Sallenauve 
 at the time of his election. I do not know what he can want 
 of me." 
 
 " Never mind ; see him," said her friend. " Before open- 
 ing hostilities, it is not amiss to know what is going on in the 
 enemy's camp." 
 
 " Show him in," said the countess. 
 
 Jacques Bricheteau came in. So sure had he been, on the 
 other hand, of being among friends, that he had given no 
 special attention to his toilet. A capacious chocolate-brown 
 overcoat, whose cut it would have been vain to assign to any 
 date of fashion ; a checked vest, gray and green, buttoned 
 to the throat ; a black cravat, twisted to a rope, and worn 
 without a collar, while it showed an inch of very doubt- 
 fully clean shirt-front ; yellow drab trousers, gray stockings, 
 and tied shoes this was the more than careless array in 
 which the organist ventured into the presence of the elegant 
 countess. 
 
 Scarcely bidden to take a seat 
 
 "Madame," said he, "I have perhaps taken a liberty in 
 presenting myself to you, unknown ; but Monsieur Marie- 
 Gaston spoke to me of your possibly wishing that I should 
 give some lessons to mademoiselle your daughter. I told him 
 at first that there might be some little difficulty, as all my time 
 was filled up; but the prefect of police has just set me at 
 leisure by dismissing me from a post I held in his department, 
 so I am happy to be able to place myself entirely at your 
 service." 
 
 "And has your dismissal, monsieur, been occasioned by the
 
 342 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 part you played in Monsieur de Sallenauve's election? " asked 
 Madame de Camps. 
 
 "As no reason was assigned, it seems probable; all the more 
 so that, in the course of twenty years' service, this discharge 
 is the very first hitch that has ever arisen between me and my 
 superiors." 
 
 " It cannot be denied," said Madame de 1'Estorade, sharply 
 enough, " that you very seriously interfered with the intentions 
 of the Government." 
 
 " Yes, madame, and I accepted my dismissal as a disaster I 
 was quite prepared for. After all, what was the loss of my 
 small appointment in comparison with the election of Mon- 
 sieur de Sallenauve ? " 
 
 " I am really distressed," the countess went on, "to make 
 no better return for the eagerness you are good enough to 
 express ; but I may as well tell you that I have no fixed pur- 
 pose as to choosing a master for my daughter, and in spite of 
 the immense talent for which the world gives you credit, I 
 should be afraid of such serious teaching for a little girl of 
 thirteen." 
 
 " Quite the reverse, madame," replied the organist. " No- 
 body credits me with talent. Monsieur de Sallenauve and 
 Monsieur Marie-Gaston have heard me two or three times, but 
 apart from that, I am a mere unknown teacher, and perhaps 
 you are right perhaps a very tiresome one. So, setting aside 
 the question of lessons to mademoiselle your daughter, let me 
 speak of the thing that has really brought me here Monsieur 
 de Sallenauve." 
 
 "Did Monsieur de Sallenauve charge you with any mes- 
 sage to my husband?" said Madame de 1'Estorade, with 
 marked coldness. 
 
 " No, madame, he has, I grieve to say, charged me with 
 nothing. I went to call on him this morning, but he was 
 absent. I went to Ville-d'Avray, where I was told that I 
 should find him, and learned that he had started on a journey
 
 THE 'DEPUTY FOR ARC1S. 843 
 
 with Monsieur Marie-Gaston. Then, thinking that you might 
 possibly know the object of this journey, and how long he 
 would be away " 
 
 "Nothing of the kind," said Madame de 1'Estorade, in- 
 terrupting him in a hard tone. 
 
 "I had a letter this morning," Jacques Bricheteau went 
 on, "from Arcis-sur-Aube. My aunt, Mother Marie des 
 Anges, warns me, through Monsieur de Sallenauve's notary, 
 that a base conspiracy is being organized, and our friend's 
 absence complicates matters very seriously. I cannot under- 
 stand what put it into his head to vanish without warning 
 anybody who takes an interest " 
 
 " That he should not have given you notice," said Madame 
 de 1'Estorade, in the same tone, "may possibly surprise you. 
 But so far as my husband and I are concerned, there is noth- 
 ing to be astonished at." 
 
 The significance of this uncivil distinction was too clear to 
 be misunderstood. Jacques Bricheteau looked at the countess, 
 and her eyes fell ; but the whole expression of her face, set 
 due North, confirmed the meaning which it was impossible to 
 avoid finding in her words. 
 
 After an awkward pause : 
 
 "I beg your pardon, madame," said he, rising. "I did 
 not know I could not have supposed that you were so utterly 
 indifferent to Monsieur de Sallenauve's prospects and honor. 
 But a minute ago, in the anteroom, when your servant was in 
 doubt about announcing me, mademoiselle your daughter, on 
 hearing that I was a friend of his, eagerly took my part ; and 
 I was so foolish as to conclude that she represented the general 
 good feeling of the family." 
 
 After pointing this distinction, which was quite a match 
 for Madame de 1'Estorade's, thus paying her back in her own 
 coin, Jacques Bricheteau bowed ceremoniously, and was about 
 to leave. 
 
 The two ladies exchanged a glance, as if to ask each other
 
 344 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 whether it would be well to let this man depart thus after 
 shooting so keen a parting dart. 
 
 In fact, a crushing contradiction was at this instant given 
 to the countess' assumption of indifference : Na'fs came fly- 
 ing in. 
 
 " Mamma ! " she cried exultantly, " a letter from Monsieur 
 de Sallenauve ! " 
 
 The countess blushed purple. 
 
 " What manners are these, bouncing in like a mad thing? " 
 said she severely. " And how do you know that the letter is 
 from that gentleman ? " 
 
 " Oh ! " said Nais, turning the blade in the wound, " when 
 he wrote to you from Arcis, I got to know his writing." 
 
 " You are a silly, inquisitive child," said her mother, roused 
 out of her usual indulgence by so many luckless speeches. 
 "Go to nurse." 
 
 Then to give herself some countenance 
 
 "Allow me, monsieur," said she to Jacques Bricheteau, as 
 she opened the letter so inappropriately delivered. 
 
 "Nay, Madame la Comtesse," replied the organist, "it is 
 I who crave your permission to wait till you have read your 
 letter. If by any chance Monsieur de Sallenauve should give 
 you any account of his movements, you would perhaps have 
 the kindness to give me the benefit of it " 
 
 Having looked through the letter 
 
 " Monsieur de Sallenauve," said the countess, "desires me 
 to tell my husband that he is on his way to England Han- 
 well, in the county of Middlesex. He is to be addressed 
 under cover to Doctor Ellis." 
 
 Jacques Bricheteau again bowed with due formality, and 
 left the room. 
 
 "NaTs has just treated you to a taste of her girl-in-love 
 tricks," said Madame de Camps. "But you had well earned 
 it. You had behaved to that poor man with a hardness that 
 deserved a severer sally than his parting retort. He seems to
 
 DEPUTY FOR ARC IS. S45 
 
 have a ready wit of his own ; and 'If by any chance ' Monsieur 
 de Sallenauve had given you any information, was rather neat 
 under the circumstances." 
 
 " What is to be done? " said her friend ; "the day began 
 badly; all the rest is to match." 
 
 "What about the letter?" 
 
 " It is heart-breaking. Read it." 
 
 "MADAME: I succeeded in overtaking Lord Lewin a few 
 leagues beyond Paris he is the Englishman of whom I spoke 
 to you, and Providence sent him to spare us a terrible catas- 
 trophe. Possessed of a large fortune, he, like many of his 
 countrymen, is liable to attacks of depression, and only his 
 strength of mind has saved him from the worst results of the 
 malady. His indifference to life, and the cool stoicism with 
 which he speaks of voluntary death, won him at Florence, 
 where they met, our unhappy friend's confidence. Lord 
 Lewin, who is interested in the study of vehement emotions, 
 is intimately acquainted with Dr. Ellis, a physician famous 
 for his treatment of the insane, and his lordship has often 
 spent some weeks at the Hanwell Asylum for Lunatics in 
 Middlesex. It is one of the best-managed asylums in Eng- 
 land, and Dr. Ellis is at the head of it. 
 
 " Lord Lewin, on arriving at Ville-d'Avray, at once dis- 
 cerned in Marie-Gaston the early symptoms of acute mania. 
 Though not yet obvious to superficial observers, they did not 
 escape Lord Lewin's practiced eye. ' He picked and hoarded,' 
 said he, in speaking of our poor friend ; that is to say, as they 
 walked about the park Marie-Gaston would pick up such rub- 
 bish as straws, old bits of paper, and even rusty nails, putting 
 them carefully in his pocket ; and this, it would seem, is a 
 symptom familiar to those who have studied the progress of 
 mental disease. Then, by recurring to the discussions they 
 had held at Florence, Lord Lewin had no difficulty in dis- 
 covering his secret purpose of killing himself. Believing that
 
 346 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 his wife visited him every evening, the poor fellow had deter- 
 mined on the very night of your little dance to follow his 
 adored Louise, as he said. So, you see, my fears were not 
 exaggerated, but were the outcome of an instinct. 
 
 " Lord Lewin, instead of opposing his resolution, affected 
 to participate in it. 
 
 " ' But men like us,' said he, ' ought not to die in any vulgar 
 way, and there is a mode of death of which I had thought for 
 myself, and which I propose that we should seek in common. 
 In South America, not far from Paraguay, there is one of the 
 most tremendous cataracts in the world, known as the Falls 
 of Gayra. The spray that rises from the abyss is to be seen 
 for many leagues, and reflects seven rainbows. A vast volume 
 of water, spreading over a breadth of more than twelve thou- 
 sand feet, is suddenly pent up in a narrow channel, and falls 
 into a gulf below with a sound more deafening than a hundred 
 thunderclaps at once. That is where I have always dreamed 
 of dying.' 
 
 " ' Let us be off,' said Marie-Gaston. 
 
 " ' This very minute,' said Lord Lewin. ' Pack your 
 things; we will sail from England, and be there in a few 
 weeks.' 
 
 "And in this way, madame, the clever foreigner succeeded 
 in putting our friend off from his dreadful purpose. As you 
 may understand, he is taking him to England to place him 
 in Dr. Ellis' care, since he Lord Lewin says has not his 
 match in Europe for treating the very sad case that is to be 
 confided to him. 
 
 " Informed by a letter left for me by Lord Lewin at Ville- 
 d'Avray, I immediately set out in pursuit ; and at Beauvais, 
 whence I am writing, I came up with them in a hotel, where 
 Lord Lewin had put up to enable the patient to benefit by 
 sleep, which had happily come over him in the carriage, after 
 several weeks of almost total insomnia. Lord Lewin looks 
 rpon this as a very favorable symptom, and he says that the
 
 TJT_ DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 347 
 
 malady thus treated, as it will be from the beginning, has the 
 best possible chance of cure. 
 
 " I shall follow them closely to Hanwell, taking care not 
 to be seen by Marie-Gaston, since, in 'Lord Lewin's opinion, 
 my presence might disturb the comparative tranquillity of 
 mind that he has derived from the thought of the pompous 
 end he is going to find. On reaching the asylum, I shall 
 wait to hear Dr. Ellis' verdict. 
 
 " The session opens so soon that I fear I may not be back 
 in time for the first sittings ; but I shall write to the president 
 of the Chamber, and if it should happen that any difficulty 
 arise as to the leave of absence for which I must petition, I 
 venture to rely on Monsieur de 1'Estorade's kindness to certify 
 the absolute necessity for it. At the same time, I must beg 
 him to remember that I cannot authorize him on any con- 
 sideration to reveal the nature of the business which has com- 
 pelled me to go abroad. However, the mere statement of a 
 fact by such a man as M. de 1'Estorade must be enough to 
 secure its acceptance without any explanation. 
 . "Allow me, madame, to remain, etc." 
 
 As Madame de Camps finished reading, carriage wheels 
 were heard. 
 
 "There are our gentlemen back again," said the countess. 
 " Now, shall I show this letter to my husband ? " 
 
 " You cannot do otherwise. There would be too great a 
 risk of what Nai's might say. Beside, Monsieur de Sallenauve 
 writes most respectfully ; there is nothing to encourage your 
 husband's notions." 
 
 As soon as Monsieur de 1'Estorade came in, his wife could 
 see that he had recovered his usual looks, and she was about 
 to congratulate him, when he spoke first. 
 
 "Who is the man of very shabby appearance," asked Mon- 
 sieur de 1'Estorade, " whom I found speaking to Na'is on the 
 stairs?"
 
 341 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 As his wife did not seem to know what he was talking 
 about, he went on : "A man very much marked by the small- 
 pox, with a greasy hat and a brown overcoat ? " 
 
 "Oh!" said Madame de Camps to her friend, "our 
 visitor ! Na'is could not resist the opportunity of talking 
 about her idol." 
 
 " But who is the man ? " 
 
 " Is not his name Jacques Bricheteau?" said the countess, 
 " a friend of Monsieur de Sallenauve's." 
 
 Seeing a cloud fall on her husband's countenance, Madame 
 de 1'Estorade hurriedly explained the two objects of the or- 
 ganist's visit, and she gave the member's letter to Monsieur 
 de 1'Estorade. 
 
 While he was reading it 
 
 "He seems better, do you think?" the countess asked 
 Monsieur de Camps. 
 
 "Oh, he is perfectly right again," said the ironmaster. 
 " There is not a sign of what we saw this morning. He had 
 worried himself over his work ; exercise has done him good ; 
 and yet it is to be observed that he had an unpleasant shock 
 just now at the minister's." 
 
 "Why, what happened? " asked Madame de 1'Estorade. 
 
 " Your friend Monsieur de Sallenauve's business seems to 
 be in a bad way." 
 
 " Thank you for nothing ! " said Monsieur de 1'Estorade, 
 returning the letter to his wife. " I shall certainly not do 
 the thing he asks me." 
 
 "Then have you heard anything against him?" said she, 
 trying to appear perfectly indifferent as she asked the question. 
 
 " Yes ; Rastignac told me that he had letters from Arcis ; 
 some very awkward discoveries have been made there." 
 
 " Well, what did I tell you ? " cried Madame de 1'Estorade. 
 
 "What did you tell me?" 
 
 " To be sure. Did I not give you a hint some time ago 
 that Monsieur de Sallenauve was a man to be let drop?
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 349 
 
 Those were the very words I used, as I happen to just remem- 
 ber." 
 
 " But was it I who brought him here? " 
 
 "You can hardly say that it was I. Only just now, before 
 knowing anything of the distressing facts you have just 
 learned, I was speaking to Madame de Camps of another 
 reason which should make us anxious to put an end to the 
 acquaintance." 
 
 "Very true," said Madame de Camps. "Your wife, but 
 a minute ago, was talking of the sort of frenzy that possesses 
 Na'is with regard to her preserver, and she foresaw great diffi- 
 culties in the future." 
 
 "It is an unsatisfactory connection in every way," said 
 Monsieur de 1'Estorade. 
 
 "It seems to me," said Monsieur de Camps, who was not 
 behind the scenes, " that you are rather in a hurry. Some 
 compromising discoveries are said to have been made with 
 reference to Monsieur de Sallenauve, but what is the value of 
 these discoveries ? Wait before you hang him, at least till he 
 has been tried? " 
 
 "My husband can do what he thinks proper," said the 
 countess. " For my part, I do not hesitate to throw him over 
 at once. My friends, like Caesar's wife, must be above sus- 
 picion." 
 
 " The awkward thing," said Monsieur de 1'Estorade, " is 
 that we are under such an annoying obligation to him " 
 
 "But, really," exclaimed Madame de 1'Estorade, " if a 
 convict had saved my life, should I be obliged to receive him 
 in my drawing-room ? " 
 
 " Indeed, my dear, you are going too far," said Madame 
 de Camps. 
 
 "Well, well," said Monsieur de 1'Estorade, "there is no 
 occasion to raise a scandal ; things must be allowed to take 
 their course. The dear man is abroad now ; who knows if 
 he will ever come back ? "
 
 350 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "What, he has fled at a mere rumor?" said Monsieur de 
 Camps. 
 
 " Not precisely on that account," replied the count. " He 
 had a pretext but once out of France " 
 
 "As to that conclusion," said Madame de 1'Estorade, "I 
 do not for a moment believe In it. His pretext is a good 
 reason, and as soon as he hears from his friend the organist he 
 will hurry back. So, my dear, you must take your courage in 
 both hands and cut the intimacy short at a blow if you do 
 not intend it to continue." 
 
 "And that is really your meaning?" said Monsieur de 
 1'Estorade, looking keenly at his wife. 
 
 "I? I would write him without any sort of ceremony, 
 and tell him that he will oblige us by calling here no more. 
 At the same time, as it is a little difficult to write such a 
 letter, we will concoct it together if you like." 
 
 "We will see," said her husband, beaming at the sugges- 
 tion ; "the house is not falling yet. The most pressing 
 matter at the moment is the flower-show we are to go to 
 together. It closes, I think, at four o'clock, and we have but 
 an hour before us." 
 
 Madame de 1'Estorade, who had dressed before Madame 
 de Camps' arrival, rang for the maid to bring her bonnet and 
 shawl. 
 
 As she was putting them on in front of a glass 
 
 "Then you really love me, Renee?" said her husband in 
 her ear. 
 
 "Can you be so silly as to ask?" replied she, giving him 
 her most affectionate look. 
 
 "Well, I have a confession to make to you I read the 
 letter Philippe brought." 
 
 "Then I am no longer surprised at the change that came 
 over you. I too must tell you something. When I proposed 
 that we should concoct Monsieur de Sallenauve's dismissal 
 between us, I had already written it directly after you went
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 851 
 
 out ; and you can take it out of my blotting-book and post it 
 if you think it will do." 
 
 Quite beside himself with joy at finding that his hypo- 
 thetical successor had been so immediately sacrificed, Mon- 
 sieur de 1'Estorade threw his arms round his wife and kissed 
 her effusively. 
 
 " Well done ! " cried Monsieur de Camps. " This is better 
 than this morning ! " 
 
 " This morning I was a fool," said the count, as he turned 
 over the blotting-book to find the letter, which he might have 
 taken his wife's word for. 
 
 "Say no more," said Madame de Camps in an undertone 
 to her husband. "I will explain all this pother to you pres- 
 ently." 
 
 Younger again by ten years, the count offered his arm to 
 Madame de Camps, while his wife took that of the provincial 
 ironmaster's. 
 
 "And Nais?" said Monsieur de 1'Estorade, seeing the 
 little girl looking forlorn as they went. " Is not she coming 
 too!" 
 
 " No," said her mother ; " I am not pleased with her." 
 
 "Pooh ! " said the father, " I proclaim an amnesty. Run 
 and put your bonnet on," he added to the child. 
 
 Nais looked at her mother for the ratification which she 
 thought necessary under the hierarchy of power as it existed 
 in the 1'Estorade household. 
 
 "Go," said the countess, " since your father wishes it." 
 
 While they waited for the little girl 
 
 " To whom are you writing, Lucas? " asked the count of 
 the manservant, who had begun a letter on the table by which 
 he stood. 
 
 " To my son," said Lucas, " who is very anxious to get his 
 sergeant's stripes. I am telling him that you promised me a 
 note to his colonel, Monsieur le Comte." 
 
 " Perfectly true, on my honor ; and I had quite forgotten it.
 
 352 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Remind me to-morrow morning ; I will write it the first thing 
 when I get up." 
 
 " You are very good, sir " 
 
 "Here," said Monsieur de 1'Estorade, putting his fingers 
 in his vest pocket and taking out three gold-pieces, "send 
 these to the corporal from me, and tell him to get his men to 
 drink to his stripes." 
 
 Lucas was amazed ; he had never known his master so 
 genial and liberal. 
 
 When NaTs was ready, Madame de 1'Estorade, proud of 
 having had the courage to leave her in disgrace for half an 
 hour, hugged her as if she had not seen her for two years ; 
 then they all set out for the Luxembourg, where the Horticul- 
 tural Society at that time held its shows. 
 
 Toward the end of the interview which Monsieur Octave de 
 Camps, under the auspices of Monsieur de 1'Estorade, had at 
 last been able to get with Rastignac, the minister's usher had 
 come in to give him the cards of Monsieur le Procureur- 
 General Vinet and Monsieur Maxime de Trailles. 
 
 "Very well," said the minister. "Tell the gentlemen I 
 will see them in a few minutes." 
 
 Soon after, the ironmaster and Monsieur de 1'Estorade rose 
 to leave ; and it was then that Rastignac had briefly told the 
 count of the danger looming on the parliamentary horizon 
 of his friend Sallenauve. At the word "friend," Monsieur 
 de 1'Estorade had protested. 
 
 "I do not know, my dear minister," said he, " why you 
 persist in giving that name to a man who is really no more 
 than an acquaintance, I might say a provisional acquaintance, 
 if the reports you have mentioned should prove to have any 
 foundation." 
 
 "I am delighted to hear you say so," replied Rastignac. 
 "For in the thick of the hostilities which seem likely to arise 
 between that gentleman and our side, I confess that the warm
 
 THE DEPLTY FOR ARCIS. 353 
 
 feeling I imagined you to have toward him would somewhat 
 have fettered me." 
 
 " I am grateful for your consideration," replied the count; 
 " but pray understand that I give you a free hand. It is a 
 matter entirely at your discretion to treat Monsieur de Salle- 
 nauve as a political foe, without any fear that the blows you 
 deal him will at all hurt me." 
 
 Thereupon they left, and Messieurs Vinet and de Trailles 
 had been shown in. 
 
 Vinet, the attorney-general, and father of Olivier Vinet, 
 whom the reader already knows, was one of the warmest 
 champions and most welcome advisers of the existing Govern- 
 ment. Designate as the minister of justice at the next shuf- 
 fling of the Cabinet, he was behind the scenes of every am- 
 biguous situation ; and in every secret job nothing was con- 
 cocted without his cooperation, in the plot at least, if not in 
 the doing. 
 
 The electoral affairs of Arcis had a twofold claim on his in- 
 terference. First, because his son held a position among the 
 legal magnates of the town ; secondly, because as connected 
 through his wife with the Chargeboeufs of la Brie, the Cinq- 
 Cygnes of Champagne being a younger branch of that family, 
 this aristocratic alliance made him think it a point of honor 
 to assert his importance in both districts, and never to miss a 
 chance of interfering in their affairs. 
 
 So, that morning, when Monsieur de Trailles had called 
 on the minister, armed with a letter from Madame Beau- 
 visage, full of compromising scandal concerning the new 
 deputy for Arcis 
 
 " Find Vinet, as coming from me," said Rastignac, with- 
 out listening to any explanations, "and try to bring him here 
 as soon as possible." 
 
 At Maxime's bidding who offered to fetch him in his 
 carriage Vinet was quite ready to go to Rastignac ; and now 
 that he has made his way to the minister's private room, we 
 23
 
 354 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 shall be better informed as to the danger hanging over Salle- 
 nauve's head, of which Jacques Bricheteau and Monsieur de 
 1'Estorade have given us but a slight idea. 
 
 "Then you mean, my dear friends," said the minister as 
 soon as they had settled to their talk, " that we may get some 
 hold on this political purist ! I met him yesterday at 1'Es- 
 torade's, and he struck me as most undauntedly hostile." 
 
 Maxime, whose presence was in no sense official, knew 
 better than to answer this remark. Vinet, on the contrary, 
 almost insolently conscious of his political importance, public 
 prosecutor as he was, had too much of the advocate in his 
 composition to miss a chance of speaking. 
 
 "When, only this morning, monsieur" and he bowed to 
 Maxime " did me the honor to communicate to me a letter 
 he had received from Madame Beauvisage, I had just had one 
 from my son, in which he gave me, with slight variations, 
 the same information. I agree with him that the matter 
 looks ugly for our adversary but it will need nice manage- 
 ment." 
 
 "I really hardly know what the matter is," said the min- 
 ister. "As J I particularly wished for your opinion on the 
 case, my dear Vinet, I begged Monsieur de Trailles to post- 
 pone the details till we were all three together." 
 
 This was authorizing Maxime to proceed with the narrative, 
 but Vinet again seized the opportunity for hearing his own 
 voice. 
 
 "This," said he, " is what my son Olivier writes to me, 
 confirming Madame Beauvisage's letter she, I may say in- 
 cidentally, would have made a famous deputy to parliament, 
 my dear sir. On a market-day not long since, Pigoult the 
 notary, who has the management of all the new deputy's 
 business matters, received a visit, it would seem, from a peas- 
 ant-woman from Romilly, a large village not far from Arcis. 
 To hear the Marquis de Sallenauve, who has so suddenly 
 reappeared, you would think that he was the only existing
 
 THE' DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 355 
 
 scion of the Sallenauve family ; but this did not prevent this 
 woman from displaying some papers in due form, proving that 
 she too is a living Sallenauve, in the direct line, and related 
 nearly enough to claim her part in any heritable property." 
 
 "Well," said Rastignac, "but did she know no more of 
 the marquis' existence than he knew of hers?" 
 
 "That did not plainly appear from her statements," said 
 Vinet; "but that very confusion seems to me most convinc- 
 ing, for, as you know, between relations in such different 
 positions great difficulties are apt to arise." 
 
 "Kindly proceed with the story," said the minister. 
 " Before drawing conclusions, we must hear the facts 
 though, as you know by experience, that is not the invariable 
 practice in parliament." 
 
 "Not always to the dissatisfaction of the ministers," said 
 Maxime, laughing. 
 
 "Monsieur is right," said Vinet ; "all hail to a successful 
 muddler ! But to return to our peasant-woman, who, in con- 
 sequence of the ruin of the Sallenauve family, has fallen into 
 great poverty and a station far beneath her birth ; she first 
 appeared as a petitioner for money, and it seems probable 
 that prompt and liberal generosity would have kept her quiet. 
 But it is also likely that she was but ill-pleased by Maitre 
 Achille Pigoult's reception of her demands; for on leaving 
 his office she went to the market-square, and seconded by a 
 neighbor, a lawyer from the village, who had come with her, 
 she disburdened herself of various statements relating to my 
 highly esteemed fellow-member which were not very flattering 
 to his character ; declaring that the Marquis de Sallenauve 
 was not his father ; and again, that there was no Marquis de 
 Sallenauve in existence. And at any rate, she concluded, 
 this newly made Sallenauve was a heartless wretch who would 
 have nothing to say to his relations. But, she added, she 
 could make him disgorge, and, with the help of the clever 
 man who had come with her to support her by his advice,
 
 356 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Monsieur le Depute might be sure that they ' would make him 
 dance to another tune.' ' 
 
 "I have not the slightest objection," said Rastignac. 
 " But the woman has, I suppose, some proof in support of her 
 statements?" 
 
 ''That is the weak point of the matter," replied Vinet. 
 " But let me go on. At Arcis, my dear sir, the Government 
 has a remarkably devoted and intelligent servant in the head 
 of the police. Moving about among the people, which is his 
 practice on market-days, he picked up some of the woman's 
 vicious remarks, and going off at once to the mayor's house, 
 he asked to see, not the mayor himself, but Madame Beau- 
 visage, to whom he told what was going on." 
 
 "Then is the candidate whom you had choosen for a 
 crowning treat a perfect idiot?" Rastignac asked Maxime. 
 
 " The very man you wanted," replied Monsieur de Trailles, 
 " imbecile to a degree ! There is nothing I would not do to 
 reverse this vexatious defeat." 
 
 "Madame Beauvisage," Vinet went on, "at once thought 
 she would like to talk to this woman of the ready tongue; and 
 to get hold of her, it was not a bad idea to desire Groslier, 
 the police sergeant, to go and fetch her with a sternly threat- 
 ening air, as if the authorities disapproved of her levity in 
 using such language with regard to a member of the National 
 Chamber, and to bring her forthwith to the mayor's house." 
 
 " And it was Madame Beauvisage, you say, who suggested 
 this method of procedure ?" said Rastignac. 
 
 " Oh, yes, she is a very capable woman," said Maxime. 
 
 "Driven hard," continued the speaker, "by Madame the 
 Mayoress, who took care to secure her husband's presence at 
 the cross-examination, the woman proved to be anything 
 rather than coherent. How she had ascertained that the 
 deputy could not be the marquis' son, and her confident 
 assertion, on the other hand, that the marquis did not even 
 exist, were not by any means conclusively proved. Hearsay,
 
 THE f)EPUTY FOR ARCIS. 357 
 
 vague reports, inferences drawn by her village attorney were 
 the best of the evidence she could bring." 
 
 "Well, then," said Rastignac, "what is the upshot of it 
 all?" 
 
 " M'/from the legal point of view," replied Vinet. "For 
 even if the woman could prove that it is a mere whim on the 
 part of the Marquis de Sallenauve to recognize the man Dor- 
 lange as his son, she would have no ground for an action in 
 disproof. According to Section 339 of the Civil Code, a 
 positive and congenital right alone can give grounds for dis- 
 puting the recognition of a natural child ; in other words, 
 there must be a direct claim on the property in which the 
 child whose birth is disputed is enabled to claim a share." 
 
 "Your balloon collapsed! " observed the minister. 
 
 "Whereas, on the other hand, if the good woman chooses 
 to dispute the existence of the Marquis de Sallenauve, she 
 would disinherit herself, since she certainly has no claim on 
 the estate of a man who would then be no relation of hers ; 
 beside, it is the duty of the crown, and not her part at all, to 
 prosecute for the assumption of a false identity ; the utmost 
 she could do would be to bring the charge." 
 
 "Whence you conclude?" said Rastignac, with the sharp 
 brevity which warns a too diffuse talker to abridge his story. 
 
 " Whence I conclude, legally speaking, that this Romilly 
 peasant, by taking up either charge as the basis for an action, 
 would find it a bad speculation, since in one case she must 
 obviously lose, and in the other which, in fact, she cannot 
 even bring she would get nothing out of it. But, politically 
 speaking, it is quite another story." 
 
 " Let us see the political side then," said Rastignac ; " for, 
 so far, I can make nothing of it." 
 
 "In the first place," replied the lawyer, " you will agree 
 with me that it is always possible to fight a bad case?" 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 " And then, I do not suppose that you would care whether
 
 358 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 this woman fights an action which would only end in her hav- 
 ing to pay a lawyer's bill." 
 
 " No ; I confess it is a matter to me of perfect indifference." 
 
 " And if you had cared, I should, all the same, have advised 
 you to let matters take their course ; for the Beauvisages have 
 undertaken all the costs, including a visit to Paris for this 
 woman and her legal adviser." 
 
 "Well, well the action brought, what comes of it?" said 
 Rastignac, anxious to end. 
 
 "What comes of it?" cried the lawyer, warming to the 
 subject. " Why, everything you can manage to make of it ; 
 if, before it is argued, you can work up comments in the 
 papers and insinuations from your friends. What comes of 
 it? Why, the utmost discredit for our antagonist, if he is 
 suspected of having assumed a name to which he has no right. 
 What comes of it? Why, an opportunity for a fulminating 
 speech in the Chamber " 
 
 " Which you, no doubt, will undertake? " asked Rastignac. 
 
 " Oh, I do not know. The case must be thoroughly stud- 
 ied ; I must see what turn it is likely to take." 
 
 " Then for the moment," the minister observed, " it is all 
 reduced to an application, hit or miss, of Basile's famous 
 theory of calumny that it is always well to keep it stirred, 
 and that something will stick." 
 
 " Calumny? Calumny ? " replied Vinet. " That we shall 
 see ; it may be no more than honest evil-speaking. Monsieur 
 de Trailles, here, knows what went on much better than we 
 do. He will tell you that all through the district the father's 
 disappearance as soon as he had legally acknowledged his son 
 had the very worst effect ; that everybody retained a vague 
 impression of mysterious complications to favor the election 
 of this man about whom we are talking. 
 
 "You have no idea, my dear fellow, what can be got out 
 of a lawsuit cleverly kept simmering, and in my long and 
 busy career as a pleader I have seen miracles worked by such
 
 THE" DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 359 
 
 means. A parliamentary struggle is quite another matter. 
 There proof is not needed ; you may kill your man with noth- 
 ing but hypotheses and asseverations if you stick to them de- 
 fiantly enough." 
 
 "Well, to sum up," said Rastignac, speaking as a man of 
 method, " how do you recommend that the affair should be 
 managed ? " 
 
 " In the first place," replied the lawyer, " I should allow 
 the Beauvisages since they have a fancy for it to pay all 
 the expenses of moving the peasant-woman and her friend, 
 and subsequently the costs of the action." 
 
 " Do I make any objection?" said the minister. " Have 
 I either the right or the means ? " 
 
 "The case," Vinet went on, t: must be put into the hands 
 of a wily and clever lawyer. Desroches, for instance, Mon- 
 sieur de Trailles' lawyer. He will know how to fill out the 
 body of a case which, as you justly observe, is very thin." 
 
 " I certainly should not say to Monsieur de Trailles, ' I 
 forbid you to allow anybody you please to secure the services 
 of your solicitor,' " said Rastignac. 
 
 " Then we want an advocate who can talk with an air of 
 ' The Family ' as a sacred and precious thing ; who will wax 
 indignant at the surreptitious intrigues by which a man may 
 scheme to insinuate himself within its holy pale." 
 
 " Desroches can find your man ; and again, the Govern- 
 ment is not likely to hinder a pleader from talking or from 
 being transported with indignation ! " 
 
 " But, Monsieur le Ministre," Maxime put in, startled out 
 of his attitude of passive attention by Rastignac's indifference, 
 " is non-interference all the support to be hoped for from the 
 Government in this struggle ? " 
 
 " I hope you did not think that we should take up the action 
 on our own account ? " 
 
 " No, of course not ; but we had a right to imagine that 
 you would take some interest in it."
 
 360 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " How in what way ? " 
 
 " How can I tell ? As Monsieur Vinet was saying just 
 now, by tuck of drum in the subsidized newspapers by get- 
 ting your supporters to spread the gossip by using the influ- 
 ence which men in power always have over the bench." 
 
 " Thank you for nothing," said the minister. " When you 
 want to secure the Government as an accomplice, my dear 
 Maxime, you must have a rather more solidly constructed 
 scheme to show. Your air of business this morning made me 
 think you really had a strong hand, and I have troubled our 
 excellent friend the public prosecutor, who knows how high 
 a value I set on his learning and advice ; but really your plot 
 strikes me as too transparent, and the meshes so thin that I 
 can see through them an inevitable defeat. If I were a bache- 
 lor and wanted to marry Mademoiselle Beauvisage, I daresay 
 I might be bolder, so I leave it to you to carry on the action 
 in any way you please. I will not say that Government will 
 not watch your progress with its best wishes ; but it certainly 
 will not tread the path with you." 
 
 " Well, well," said Vinet, hindering Maxime's reply, which 
 would, no doubt, have been a bitter one, "but supposing we 
 take the matter into court ; suppose that the peasant- woman, 
 prompted by the Beauvisages, should denounce the man who 
 was identified before the notary as being a spurious Sallenauve; 
 then the deputy is guilty of conspiracy, and for that we have 
 him before the superior court." 
 
 "But, again, where are your proofs?" asked Rastignac. 
 " Have you a shadow of evidence? " 
 
 " You admitted just now," observed Maxime, " that a bad 
 case may be fought out." 
 
 "A civil action, yes ; a criminal charge is quite another 
 matter. And this would break down, for it means disputing 
 the validity of an act drawn up by a public official, and with- 
 out a particle of proof. A pretty piece of work ! The case 
 would be simply dismissed before it came to be argued in
 
 TffE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 31 
 
 court. If we wanted to perch our enemy on a pedestal as 
 high as the column of July, we could not go about it more 
 effectually." 
 
 "So that in your opinion there is nothing to be done?" 
 asked Maxime. 
 
 "By us nothing. But you, my dear Maxime, who have 
 no official position, and can at a pinch use your pistol in sup- 
 port of the attack on Monsieur de Sallenauve's character- 
 there is nothing to hinder you from trying your luck in the 
 contest." 
 
 "Yes," said Maxime petulantly, "I am a sort of ' condot- 
 Here!'" 
 
 ' Not at all ; you are a man with an instinctive conviction 
 of certain facts that cannot be legally proven, and you would 
 not be afraid to stand at the judgment seat of God." 
 
 Monsieur de Trailles rose, considerably annoyed. Vinet 
 also rose, and giving Rastignac his hand as he took leave 
 
 "I cannot deny," said he, "that your conduct is dictated 
 by great prudence ; and I will not say but that in your place I 
 should do the same." 
 
 " No ill-feeling, at any rate, Maxime," said the minister, 
 and Maxime bowed with icy dignity. 
 
 When the two conspirators were in the outer room alone 
 
 "Do you understand what this prudery means?" asked 
 Maxime. 
 
 " Perfectly," said Vinet, "and for a clever man you seem 
 to me easily taken in." 
 
 " No doubt making you lose your time, beside losing my 
 own to have the pleasure of hearing a man lay himself out for 
 the reward of virtue " 
 
 "It is not that. I think you very guileless to believe in 
 the refusal of support that has vexed you so much." 
 
 "What? You think " 
 
 " I think that the business is a toss-up. If the plan suc- 
 ceeds, the Government, sitting with its arms folded, will get
 
 362 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 all the benefit ; if, on the contrary, success is not for us, it 
 would, as soon as not, keep out of the risk of defeat. But, 
 take my word for it, I know Rastignac ; looking quite impas- 
 sive, and without compromising himself at all, he will perhaps 
 serve us better than by outspoken connivance. Just reflect : 
 Did he say a single word against the moral side of the attack ? 
 Did he not repeat again and again ' I make no objection ? I 
 have no right to hinder you.' And what fault had he to find 
 with the snake's venom? That its action was not deadly 
 enough ! The fact is, my dear sir, that there will be a sharp 
 tug of war, and it will take all Desroches' skill to put a good 
 face on the business." 
 
 " Then you think I had better see him ? " 
 
 " Do I think so? Why, this moment, when we part." 
 
 " Do not you think it would be well that he should go and 
 talk matters over with you?" 
 
 "No, no, no! " said Vinet. " I may be the man to do 
 the talking in the Chamber. Desroches might be seen at my 
 house, and I must seem immaculate." 
 
 Thereupon he bowed to Maxime, and left him in some 
 haste, excusing himself by having to go to the Chamber and 
 hear what was going on. 
 
 "And if I," said Maxime, running after him as he left, "if 
 I should need your advice ? " 
 
 " I am leaving Paris this evening to look after my court in 
 the country before the session opens." 
 
 "And the question in the Chamber that you may be called 
 upon to ask?" 
 
 " Oh, if it is not I, it will be some one else. I shall return 
 as soon as possible ; but you will understand that I must set 
 my shop in order before I come away for at least five or six 
 months." 
 
 "Then bon voyage, monsieur," said Maxime sarcastically, 
 and parting from him at last. 
 
 Rastignac's behavior especially nettled him when he looked
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 363 
 
 back on their first meeting, just twenty years ago, at Madame 
 de Restaud's. He, then already a formed man holding the 
 sceptre of fashion, and Rastignac a poor student, not know- 
 ing how to enter or leave a room, and dismissed from the 
 door of that handsome house when he called after his first 
 visit, in the course of which he had contrived to commit two 
 or three incongruous blunders ! And now Rastignac was a 
 peer of France and in office ; while he, Maxime, no more 
 than his tool, was obliged to listen with grounded arms when 
 he was told that his man-traps were too artless, and that if he 
 fancied them, he must work them alone. 
 
 But this prostration was but a lightning flash. 
 
 " Well, then ! " he said to himself. " Yes, I will try the 
 game single-handed. My instinct assures me that there is 
 something in it. 
 
 "What next ! A Dorlange, a nobody, is to keep me in 
 check, me, Comte Maxime de Trailles, and make my defeat a 
 stepping-stone? There are too many dark places in that 
 rogue's past life for it not to be possible sooner or later to 
 open one to the light of day " 
 
 "To the lawyer's," said he to the coachman as he opened 
 his carriage-door. 
 
 And when he was comfortably seated on the cushions 
 
 "After all, if I cannot succeed in overthrowing this upstart, 
 I will put myself in the way of his insulting me ; I shall have 
 the choice of weapons, and will fire first. I will do better 
 than the Due de Rhetor^, my insolent friend ! I will kill 
 you, never fear ! " 
 
 Desroches was at home, and Monsieur de Trailles was at 
 once shown in to his private room. 
 
 In 1839 Desroches was an honest attorney in good prac- 
 tice; that is to say, he conducted his clients' business with 
 zeal and skill ; he never would countenance any underhand 
 proceedings, much less would he have lent them a hand. As
 
 364 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 to the fine bloom of delicate honesty which existed in Der- 
 ville and some other men of that stamp, beside the impossi- 
 bility of preserving it from rubbing off in the world of busi- 
 ness in which, as Monsieur de Talleyrand said : " Business 
 means other people's money" it can never be the second 
 development of any life. The loss of that down of the soul, 
 like that of anything virginal, is irreparable ; so Desroches 
 had made no attempt to restore it. He would have nothing 
 to say to what was ignoble or dishonest ; but the above-board 
 tricks allowed by the Code of Procedure, the recognized sur- 
 prises and villainies to steal a march on an adversary, he was 
 ready to allow. 
 
 Then, Desroches was an amusing fellow ; he liked good 
 living ; and, like all men who are incessantly absorbed by the 
 imperious demands of hard thinking, he felt a craving for 
 highly spiced enjoyments snatched in haste, and strong to the 
 palate. So, while he had by degrees cleansed his ways as a 
 lawyer, he was still the favorite attorney of men of letters, 
 artists, and actresses, of popular courtesans and dandy bohe- 
 mians such as Maxime ; because he was content to live their 
 life, all these people attracted him, and all relished his society. 
 Their slang and wit, their rather lax moral views, their some- 
 what picaresque adventures, their expedients, their brave and 
 honorable toil in short, all their greatness and all their 
 misery were perfectly understood by him, and like an ever- 
 indulgent providence, he gave them advice and help when- 
 ever they asked for them. 
 
 But to the end that his serious and paying clients should 
 not discover what might be somewhat compromising in his 
 intimacy with these clients of his heart, he had days when he 
 was the husband and father more especially Sundays. Rarely 
 did he fail to be seen in his quiet little carriage, in the Bois 
 de Boulogne, his wife by his side the largeness of her fortune 
 stamped in her ugliness. On the opposite seat were the three 
 children in a group, all unfortunately like their mother.
 
 THF DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 365 
 
 So it was to this relatively honest lawyer that Monsieur de 
 Trailles had come for advice, as he never failed to do in 
 every more or less tight place in his career. Desroches, as 
 had long been his habit, listened without interrupting him to 
 the long statement of the case as it was unfolded to him, in- 
 cluding the scene that had just taken place at Rastignac's. 
 As Maxime had no secrets from this confessor, he gave all his 
 reasons for owing Sallenauve an ill-turn, and represented him, 
 with perfect conviction, as having stolen the name under 
 which he would sit in the Chamber. His hatred appeared to 
 him in the light of positive evidence of a felony that was 
 hardly probable or possible. In the bottom of his heart 
 Desroches had no wish to undertake a case in which he at 
 once foresaw not the smallest chance of success ; and his lax 
 honesty was shown in his talking to his client as if it were a 
 quite ordinary legal matter, and in not telling him point-blank 
 his opinion of an action which was simply an intrigue. 
 
 "To begin with, my dear sir," said the attorney, "a civil 
 action is not to be thought of: if your Romilly peasant had 
 her pockets full of proofs, her application would be refused 
 because, so far, she can have no direct interest in disputing 
 the affiliation of the opposing party." 
 
 " Yes, that is what Vinet said just now." 
 
 "As to a criminal prosecution, that, of course, you might 
 bring about by lodging an information of false personation." 
 
 "Vinet seemed in favor of that course," said Maxime. 
 
 "Well, but there are many objections to this method of 
 procedure. In the first place, merely to get the information 
 heard, you must have something resembling proof; next, if 
 the information is lodged and the Crown decides to prosecute, 
 to get a verdict there must be far stronger evidence of the 
 felony; and if, after all, the crime were proved against the 
 self-styled Marquis de Sallenauve, how are you to show that 
 his self-styled son is in the conspiracy, since he may have been 
 deceived by an impostor."
 
 366 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " But what motive could that impostor have," said Maxime, 
 "forgiving this Dorlange all the advantages that accrue to 
 him from being recognized as the Marquis de Sallenauve's 
 son?" 
 
 "Oh, my dear fellow," replied Desroches, "when you 
 come to State questions, any eccentricity is possible. No sort 
 of trials or actions has furnished so many romances to the 
 compilers of causes Celebris or to novelists. But there is 
 another point : the assumption of a false identity is not in 
 itself a crime in the eye of the law." 
 
 " How is that? " cried Maxime. " Impossible ! " 
 
 "Look here, my lord," said Desroches, taking down the 
 Five Codes, " have the kindness to read Section 145 of the 
 Penal Code the only one which seems to lend an opening to 
 the action you propose to bring, and see whether the mis- 
 demeanor we are discussing is contemplated." 
 
 Maxime read aloud Section 145, as follows: 
 
 " Any functionary or public officer who shall have com- 
 mitted forgery in the exercise of his functions either by 
 forged signatures, or by defacing and altering deeds, docu- 
 ments, or signatures or by assuming a false identity 
 
 "Then, you see," said Maxime, "false identity " 
 
 "Read to the end," said Desroches. 
 
 " Or by altering or adding to a register or any other public 
 document, after it has been legally attested and sealed, is 
 liable to penal servitude for life." 
 
 Monsieur de Trailles rolled the words unctuously on his 
 tongue as a foretaste of the fate in store for Monsieur de Salle- 
 nauve. 
 
 " My dear count," said Desroches, " you read as the parties 
 to a suit always do ; they never study a point of law but from 
 their own side of the case. You fail to observe that, in this 
 section, mention is made only of ' functionaries and public 
 officers ; ' it has no bearing on the false identity of any other 
 class of persons."
 
 TH$ DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 367 
 
 Maxima re-read the paragraph, and saw that Desroches was 
 right. 
 
 "Still," he remarked, "there must be something elsewhere 
 to that effect?" 
 
 "Nothing of the kind; take my word for it as a lawyer; 
 the Code is absolutely silent on that point." 
 
 "Then the crime we should inform against has the privilege 
 of impunity? " 
 
 " That is to say," replied Desroches, " that its punishment 
 is doubtful at best. A judge sometimes by induction extends 
 
 the letter of the law " He paused to turn over a volume 
 
 of leading cases. 
 
 " Here, you see, reported in Carnot's ' Commentaries on 
 the Penal Code,' two judgments delivered at Assizes one of 
 July 7, 1814, and the other of April 24, 1818, both confirmed 
 in the Court of Appeal, which condemned certain individuals 
 who were neither functionaries nor public officers for assuming 
 false names and identity; but these two verdicts, exceptional 
 in every way, are based on a section in which this particular 
 misdemeanor is not even mentioned, and it was only by very 
 recondite argument that it was brought to bear on the cases. 
 So you will understand that the outcome of such an action 
 must always be doubtful, since, in the absence of any pos- 
 itive rule, it is impossible to say what the judges' decision 
 may be." 
 
 " Consequently, it is your opinion, as it is Rastignac's, that 
 we may send our countrywoman back to Romilly, and that 
 there is nothing to be done." 
 
 "There is always something to be done," replied Des- 
 roches, " when you know how to set about it. There is a 
 further complication which does not seem to have occurred to 
 you or Monsieur de Rastignac, or even to Monsieur Vinet ; 
 and that is that, apart from the legal point, you need authority 
 from the Chamber before you can prosecute a member of the 
 representative body in a criminal court."
 
 368 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC1S. 
 
 "That is true," said Maxima; "but how does a further 
 complication help us out of our difficulty? " 
 
 " You would not be sorry, I fancy," said the lawyer, laugh- 
 ing, " to send your enemy to the hulks ? " 
 
 "A scoundrel," said Maxime, with a droll twinkle, "who 
 has perhaps caused me to miss a good marriage, who sets 
 up for austere virtue, and allows himself such audacious 
 tricks ! " 
 
 " Well ; you must, nevertheless, put up with some less 
 showy revenge. If you create a scandal, throw utter dis- 
 credit on your man that, I suppose, would, to some extent, 
 achieve your end? " 
 
 " No doubt ; half a loaf is better than no bread." 
 
 " Your ideas thus reduced, this is what I should advise : 
 Do not urge your woman to bring an action against this gen- 
 tleman who annoys you so much, but get her to place a peti- 
 tion for authority to prosecute in the hands of the president 
 of the Chamber. She will most probably not obtain it, and 
 the affair will collapse at that stage ; but the fact of the appli- 
 cation will be rumored in the Chamber, the papers will have 
 every right to mention it, and the Government will be free, 
 behind the scenes, to add venom to the imputation by the 
 comments of its supporters." 
 
 "Peste ! " exclaimed Maxime, enchanted at seeing an out- 
 let for his instincts of aversion, " you are a clever fellow 
 far cleverer than all your self-styled statesmen. But as to this 
 petition to the Chamber for leave to prosecute, who can draw 
 that up?" 
 
 "Not I," replied Desroches, who did not care to go any 
 further in such dirty work. " What you want is not a judicial 
 document, but a weapon, and that is no part of my business. 
 But there, are dozens of attorneys without clients who are 
 always ready to put a finger into a political pie Massol, for 
 instance, will do your job as well as any man." 
 
 " Good ! " said Maxime, " I will take the responsibility,
 
 THE DPUTY FOR ARC1S. 369 
 
 and in that shape, perhaps, Rastignac may at last swallow the 
 scheme." 
 
 "Mind you do not make an enemy of Vinet, for he will 
 think you have taken a great liberty in having thought of a 
 thing that ought at once to have occurred to such a practiced 
 parliamentary tactician as he is." 
 
 " Oh, before very long," said Maxime, rising, " I hope that 
 Vinet, Rastignac, and the rest will have to reckon with me. 
 Where are you dining to-night ?" he added. 
 
 It is a question which one "man about town" often asks 
 another. 
 
 "In a cave," said Desroches, "with the banditti." 
 "Where is it?" 
 
 " Why, in the course of your erotic experiences you have, 
 no doubt, had recourse to the good offices of an old ward- 
 robe-buyer named Madame de Saint-Esteve ? " 
 
 "No," said Maxime; "I always manage my own busi- 
 ness." 
 
 "Ah, I was not thinking," said the lawyer. "You have 
 always been a conqueror in high life, where such go-betweens 
 are not employed. However, the woman's name is not un- 
 known to you ? " 
 
 "Quite true. Her store is in the Rue Saint-Marc. It was 
 she who brought about the meeting between Nucingen and 
 that little slut Esther, who cost him something like five hun- 
 dred thousand francs. She must be related to a villain of the 
 same kidney who is now at the head of the detective force, 
 and goes by the same name." 
 
 "That I do not know," replied Desroches. "But lean 
 tell you this much : she made a fortune by her trade as dresser 
 (appareilleuse, as it was called at a time when the world was 
 less prudish than it is now), and to-day the worthy lady is 
 magnificently housed in the Rue de Provence, where she is at 
 the head of a matrimonial agency." 
 "And you are dining there?" 
 24
 
 370 'THE DEPUTY FOR ARCfS. 
 
 " Yes, my dear sir, with the manager of an opera house in 
 London, with Emile Blondet, Andoche Finot, Lousteau, Feli- 
 cien Vernou, Theodore Gaillard, Hector Merlin, and Bixiou, 
 who was instructed to invite me, because my experience and 
 great knowledge of business are to be called into play." 
 
 " Bless me ! is there some great financial enterprise at the 
 back of that dinner?" 
 
 " A joint-stock undertaking, my dear friend, and a theatrical 
 engagement, and I am to read through the two agreements. 
 As regards the last, you understand that the distinguished 
 guests invited to meet me will proceed to blow the trumpet as 
 soon as the deed is signed." 
 
 "And who is the star whose engagement needs so much 
 ceremony?" 
 
 "Oh, a star who may look forward, it would seem, to 
 European glory ! An Italian woman discovered by a great 
 Swedish nobleman, Count Halphertius, through the ministra- 
 tions of Madame de Saint-Estdve. To have her brought out 
 on the opera stage in London, the illustrious stranger becomes 
 a sleeping partner with the impresario to the tune of a hun- 
 dred thousand crowns." 
 
 " So the Swedish count is marrying her ? " 
 
 "H'm," said Desroches, "I have not as .yet been asked to 
 draw up the settlements. Madame de Saint-Estdve, as you 
 may suppose, still has some connection with the ' thirteenth 
 arrondissement ' in her agency business." 
 
 "Well, my good fellow, I hope you will enjoy the party," 
 said Maxime, leaving. " If your star is a success in London, 
 we shall probably see her in Paris this winter. I will be off 
 to put a spoke, if I can, in the chariot wheels of the rising sun 
 of Arcis. By the way, where does Massol live?" 
 
 " On my word, I cannot tell you. I have never taken him 
 a brief; I have no use for pleaders who meddle in politics; 
 but you can send for his address to the office of the 'Gazette 
 des Tribunaux; ' he writes for it, I know."
 
 THE -DJEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 371 
 
 Maximc himself went to the office to ask where Massol 
 lived ; but the office-boy had strict orders not to give his 
 address to anybody, probably with a view to the calls of duns. 
 He fortunately remembered that Massol rarely missed a per- 
 formance at the opera, and he felt tolerably certain of finding 
 him in the lounging-room after dinner. In the evening he 
 met Massol, as he expected, at the opera. Addressing him 
 with his usual rather haughty politeness 
 
 " I should like to talk with you, monsieur," said he, "over 
 a partly legal and partly political matter. If it were not neces- 
 sary to observe the strictest secrecy in every way, I would have 
 had the honor of calling at your office, but I believe we shall 
 discuss it in greater privacy at my house, where I can put you 
 into direct communication with two interested persons. May 
 I hope that you will give me the pleasure of taking a cup of 
 tea with me to-morrow morning soon after eleven?" 
 
 " I shall have the honor of waiting on you to-morrow at the 
 hour you name," he eagerly replied. 
 
 "You know," said Maxime, " the Rue Pigalle? " 
 
 "Perfectly," replied Massol, "close to the Rue de la 
 Rochefoucauld." 
 
 On the evening when Sallenauve, Marie-Gaston, and Jacques 
 Bricheteau had gone together to Saint-Sulpice to hear Signora 
 Luigia sing, a little incident had occurred in the church which 
 had scarcely been noticed. Through the little-used door, 
 opening on the Rue Palatine, opposite the Rue Servandoni, a 
 fair-haired youth hastily came in. He seemed so agitated and 
 hurried that he even forgot to take off a cap of shiny leather, 
 shaped like those worn by the students at German universities. 
 As he pushed forward to where the crowd was thickest, he 
 felt himself gripped by the arm, and his face, which was florid 
 and rosy, turned lividly pale ; but on turning round he saw 
 that he had been alarmed without cause. It was only the 
 wiss, or beadie, who said in impressive tones
 
 372 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "Young man, is your cap nailed to your head ? " 
 
 "I beg pardon, monsieur," said the youth. "It was an 
 oversight." 
 
 And after obeying this lesson in reverence, human and 
 divine, he lost himself in the densest part of the crowd, 
 through which he roughly made his way with his elbows, get- 
 ting a few blows in return, about which he did not trouble 
 himself. Having reached an open space, he looked round 
 with a hasty, anxious eye ; then leaving by the door on the 
 side to the Rue Garanciere, almost opposite to that he had 
 come in by, he flew off at a great pace, and vanished down 
 one of the deserted streets that lie about the Marche Saint- 
 Germain. 
 
 A few seconds after the irruption of this strange worshiper, 
 in at the same door came a man with a deeply seamed face 
 framed in white whiskers ; thick hair, also white, but some- 
 what rusty, and falling to his shoulders, gave him the look of 
 some old member of the Convention, or of Bernardin de 
 Saint-Pierre* after having had the smallpox. 
 
 He obviously was bent on following the light-haired youth, 
 but he was not so clumsy as to rush after him through the 
 mass of people in front of the high altar, in which, as he 
 understood, the fugitive had tried to be lost. So, working 
 round the building, close to the wall, in a contrary direction, 
 he had every chance of reaching the other door as soon as his 
 prey ; but, as has happened to many another, his cleverness 
 played him a trick. As he passed a confessional, he perceived 
 a kneeling form very like that of the man he was chasing. 
 Attributing to him an ingenuity that would, no doubt, have 
 been his in similar circumstances, it struck him that, to put 
 him off the scent, his escaped victim had suddenly thrown 
 himself on the penitential tribunal. In the time it took him 
 to make sure of the man's identity, which as we know was not 
 confirmed, he was outstripped. So practiced a hunter at once 
 * Author of " Paul and Virginia."
 
 THE' DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 373 
 
 gave up the useless chase ; he understood that the game was up 
 for to-aay, and he had missed his chance. 
 
 He too was about to leave the church, when, after a brief 
 prelude on the organ, Signora Luigia's contralto voice in a 
 few deep notes began the glorious melody to which the "Lit- 
 anies to the Virgin " are sung. The beauty of her voice, the 
 beauty of the strain, the beauty of the words of that sacred 
 hymn, which her admirable style gave out with perfect dis- 
 tinctness, seemed to impress this strange man deeply. Far 
 from leaving, as he had intended, he took his stand in the 
 shadow of a pillar, not looking for a seat ; but at the moment 
 when the last notes of the canticle died away, he had fallen 
 on his knees, and any one looking at his face would have seen 
 that two large tears were trickling down his cheeks. 
 
 The benediction having been pronounced, and the greater 
 part of the crowd having left the church 
 
 "What a fool I am ! " said he, as he rose and wiped his 
 eyes, and hailed a hack : 
 
 " Rue de Provence, and look sharp, my good fellow. It 
 will be worth your while," said he. 
 
 On reaching the house where he stopped the coach, he ran 
 past the gatekeeper's lodge and made for the backstairs, not 
 wishing to be seen ; but the porter, who was conscientious in 
 the discharge of his duty, came to his door and called after 
 him 
 
 " Pray, where are you going, sir? " 
 
 "To Madame de Saint-Esteve," replied the visitor in a 
 tone of annoyance. 
 
 Immediately after he rang at a back door, which was opened 
 by a negro. 
 
 " Is my aunt in ? " he asked. 
 
 " Oh yes, missy at home," replied the black man, putting 
 on the most gracious smile he could command, which made 
 him look like an ape cracking nuts. 
 
 Making his way along the passages, which gave an idea of
 
 374 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 the extent of the apartments, the new-comer reached the 
 drawing-room door; the negro threw it open, announcing 
 " Monsieur Saint-Hesteve," with a violent aspirate. 
 
 The head of the detective police went into a room remark- 
 able for its magnificence, but yet more so for the extraordinary 
 bad taste of the furniture. Three women of venerable an- 
 tiquity were sitting at a round table, solemnly playing domi- 
 noes. Three glasses, a silver bowl drained empty, and a 
 vinous perfume that was unpleasantly conspicuous on coming 
 into the room, showed that the worship of the double-sixes 
 was not the only cult solemnized there. 
 
 "Good-evening, ladies," said the great man, taking a 
 chair, " I am glad to find you all together, for I have some- 
 thing to say to each of you." 
 
 "We will listen presently," said his aunt; "let us finish 
 the game. I am playing for fours." 
 
 " Double-blank," said one of the antiquities. 
 
 " Domino ! " cried Madame de Saint-Esteve, " and game. 
 You two must certainly have four points between you, and all 
 the blanks are out." 
 
 So speaking, she put out a bony hand to take the punch- 
 ladle and fill the glasses ; but finding the bowl empty, instead 
 of rising to pull the bell, she rang a peal with the spoon in 
 the silver basin. 
 
 The negro came in. 
 
 "Have something put into that," said she, handing it to 
 him ; " and bring a glass for monsieur." 
 
 "Thanks; I will take nothing," said Saint-Esteve. 
 
 "I have had a sufficiency," said one of the old ladies. 
 
 "And I have been put upon milk," said the other, "by 
 the doctor, on account of my gastripes." 
 
 "You are all milksops together," said the mistress of the 
 house. " Here, clear all this away," said she to the negro ; 
 " and, above all, don't let me catch you listening at the door ! 
 You remember the clawing you got ? "
 
 'GOOD-EVENING, LADIES.
 
 THE- DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 375 
 
 "Oh, yes, I 'member," said the man, his shoulders shaking 
 with laughter, " me got no ears now." 
 
 And he went away. 
 
 " Well, Tommy, it is your turn now," said the old aunt to 
 Saint-Esteve, after a stormy settlement of accounts between 
 the three witches. 
 
 "You, Madame Fontaine," said the head detective, turning 
 to one of them, who by her fly-away looks, her disorderly 
 gray hair, and her frightfully crooked green silk bonnet, 
 might have been taken for a blue-stocking in labor with an 
 article on the fashions, " you forget yourself too much ; you 
 never send us in any report, while, on the contrary, we hear 
 too many reports about you. Monsieur le Prefet does not at 
 all care for establishments of your class. I only keep you go- 
 ing for the sake of the services you are supposed to do us ; 
 but without pretending, as you do, to look into the future, I 
 can positively predict that if you continue to afford us so little 
 information, your fortune-telling den will be shut before long." 
 
 "There you go!" retorted the pythoness. "You pre- 
 vented my taking the rooms Mademoiselle Lenormand had in 
 the Rue de Tournon. Who do you suppose will come to me 
 in the Rue Vieille-du-Temple ? Poor clerks, cooks, laborers, 
 and apprentice-girls ! And you want me to go tattling to 
 you of what I pick up from such folk ? " 
 
 "Madame Fontaine, you didn't ought to say that," said 
 Madame de Saint-Esteve ; " why, I send some of my customers 
 to you most days." 
 
 " Not more than I send you of mine ! " 
 
 "And not above four days' since," the matrimonial agent 
 went on, " that Italian woman went to you from me. She is 
 not a milliner's apprentice, she is not ; and she lives with a 
 deputy who is against the Government ! You might have 
 reported that." 
 
 "There is one thing in particular," said the detective, 
 " which is constantly mentioned in the reports that reach me
 
 376 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 about you that foul creature you make use of in your divina- 
 tions " 
 
 "Who? Astaroth?" asked Madame Fontaine. 
 
 " Yes ; that batrachian, that toad, to speak plainly, whom 
 you pretend to consult. A little while since it would seem a 
 woman was so upset by its horrible appearance that she 
 
 "There, there," the fortune-teller broke in, "if I am to 
 do nothing now but read the cards, you may as well ruin me 
 at once cut my throat and have done with it ! Because a 
 woman has a still-born child, are you going to get rid of toads 
 altogether in this world ? If so, what did God create them 
 for?" 
 
 "My dear madame," said the man, "there was a time 
 when you would have been less partial to such help. In 1617 
 a philosopher named Vanini was burnt at Toulouse solely be- 
 cause he kept a toad in a bottle." 
 
 "Ay, but we live in an age of enlightenment," said Mad- 
 ame Fontaine cheerfully, "and the police are not so hard 
 upon us." 
 
 "You, Madame Nourrisson," said the detective, turning to 
 the other old woman, "pick the fruit too green, I am told. 
 Having kept store so long as you have, you must be well 
 aware of the laws and regulations, and I am surprised at hav- 
 ing to remind you that morals must be respected under one- 
 and-twenty." 
 
 Madame Nourrisson had, in fact, been, under the Empire, 
 what Parent du Chatelet (whose work is such a curious study 
 of the great plague of prostitution) euphemistically called a 
 "Dame de Maison." She had afterward set up in the Rue 
 Neuve-Saint-Marc the store for buying and selling old clothes. 
 
 " And you, you great bully, you respected morality, I sup- 
 posed when, in 1809, you placed that girl of seventeen from 
 Champagne in my care ! " 
 
 "If it is thirty years since that folly was committed in my 
 name," replied the man, "that is thirty years' record in my
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC IS. 377 
 
 favor; for it was the last into which I was ever drawn by a 
 petticoat. However, dear ladies, you can make such use as 
 you please of my warnings. If mischief overtakes you, you 
 cannot now complain that you had not due notice. 
 
 " As to you, my little aunt, what I have to say to you is 
 private and confidential." 
 
 At this hint the other two prepared to leave. 
 
 "Shall I send for a hack for you?" Madame de Saint- 
 Esteve asked Madame Fontaine. 
 
 "No, indeed," said the fortune-teller. "I am going to 
 walk ; I am told to take exercise. I told my forewoman, 
 Ma'ame Jamouillot, to come for me." 
 
 " And you, Madame Nourrisson ? " 
 
 " That's a good 'un ! " said the woman. "A hack to go 
 from the Rue de Provence to the Rue Neuve-Saint-Marc ! 
 Why, we are quite near neighbors." 
 
 In point of fact, the old clothes-woman had come in every- 
 day attire : a white cap with yellow ribbons, a patent front of 
 jet black curls, a black silk apron, and a cotton print gown 
 with a dark blue ground ; and, as she said facetiously, it was 
 most unlikely that any one should want to run away with her. 
 
 In this public protector, who on the evening of the out- 
 break on the 1 2th of May had offered his services to Rastignac, 
 every reader will have recognized the notorious Jacques Collin, 
 alias Vautrin, one of the most familiar and elaborately drawn 
 figures of the Human Comedy. 
 
 But, as he had told his old friend Colonel Franchessini, he 
 was tired of perpetual thief-hunting ; there was no longer any 
 hazard or anything unforeseen in the game ; and, like a too 
 experienced gambler, he had ceased to take an interest in it. 
 For some years there had been still some spice in the business, 
 and that had given him endurance for the endless attacks 
 and ambushes planned against him by his old chums on the 
 hulks, who were furious at what they called his treason : but
 
 378 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 by this time his cleverness and his good luck, which had 
 always protected him from their conspiracies, had discouraged 
 his foes, and they had laid down their arms. Since then his 
 duties had lost all their charm ; he was anxious to change his 
 sphere of employment and transfer his marvelous instincts as 
 a spy and his indefatigable energy to that of politics. 
 
 Colonel Franchessini had taken care to see him again after 
 his visit to Rastignac ; and his old fellow-boarder at Madame 
 Vauquer's was not the man to under-estimate the purport of 
 the minister's views as to the luxury of such a plain citizen 
 life as he had suggested to cast oblivion on the odious past 
 that weighed on him. 
 
 " Haha ! " said he, "the pupil then has outstripped his 
 master ! His advice deserves consideration ; I will think 
 about it." 
 
 In fact, he had thought about it, and it was under the in- 
 fluence of much meditation and careful examination of the 
 scheme proposed to him that he had now come to see his aunt, 
 Jacqueline Collin otherwise known as Madame de Saint- 
 Esteve an alias they had agreed to adopt, which, while 
 masking the past history of this formidable pair, marked their 
 close relationship. 
 
 Jacqueline Collin herself, beside taking an active part in 
 many of her nephew's enterprises, had led an adventurous 
 life; and on one of the many occasions when Vautrin found 
 himself at variance with the law, an examining judge had thus 
 summed up the antecedent history of his much-respected aunt, 
 from certain data furnished by the police, of which there is 
 no reason to doubt the accuracy : 
 
 "She is, it would seem, an extremely cunning receiver of 
 stolen goods for no proof can be brought against her. She 
 is said to have been Marat's mistress, and after his death she 
 lived with a chemist, executed in the year VIII. (1799) as a 
 false coiner. She was witness at the trial. While with him 
 she acquired much dangerous knowledge of poisons. From
 
 ~TffE DEPUTY FOR ARC1S. 379 
 
 the year IX., till 1805, she dealt in old clothes. She was in 
 prison for two years, 1807-8, for entrapping girls under age. 
 
 " You, Jacques Collin, were at that time on your trial for 
 forgery ; you had left the banking-house where your aunt had 
 apprenticed you as clerk under favor of the education you 
 had received and the influence she could wield over persons 
 for whose depravity she had entrapped victims." 
 
 Since the time when this edifying biography had been 
 placed in her nephew's hands, Jacqueline Collin, without 
 falling again into the clutches of the public prosecutor, had 
 enlarged her borders ; and when Vautrin renounced the ways 
 of wickedness, she was far from assuming an equally immacu- 
 late garb of innocence. But having as he had made a 
 great deal of money, she would now pick and choose; she 
 had kept at a safe distance from the arm of the law; and 
 under the pretense of a more or less decent line of business, she 
 had carried on certain underground practices, to which she 
 devoted really diabolical intelligence and energy. 
 
 We have really learned from Desroches that the more or 
 less matrimonial agency managed by Madame de Saint- 
 Esteve was situated in the Rue de Provence ; and we may add 
 that it was carried on on an extensive scale, occupying all the 
 second floor of one of the enormous houses which Paris 
 builders raise from the earth as if by magic. They are 
 scarcely finished, and never free from debt, when they are filled 
 with tenants, at any price, while waiting for a buyer to whom 
 they are sold out of hand. If the builder finds a fool to deal 
 with, he does a fine stroke of business ; if, on the other hand, 
 the purchaser is a tough customer, the builder has to be con- 
 tent with recovering his outlay, with a few thousand francs as 
 interest; unless, while the work is going on, the speculation 
 has been hampered by one of those bankruptcies which in the 
 building trade are among the commonest and most familiar 
 complications. 
 
 Women of the town, business agents, still-born insurance
 
 380 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 companies, newspapers fated to die young, the offices of im- 
 possible railroad companies, discount brokers who borrow 
 instead of lending, advertisement agents, who lack the pub- 
 licity they profess to sell ; in short, all descriptions of shy or 
 doubtful enterprise and trade combine to provide the tem- 
 porary inhabitants of these republics. 
 
 They are built for show, "run up" with perfect indiffer- 
 ence to the fact that in the course of a few months settle- 
 ment will hinder the windows from opening, warping will 
 split the doors, the seams of the flooring will yawn, the 
 drains, gutter-pipes, and sinks will leak, and the whole card- 
 board structure be uninhabitable. That is the purchaser's 
 business ; and he, after patching the house up, is at liberty to 
 be more fastidious in the choice of his tenants, and to raise 
 the rents. 
 
 Mme. de Saint-Esteve issued a document which was to offer 
 the assistance of a strictly commercial agency through which, 
 on the most moderate terms, wedding outfits and presents 
 could be procured from Paris, suitable to every fortune or 
 sum in settlement. It was only as a modest N. B., after an 
 estimate of cost of the objects commonly included in such 
 lists, divided, somewhat like an undertaker's prospectus, into 
 first, second, third, and fourth classes, that Madame de Saint- 
 Esteve hinted at her " being enabled, through her high social 
 connections, to facilitate introductions between persons wish- 
 ing to marry." 
 
 In Paris the lady herself appealed to public credulity, and 
 her means were as ingenious as they were various. She made 
 a bargain with a livery-man, who sent two or three decent- 
 looking carriages to stand for hours at her door. Then, in 
 her waiting-room, supposed clients of both sexes, well dressed, 
 and affecting great impatience, took it in turns to come in 
 and out, so as to suggest a constant crowd ; and, as may be 
 supposed, the conversation of these confederates who pre- 
 tended not to know each other expatiated in suitable terms
 
 2WE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 381 
 
 on the merits and superior adroitness of Madame de Saint- 
 Esteve. 
 
 The ingenious adventuress, by some donations to the poor 
 and to the charities of Notre-Dame de Lorette, her parish, got 
 an occasional call from a priest, which was at once a voucher 
 of respectability and of the genuineness of her matrimonial 
 undertakings. Another of her ingenious tricks was to keep 
 herself supplied by the market-woman with lists of all the 
 fashionable weddings in Paris, and to be seen in the church 
 very handsomely dressed, arriving in a carriage with men- 
 servants, so as to allow it to be inferred that she had had 
 something to do with bringing about the union she had 
 honored with her presence. 
 
 On one occasion, however, a not very tolerant family ob- 
 jected to the idea of serving her purpose of advertisement, and 
 had treated her with contumely ; so she was now cautious as 
 to how she tried this plan for which she had substituted a 
 system of rumor less compulsory and far less dangerous. 
 Having known Madame Fontaine for many years for there 
 is a natural affinity among all these underground traffickers 
 she had plotted with her for a sort of reciprocal insurance 
 company for working on the credulity of the Parisians ; and 
 between these two hags the terms were thus arranged : when a 
 woman goes to have her fortune told, at least eight times out 
 of ten her curiosity turns on the question of marriage. So 
 when the sorceress announced to one of her fair clients, in 
 time-honored phraseology, that she would ere long meet her 
 fate in the person of a light-haired or a dark-haired man, she 
 took care to add : " But the union can only be brought about 
 through the agency of Madame de Saint-Esteve, a very rich 
 and highly respectable woman, living in the Rue de Provence 
 Chaussee-d'Antin, who has a passion for match-making." 
 While Madame de Saint-Esteve on her part, when she pro- 
 posed a match, if she thought there was any chance of thus 
 promoting its success, would say: "But go at any rate and
 
 382 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 consult the famous Madame Fontaine as to the outcome of the 
 negotiation Rue Vieille-du-Temple her reputation as a 
 fortune-teller by the cards is European ; she never makes a 
 mistake ; and if she tells you that I have made a good hit, you 
 may conclude the bargain in perfect confidence." 
 
 " My dear granny," said Vautrin, to begin the conversation 
 for which he had come, " I have so many things to tell you 
 that I do not know where to begin." 
 
 " I believe you why, I have not seen you for nearly a 
 week." 
 
 "To begin with, I may as well tell you that I just missed a 
 splendid stroke of business." 
 
 "What sort? " asked Jacqueline Collin. 
 
 " Oh, all in the way of my vile trade. But this time the 
 game was worth the trouble. Do you remember that little 
 Prussian engraver about whom I sent you to Berlin? " 
 
 "Who forged the Vienna bank-notes in such an astounding 
 manner? " said the aunt, finishing the story. 
 
 " Well, not an hour ago in the Rue Servandoni, where I 
 had been to see one of my men who is on the sick list, pass- 
 ing by a greengrocer's shop, I fancied I recognized my man 
 buying a slice of le Brie cheese, which was being wrapped in 
 paper." 
 
 " It would seem that he is not much the richer then, for all 
 he knows so much about bank-notes " 
 
 " My first thought," Vautrin went on, "was to rush into 
 the store the door was shut and to collar my rogue ; but, 
 not having seen his face very close, I was afraid of being mis- 
 taken. He, it would seem, had kept a lookout ; he saw some 
 one spying him through the window, and presto ! he vanished 
 into the back-store, and I saw him no more " 
 
 "Then, old boy, that is what comes of wearing long hair 
 and a beard all round your chin. The game scents you a 
 hundred yards away ! " 
 
 " But then, as you know, my fancy for being easily recog-
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 383 
 
 nized is what most impresses my customers. ' He must be 
 jolly well sure of himself,' they say, 'never to want any dis- 
 guise ! ' Nothing yet could or has done so much to make me 
 popular." 
 
 "Well," said Jacqueline, "so your man was in the back- 
 store?" 
 
 "I hastily took stock of the premises," Vautrin went on. 
 " The store was on one side of an arched entry; at the bot- 
 tom of the alley the door was open to a courtyard, into which 
 there would be a door from the back-store ; consequently, un- 
 less the fellow lived in the house, I was in command of all the 
 exits. I waited about a quarter of an hour ; it is a long time 
 when you are waiting. I looked into the store in vain^ no 
 sign of him. Three customers went in ; the woman served 
 them without seeming to be aware of any one keeping an eye 
 on her, she never gave a glance one way or the other, or 
 seemed at all on the watch. ' Well ! ' said I to myself at last, 
 'he must be a lodger; if not, the woman would certainly 
 have been more puzzled at his going out the back way.' So I 
 determined to drop in and ask a question or two. Pff ! I 
 had scarcely crossed the threshold whefTl heard steps in the 
 street the bird had flown." 
 
 "You were in too great a hurry, my dear. And yet, only 
 the other day you said to me ' P-o-i-i-c-e spells patience.' ' 
 
 "Without waiting for further information," said Vautrin, 
 " I was off in pursuit. Exactly facing the Rue Servandoni 
 the name of the architect who built Saint-Sulpice there is a 
 door into the church, which was open because of the month 
 of Mary, service being held there every afternoon. My rascal, 
 having the advantage of me, flew through this door, and was 
 so effectually lost in the crowd that when I went in I could 
 nowhere find him." 
 
 "Well," said the woman, "I cannot be sorry that the ras- 
 cal stole a march on you. I always feel some interest in a 
 smasher. Coining is a neat sort of crime, and clean ; no
 
 384 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 blood spilt, no harm done but to that mean hunks the Govern- 
 ment." 
 
 " In spite of your admiration, you will have to go to-morrow 
 and pick up some information from the greengrocer woman, 
 who must certainly know him, since she winked at his escape. 
 When I went back to the store I found shutters and doors all 
 shut up. I had lost some time in the church " 
 
 "Listening to a singer, I bet," interrupted the aunt. 
 
 " Quite true. How did you know? 
 
 " Why, all Paris is crowding to hear her," replied Jacque- 
 line Collin, "and I know her, too, in my own little way." 
 
 " What ! That voice that touched me so deeply, that took 
 me back fifty years to my first communion under the good ora- 
 torian fathers, who brought me up that woman who made 
 me cry, and transformed me for five minutes into a saint 
 and you have her on your books ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Madame de Saint-Esteve carelessly, "I have 
 a transaction on hand for her : I am getting her on to the 
 stage." 
 
 "Aha! So you are a dramatic agent too? Matrimony is 
 not enough? " 
 
 " This is the case in two words, my boy : She is an Italian, 
 as handsome as can be, come from Rome with an idiot of a 
 sculptor, whom she worships without his supecting it. Indeed, 
 this Joseph cares so little about her that, after using her as his 
 model for a statue, he has never yet been at the pains to be 
 more than civil." 
 
 "That is a man who ought to do well in his art," remarked 
 Jacques Collin, "with such a contempt for women and so 
 much strength of mind." 
 
 " And the proof of that," replied Jacqueline, " is that he 
 has just given up his art to become a deputy of the Chamber. 
 It was about him that I said to old Fontaine that she might 
 have found something to write you. I sent my Italian to 
 her, and she told the cards as regards this ice-bound lover."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 386 
 
 "And how did you come to know the woman?" 
 
 " Through old Ronquerolles. Having gone to see the 
 sculptor one day, in the matter of a duel in which he was 
 second, he saw this jewel of a woman, and became Quite Nu- 
 cingen about her." 
 
 " And you undertook the negotiations? " 
 
 " As you say. It was above a month ago, and the poor 
 man had had all his pains for nothing. Now I, having the 
 matter in hand, made inquiries ; I found out that the beauty 
 was a member of the sisters of the Virgin ; thereupon I called 
 on her as a Dame de Charite, or charitable lady, and imagine 
 what luck for me as a beginning the sculptor was in the 
 country getting himself elected " 
 
 " I have no fears about you ; at the same time, a lady of 
 charity who undertakes a theatrical agency ! " 
 
 " By the time I had seen her twice she had told me all her 
 little secrets," the old woman went on. " That she could no 
 longer bear life with that man of marble ; that she was deter- 
 mined to owe nothing to him ; and that having studied for 
 the stage, if she could only secure an engagement, she would 
 run away. So one day I went off to her and arrived quite 
 out of breath to tell her that a friend of mine a great lord, 
 highly respectable, old, virtuous to whom I had spoken of 
 her, would undertake to get her an opening and I asked her 
 to let me take him to see her." 
 
 "A word and a blow ! " said Jacques Collin. 
 
 " Yes; but she, a devil for suspiciousness, and less bent on 
 deserting her sculptor than she had thought, kept me, shilly- 
 shally, from day to day. So at last, to give her a shove, I 
 hinted that she should go and consult old Fontaine, as indeed 
 she was ready enough to do. 
 
 " It is of no use to talk; I must proceed with caution. If 
 
 he should make difficulties about our enticing away the 
 
 woman, whom he would perhaps think he wanted as soon as 
 
 she ceased to want him, he would hold a very strong hand. 
 
 25
 
 386 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 And that selfish old brute Ronquerolles, who is only a mem- 
 ber of the Upper House, would not be much protection 
 against a deputy of the Chamber " 
 
 " That old rip Ronquerolles is not the man for that woman," 
 said Jacques Collin. "It* she is an honest woman, we must 
 keep her so. I know a really respectable man who will get 
 her on to the stage on honorable terms, and secure her a 
 splendid position without asking for anything in return." 
 
 "What! you know of any such phenomenon? I should 
 be truly glad to have his address ; I would leave a card on 
 him." 
 
 "All right Petite Rue Sainte-Anne, Quai des Crfevres: 
 you will find a man there of your acquaintance." 
 
 "Are you guying me?" cried the woman, who in her as- 
 tonishment fell back on the low slang which she had spoken 
 so fluently of yore. 
 
 " No, I am quite serious. That woman touched me ; she 
 interests me; and I have another reason " 
 
 Vautrin then related his proceedings with regard to Ras- 
 tignac, Colonel Franchessini's intervention, the minister's 
 reply, and his transcendental theories of social reorganiza- 
 tion. 
 
 "And that little ape thinks he can teach us!" exclaimed 
 the aunt. 
 
 " He is in the right," said Vautrin, " only the woman was 
 wanting; you have found her for me." 
 
 "Yes, but it will be sheer ruination." 
 
 "And for whom are we saving? We have no heirs, and I 
 do not suppose you feel urgently drawn to found a hospital, 
 or prizes for distinguished merit? " 
 
 " I am not such a softhead," replied the woman. " Beside, 
 as you know, my Jacques, I have never kept an account 
 against you. Still, I foresee one difficulty : this woman is as 
 proud as a Roman which she is, and your confounded duties 
 are "
 
 TffE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 3S7 
 
 . 
 
 "There, you see," Jacques Collin eagerly put in, "I must 
 at any price escape from a life where one is liable to such 
 insults. But be easy ; I can avert this particular offense. My 
 business justifies me in playing every part in turn ; and, as you 
 will remember, I am not a bad actor. I may put a whole 
 rainbow of orders in my button-hole to-morrow and take a 
 house in any aristocratic name I may choose to assume. The 
 fun of the carnival lasts all the year round for a detective. 
 
 " I have already hit on a plan. I know the man I mean to 
 be. You may tell your Italian that Count Halphertius a 
 great Swedish lord, crazy about music and philanthropy 
 takes a great interest in her advancement. In point of fact, 
 I will furnish a house for her; I will strictly observe the vir- 
 tuous disinterestedness to which you may pledge me ; in short, 
 I will be her recognized patron. As to the engagement she 
 wishes for, I wish it too ; for my own future purpose I want her 
 to be glorious and brilliant ; and we are not Jacques and 
 Jacqueline Collin if, with her gifts and our gold and determi- 
 nation, we fail in making her so." 
 
 " But then comes the question whether Rastignac will think 
 you have won ; it was Monsieur de Saint-Esteve, the head of 
 the detective police, that he told you to whitewash." 
 
 " Not at all, old lady. There is no such person as Saint- 
 Esteve, no Jacques Collin, no Vautrin, no Trompe-la-Mort, 
 no Carlos Herrera : there is a remarkably powerful mind, 
 strong and vigorous, offering its services to the Government. 
 I am bringing it from the North, and christening it with a 
 foreign name, and this makes me all the better fitted for the 
 political and diplomatic police whose functions I henceforth 
 intend to exercise." 
 
 " You forge ahead ! it is wonderful. But first we must 
 catch the jewel who is to make such a show for you, and we 
 have not got her yet." 
 
 " That is no difficulty ; I have seen you at work, and when 
 you will you can."
 
 388 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " I will try," said Jacqueline Collin diffidently. " Come 
 and see me again to-morrow night, at any rate ; perhaps I 
 may have something to show." 
 
 "And meanwhile, do not forget the greengrocer's store in 
 the Rue Servandoni, No. 12, where you are to make inquiries.. 
 That capture, as being important to a foreign government, 
 has a political air about it that would be of service toward 
 helping me to my end." 
 
 " I will give you a good account of the storewoman, never 
 fear," said Jacqueline. " But the other affair is rather more 
 ticklish ; we must not handle it roughly." 
 
 " You have a free hand," replied Vautrin. " I have always 
 found you equal to any undertaking, however difficult. So 
 farewell till to-morrow." 
 
 On the following day Vautrin was sitting in his office in 
 the Petite Rue Sainte-Anne when he received the following 
 note 
 
 " You are much to be pitied, my old boy ; everything is 
 working out as you want it. Early this morning I was told 
 that a lady wished to speak to me. Who should come in but 
 our Italian, to whom I had given my address in case she 
 should need me in a hurry. Her Joseph having spoken last 
 evening, in cheerful terms, of his intention that they should 
 part company, the poor dear had not closed her eyes all 
 night, and her little brain is in such a pother that she came 
 straight to me, begging me to introduce her to my respectable 
 friend, in whose hands she is prepared to place herself if he is 
 to be trusted, because she feels it a point of honor to owe 
 nothing more to that icicle who can disdain her. So come at 
 once in the new skin you have chosen, and then it is your 
 business to make your way to the charmer's good graces. 
 
 " Your affectionate aunt, 
 
 " J. C. DE SAINT-ESTEVE."
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 389 
 
 Vautrin replied as follows 
 
 " I will be with you this evening at nine. I hope the change 
 in my decorative treatment will be so handsome that if I had 
 not told you the name I shall assume, you would find it diffi- 
 cult to recognize me. I have already taken steps in the mat- 
 ter of the engagement, and can speak of it in such a way that 
 the charmer will form a good idea of her Papa 's wealth and 
 influence. 
 
 " Sell some stock out in the course of the day for a rather 
 considerable sum ; we must have ready money ; I, on my 
 part, will do the same. Till this evening, 
 
 " Your nephew and friend, 
 
 " SAINT-ESTEVE. " 
 
 That evening, punctual to the hour he had fixed, Vautrin 
 went to his aunt's rooms. On this occasion he went up the 
 main staircase, and was announced as Monsieur le Comte 
 Halphertius by the negro, who did not recognize him. 
 
 Warned though she was of his metamorphosis, Jacqueline 
 stood in amazement at this really great actor, who was alto- 
 gether another man. His long hair, a la Franklin, was now 
 short and curled and powdered ; his eyebrows and whiskers, 
 cutlet-shaped, in the style of the Empire, were dyed dark 
 brown, in strong contrast with the powdered wig ; and a false 
 mustache of the same hue gave his not naturally noble features 
 a stamp of startling originality, which might, by a stretch of 
 imagination, be called distinction. A black satin stock gave 
 deportment to his head. He wore a blue tail-coat, buttoned 
 across, and in one button-hole an inch of ribbon displayed 
 the colors of half the orders of Europe. A nankeen vest, vis- 
 ible below the coat-front, effected a harmonious transition to 
 pearl-gray trousers; patent-leather boots and lemon kid gloves 
 completed the "get-up," which aimed at careless elegance. 
 The powder, of which the last wearers could now easily be
 
 390 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 counted, gave the crowning touch to an old foreign diplo- 
 matist, and a very happy sobriety to a costume which, but for 
 that corrective, might have appeared too juvenile. 
 
 After giving a few minutes to admiration of his disguise, 
 Vautrin asked his aunt 
 
 "Is she here?" 
 
 "Yes," said Jacqueline. " The angel retired to her room 
 half an hour ago to tell her beads, now that she is deprived of 
 attending the services of the month of Mary. But she impa- 
 tiently awaits your visit, seeing how I have sung your praises 
 all day." 
 
 "And what does she think of your house ? Does she repent 
 of the step she has taken ? " 
 
 " Her pride would in any case be too great to allow of her 
 showing such a feeling. Beside, I have cleverly won her con- 
 fidence, and she is one of those persons who are determined 
 never to look back when once they hive started." 
 
 " The best of the joke," said Vautrin, " is that her deputy, 
 who is worried about her, was sent to me by Monsieur le 
 Prefet that I might help him to find her." 
 
 "He wants her, then ?" 
 
 " He is not in love with her, you understand, but he con- 
 sidered her as being in his care, and he was afraid that she 
 might have taken it into her head to kill herself, or might 
 have fallen into the hands of some intriguing woman. And 
 you know that, but for my fatherly intervention, he would 
 have laid his finger on the spot." 
 
 "And what did you say to your flat? " 
 
 " Oh, of course, I allowed him to hope, but really and truly 
 I was sorry not to be able to do what he asked me. I took a 
 fancy to him at once ; he has a pleasant way with him, ener- 
 getic and clever, and it strikes me that our friends the Min- 
 istry will find him a pretty tough customer." 
 
 " So much the worse for him ; he should not have driven 
 the dear child to extremities," said the aunt "And the
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 391 
 
 engagement, for which you said you had the irons in the 
 fire?" 
 
 "You know what a queer thing luck is, my beauty," re- 
 plied Vautrin, taking out a newspaper. " Good or bad, it 
 always comes in squalls. This morning, after receiving your 
 letter, which brought me such good news, I opened this the- 
 atrical journal and read this paragraph : ' The Italian opera 
 season in London, which began so badly by the lawsuit that 
 brought to light the pecuniary difficulties under which Sir 
 Francis Drake's management is struggling, seems still further 
 embarrassed by the serious illness of la Serboni, necessitating 
 her absence from the stage for an indefinite period. Sir 
 Francis arrived yesterday at the Hotel des Princes, Rue de 
 Richelieu, having come in search of two desiderata a prima 
 donna and some funds. But the hapless impresario is moving 
 in a vicious circle ; for without money no prima donna, and 
 without a prima donna no money. 
 
 " ' We may hope, however, that he will escape from this 
 dead-lock ; for Sir Francis Drake has a character for being 
 honest and intelligent, and with such a reputation he will 
 surely not find every door closed to him.' ' 
 
 " Men of the world are your journalists ! " said the old aunt 
 with a knowing air. " Is every door to be thrown open be- 
 cause a man is honest and intelligent? " 
 
 " In the present case," said Vautrin, " the phrase is not so 
 far wrong; for the moment I had read the article I figged 
 myself out, as you see, took a private coach, and went off to 
 the address given. 
 
 "'Sir Francis Drake? ' I asked. 
 
 " ' I do not know whether he can see you, sir,' says the 
 gentleman's gentleman, coming forward ; he was there, I 
 strongly suspect, to give the same answer to any one who 
 might call. ' He is with the Baron de Nucingen,' he added 
 apologetically. 
 
 " I made believe to look through a pocket-book well
 
 392 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 stuffed with bank-notes for a card, which, of course, I had 
 not got. 
 
 " ' Well,' said I, with a slight German accent and a sprink- 
 ling of Germanisms, ' I am Count Halphertius, a Swedish 
 gentleman. Tell Sir Francis Drake I had come for to discuss 
 some business. I shall go to the Bourse, where I give some 
 orders to my broker, and I shall come back after a half- 
 hour.' 
 
 " Saying this in the most lordly tone, I went back to my 
 carriage. I had only set foot on the step when the lackey, 
 running after me, said he had made a mistake; that Mon- 
 sieur de Nucingen was gone, and his master could see me 
 at once." 
 
 " Trying their games on us ! " said Jacqueline Collin, with 
 a shrug. 
 
 " Sir Francis Drake," Vautrin went on, " is a regular Eng- 
 lishman, very bald, with a red nose, and large prominent 
 yellow teeth. He received me with frigid politeness, and 
 asked me in good French what my business was. 
 
 "'Just now,' said I, 'at the Cafe de Paris, I read this,' 
 and I handed him the paper, pointing to the place. 
 
 "'It is inconceivable,' said he, returning me the news- 
 paper, ' that a man's credit should be thus cried down pub- 
 licly.' 
 
 " ' The journalist is wrong ? You have no want of money ? ' 
 
 "'You may imagine, monsieur, that I should not in any 
 case try to obtain it through the medium of a theatrical 
 journal.' 
 
 "'Very good! Then have we nothing to talk about?' 
 said I, rising. ' I come to put some money in your busi- 
 ness.' 
 
 " ' I would rather you had a prima donna to offer me ! ' 
 said he. 
 
 " ' I offer you both,' said I, sitting down again. ' One not 
 without the other.'
 
 %ff DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 393 
 
 " ' Of well-known talent ? ' asked the impresario. 
 
 "'Not at all known,' replied I. 'Never seen yet at any 
 theatre.' 
 
 " ' Hum risky/ said the gentleman with a cunning look. 
 'The protectors of youthful talent often make great mis- 
 takes.' 
 
 " ' But I offer you a hundred thousand crowns as an in- 
 vestment for you only for to listen to my nightingale.' 
 
 " ' That would be a large sum for so little trouble, and but 
 a small one as a help to my management if it were in such 
 difficulties as your paper says.' 
 
 "'Well, then, hear us for nothing; if we are what you 
 want, and you make a handsome offer, I will put down twice 
 so much.' 
 
 " ' You speak with a freedom that invites confidence ; from 
 what country is your young prima ? ' 
 
 11 ' Roman of Rome a pure-bred Italian, and very hand- 
 some. You may believe if I am interested in her; I went 
 mad about her, only for that I had heard her a long way off 
 in a church. I did not see her till afterward.* 
 
 " ' But it strikes me,' said the Englishman, ' that women 
 do not sing in church in Italy.' ' 
 
 "Well!" said Madame de Saint-Esteve, "are there 
 churches nowhere but in Italy?" 
 
 "Precisely," said Vautrin. "I felt that to give some ap- 
 pearance of reality to my disguise and my proceedings, I must 
 assume some suspicion of eccentricity ; so seizing the oppor- 
 tunity of getting up a German quarrel 
 
 " ' I beg to remark, monsieur,' said I in a very pugnacious 
 tone, ' that you have done me the honor of give me the one 
 lie.' 
 
 "'What!' said the Englishman in amazement, 'nothing 
 could be further from my thoughts.' 
 
 "'It is plainly so, all the same,' said I. 'I tell you, I 
 heard the signora in church ; you say : " Women do not sing
 
 394 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 in church in Italy " that is so much as to say I shall not 
 have heard her.' 
 
 " ' But you may have heard her in another country.' 
 
 " 'You should have thought of that,' said I, in the same 
 quarrelsome tone, ' before you made that remark extraordi- 
 nary remark. At any rate, I see we shall not agree. The 
 signora can wait till the Italian opera opens in Paris in Oc- 
 tober. Artists get much better known here. So, Monsieur 
 Drake, I wish you a good-morning.' And I really seemed 
 about to leave." 
 
 " Well played ! " said his aunt. 
 
 In all the most risky affairs undertaken by them in common, 
 they had always duly considered the artistic side. 
 
 "Well, to make a long story short," said Vautrin, "hav- 
 ing thus brought my man to the sticking-point, we parted on 
 these terms I am to put down a hundred thousand crowns 
 in money, the signora gets fifty thousand crowns for the re- 
 mainder of the season, supposing her voice is satisfactory ; 
 and, to judge of her quality, we are to meet to-morrow at two 
 o'clock at Pape's, where Sir Francis Drake will have brought 
 two or three friends to assist him, to whose presence I have 
 consented. We are to be supposed to have gone to choose a 
 piano. I said, just to keep up the game, that the lady might 
 be terrified at the solemnity of a formal hearing, and that we 
 are more sure in this way of knowing what she can really do." 
 
 "But I say, old boy," said Jacqueline, "a hundred thou- 
 sand crowns is a lot of money ! " 
 
 " Just the sum that I inherited from that poor boy Lucien 
 de Rubempre," said Vautrin carelessly. "However, I have 
 gone into the matter. Sir Francis Drake, with some one to 
 back him, may have a very good season. There is my secre- 
 tary, Theodore Calvi, who is mine for life or death. He is 
 very alert on all questions of interest. I have secured him 
 the place of cashier, and he will keep an eye on the partner's 
 profits. Now, there is but one thing that I am anxious about.
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARC1S. 395 
 
 Signora Luigia moved me deeply, but I am no connoisseur ; 
 artists may not think of her as I do." 
 
 " Artists have pronounced on her, my ducky; her sculptor 
 never thought of giving her the key of the fields till she had 
 been heard by a certain Jacques Bricheteau, an organist and a 
 first-rate musician. They were at Saint-Sulpice the very even- 
 ing of your pious fit, and the organist declared that the woman 
 had sixty thousand francs in her voice whenever she pleased 
 those were his words." 
 
 "Jacques Bricheteau ! " said Vautrin ; "why, I know the 
 man. There is a fellow of that name employed in one of the 
 police departments." 
 
 "Well, then," said his aunt, "it is your nightingale's 
 good fortune to be under the protection of the police ! " 
 
 " No, I remember," said Vautrin. "This Jacques Briche- 
 teau was an inspector of nuisances, who has just been dis- 
 missed for meddling in politics. Well, now, suppose you 
 were to effect the introduction. It is late." 
 
 Jacqueline Collin had hardly left the room to go for Luigia, 
 when there was a great commotion in the anteroom leading to 
 it. Immediately after the door was thrown open, and in 
 spite of a desperate resistance on the part of the negro, who 
 had been expressly ordered to admit nobody whatever, in 
 came a personage whose advent was, to say the least, inoppor- 
 tune, if not altogether unexpected. In spite of an insolently 
 aristocratic demeanor, the new-comer, caught in his violence 
 by a stranger, was for a moment disconcerted, and Vautrin 
 was malicious enough to intensify the situation by saying with 
 Teutonic bluntness 
 
 "Monsieur is an intimate friend of Madame de Saint- 
 Esteve's?" 
 
 "I have something of importance to say to her," replied 
 the intruder, " and that servant is such an ass that he cannot 
 tell you plainly whether his mistress is at home or out."
 
 396 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " I can bear witness that she is out," replied the supposed 
 Count Halphertius. " For more than an hour I have wait for 
 to see her, by her own appointment. She is a flighty thing, 
 and I believe she is gone to the theatre, for what her nephew 
 have sent her a ticket, the negro telled me." 
 
 " At whatever hour she may come in I must see her," said 
 the new-comer, taking an easy-chair, into which he settled 
 himself. 
 
 "For me, I wait no longer," replied Vautrin. 
 
 And, having bowed, he prepared to leave. Then Madame 
 de Saint-Esteve appeared on the scene. Warned by the negro, 
 she had put on a bonnet and thrown a shawl over her shoulders, 
 to appear as if she had just come in. 
 
 "Gracious!" she exclaimed, with well-feigned surprise. 
 " Monsieur de Ronquerolles, here, at this hour! " 
 
 " Devil take you ! what do you mean by shouting out my 
 name?" said her customer in an undertone. 
 
 Vautrin, entering into the farce, turned back, and coming 
 up with an obsequious bow 
 
 " Monsieur le Marquis de Ronquerolles? " said he, " peer 
 of France, formerly her ambassador. I am glad to have 
 spent a minute with a statesman so well known a so perfect 
 diplomatist ! " 
 
 And with a respectful flourish he went to the door. 
 
 "What, baron, going so soon?" said the old woman, 
 trying to assume the tone and accent of a dowager of the 
 Faubourg Saint-Germain. 
 
 " Yes. Monsieur le Marquis has much to talk to you. I 
 shall return back to-morrow at eleven and be punctual." 
 
 "Very well; to-morrow at eleven," said his aunt. "But 
 I may tell you everything is going on swimmingly ; the lady 
 thinks you will be all she could wish." 
 
 Another bow and Vautrin was gone. 
 
 "Who in the world is that strange creature?" asked 
 Ronquerolles.
 
 Tim DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 397 
 
 "A Prussian baron for whom I am finding a wife," replied 
 the woman. "Well," she went on, "is there anything new 
 that you so pressingly want to speak to me?" 
 
 "Yes. And something which you ought to have known ! 
 The fair one left the sculptor's house this morning." 
 
 " Pooh ! " said Jacqueline. " Who told you that ?" 
 
 "My man, who has seen the maid-of-all-work." 
 
 " Hah ! Then you keep several irons hot ! " said she, glad 
 of an excuse for a quarrel. 
 
 " My good woman, you were making no way at all, and the 
 matter has been in hand a month " 
 
 "You seem to think that all you want is to be had ready- 
 made, and that an Italian is the same soft tinder as your Paris 
 sluts ! And then you are so liberal ! " 
 
 "Why, you have extracted more than three bank-notes for 
 a thousand francs already for your sham expenses." 
 
 "A perfect fortune ! And what about the engagement you 
 undertook to arrange ? " 
 
 " Can I open the Italian opera expressly for that woman ? 
 If she would have sung at the French house " 
 
 " There is Italian opera in London though not in Paris for 
 the moment, and the manager, as it happens, is over here in 
 search of z. prima. " 
 
 " So I saw in the papers, of course ; but what good could 
 I do by trying to deal with a bankrupt ? " 
 
 "Why, that is your best chance. You bolster up the man, 
 and then, out of gratitude " 
 
 "Oh, certainly!" said the marquis, shrugging his shoul- 
 ders. "A mere trifle of five hundred thousand francs what 
 la Torpille cost Nucingen ! " 
 
 " My good man, you want the woman or you don't. Es- 
 ther had tried the streets. This Italian is at least as hand- 
 some, and virtuous green seal ! Then she has a glorious 
 voice. You have forked out three thousand-franc bills ; 
 what is that, pray, to make such a noise about ? "
 
 398 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 " Did you or did you not undertake the business?" 
 " I did. And I ought to have it left entirely to me ; and 
 if I had supposed that I was going to be checked off by your 
 manservant, I would have asked you to apply elsewhere. I 
 do not care to have a partner in the game." 
 
 " But, you conceited old thing, but for that fellow, would 
 you have known what I have just told you ? " 
 " And did he tell you the rest of the story? " 
 " The rest of the story? What ? " said the marquis eagerly. 
 " Certainly. Who got the bird out of its nest, and in what 
 cage it may be at this present speaking." 
 "Then you know?" cried Ronquerolles. 
 " If I do not know, I can make a guess." 
 " Then, tell me," said he, in great excitement. 
 "You, who know every queer specimen, old or young, in 
 the Paris menagerie, must certainly have heard of Count Hal- 
 phertius, a Swede enormously rich, and just arrived." 
 " I never heard his name till this moment." 
 "You had better ask your servant ; he can tell you." 
 "Come, come; do not try finessing. This Count Hal- 
 
 phertius, you say ?" 
 
 "Is music-mad and as woman-mad as Nucingen." 
 "And you think that la Luigia will have flown that way?" 
 " I know that he was hovering round her ; he even charged 
 me to make her splendid offers, and if I had not pledged my- 
 self to you " 
 
 " Oh, I daresay; you are a dame of such lofty virtue ! " 
 "Is that the way you take it?" said Jacqueline Collin, 
 putting her hand in her pocket and pulling out a purse fairly 
 well filled with notes. " You can take your money back, my 
 boy, and I only beg you to trouble me no further." 
 
 "Get along, you wrong-headed creature," replied the mar- 
 quis, seeing three thousand-franc notes held out to him. 
 " What I have given, you know I never take back." 
 
 " And I never keep what I have not earned. You are done,
 
 THE DEPU7'Y FOR ARCIS. 399 
 
 Monsieur le Marquis. I am working for Count Halphertius; 
 I brought away the lady ; she is hidden here, in my rooms, 
 and to-morrow morning she and the Swede set out for Lon- 
 don, where a splendid engagement awaits her ! " 
 
 " No, no, I do not believe that you would cheat me," said 
 Ronquerolles, fancying that the fact thus fired at him point- 
 blank was really the sarcasm it appeared. "We are old 
 friends, you know ; pocket those bank-notes, and tell me hon- 
 estly what you think of this rich foreigner as a rival." 
 
 "Well, I have told you. He is enormously rich; he will 
 stick at no sacrifice ; and I know that he has had several talks 
 with Madame Nourrisson." 
 
 "Then you learned all those facts from that old carrion?" 
 
 " Madame Nourrisson is my friend," said Madame de Saint- 
 Esteve, with much dignity. " We may be competing to gain 
 the same prize, but that is no reason for her being evil-spoken 
 of in my presence." 
 
 " Did she tell you at least where this Count Halphertius is 
 living?" 
 
 " No. But I know that he was to start for London yester- 
 day. That is why I ran alongside before I put the flea in 
 your ear." 
 
 "It is very evident the Italian woman is gone off to join 
 him." 
 
 "You may very likely be right." 
 
 "A pretty mess you have made of it ! " said Ronquerolles 
 as he rose. 
 
 "Indeed!" said Jacqueline insolently. "And were you 
 never checkmated in your diplomatic business?" 
 
 "Do you suppose you will get any more exact informa- 
 tion?" 
 
 " We will see," said she. It was her formula for promising 
 her assistance. 
 
 "But no underhand tricks," cried the marquis. "You 
 know I do not understand a joke."
 
 400 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "Will the case be brought before the Chamber of Peers?" 
 said Madame de Saint-Esteve, who was not a woman to be 
 easily daunted. 
 
 Without answering this piece of insolence, Ronquerolles 
 only remarked : 
 
 "You might perhaps desire your nephew to help in your 
 inquiries." 
 
 "Yes," said Jacqueline; "I think it would not be amiss 
 to tell him something about the matter without naming you, 
 of course." 
 
 "And if at any time I can be of use to him with his chief, 
 you know, I am as stanch a friend as I am a dangerous 
 foe." 
 
 Thereupon Madame de Saint-Esteve and her client parted, 
 and as soon as the enemy's coach-wheels were heard in the 
 distance, the virtuous matron had no occasion to go in search 
 of her nephew. He had gone tound by a back passage, and 
 come to wait in the room behind the drawing-room, whence 
 he had overheard everything. 
 
 " You tricked him neatly ! " said Vautrin. " We will con- 
 trive by little scraps of information to keep his head in the 
 trough for a few days longer ; but now go at once and fetch 
 our ' Helen,' for unless it is too late you ought to introduce 
 us." 
 
 "Be easy; I will settle that," said his aunt, who a minute 
 later came back with the handsome housekeeper. 
 
 "Signora Luigia Monsieur le Comte Halphertius," said 
 she, introducing them to each other. 
 
 " Signora," said Vautrin in the most respectful tone, "my 
 friend Madame de Saint-Esteve tells me you will permit me 
 to take some interest for your affairs " 
 
 "Madame de Saint-Esteve," replied Luigia, who had 
 learned to speak French perfectly, " has spoken of you as a 
 man with a great knowledge of art." 
 
 " That is to say, I am passionately devoted to it, and my
 
 THE JDEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 401 
 
 fortune allows me to do all I can to encourage it. You, mad- 
 ame, have a splendid gift." 
 
 "That remains to be proved, if I am so fortunate as to get 
 a chance of being heard." 
 
 " You may come out when you choose. I have seen the 
 manager of the Italians theatre in London ; he shall hear you 
 to-morrow it is settled." 
 
 " I am deeply grateful for the trouble you have been so good 
 as to take ; but before accepting your kind offices, I wish to 
 come to a clear understanding." 
 
 " I love to be frank," said Vautrin. 
 
 "I am poor and alone in the world," said Luigia; "I am 
 considered good-looking, and at any rate I am young. It be- 
 hooves me, therefore, to be circumspect in accepting the eager 
 benevolence that is shown me. In France, I am told, it is 
 rarely disinterested." 
 
 "Disinterestedness," said Vautrin, " 1 shall promise. But 
 as to hindering tongues of talking I shall not promise." 
 
 "Oh ! as for talk," said his aunt, " that you may make up 
 your mind to. Monsieur le Comte's age even will not stop 
 their wagging for, in fact, a younger man is more likely to 
 
 devote himself to a woman without any idea of In Paris 
 
 your old bachelors are all reprobates ! " 
 
 " I shall not have ideas," said Vautrin. " If I am so happy 
 to be of use for the signora, which I admire her talent so 
 much, she shall let me be her friend ; but if I fail in my re- 
 spect to her, she shall be independent for that talent, and 
 she shall turn me out of her door like a servant that shall rob 
 her." 
 
 "And I hear, Monsieur le Comte, that you have already 
 been kind enough to inquire about an engagement for me? " 
 
 "It is almost settled," said Vautrin. "To-morrow you 
 shall sing ; and if your voice shall satisfy the manager of the 
 Italians in London, it is fifty thousand francs for the rest of 
 the season." 
 26
 
 402 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 "It is a dream," said Luigia. "And perhaps when he 
 shall have heard me " 
 
 " He will be of the same opinion as that Monsieur Jacques 
 Bricheteau," replied Jacqueline. "He said you had sixty 
 thousand francs in your voice so you are still robbed of ten 
 thousand francs." 
 
 " Oh ! as to his promise to pay fifty thousand francs as soon 
 as he has heard you," said Vautrin, " I have no fear. Then 
 to pay them that is another thing. He wants money, they 
 say. But we will have the agreement made by some clever 
 man, Madame de Saint-Esteve shall find him; and the signora 
 shall not have to think about the money that is her friend's 
 concern. She shall think only of her parts." 
 
 Vautrin, as he said: "Then to pay them that is another 
 
 thing " had managed to touch his aunt's foot with his 
 
 own. She understood. 
 
 "On the contrary," said she, "I believe he will pay very 
 punctually. He will not care to quarrel with us, my dear 
 count. It is not every day that you come across a man who, 
 to secure an engagement, is ready to risk a sum of a hundred 
 thousand crowns." 
 
 " What, monsieur ! you are prepared to make such a sacri- 
 fice for my sake ! I can never allow it " 
 
 " My good Madame de Saint-Esteve," said Vautrin, "you 
 are a tell-tale. I am risking nothing ; I have looked into the 
 matter, and at the end of the season I shall have my benefits ; 
 beside, I am v-e-ery rich, I am a widower, I have not children ; 
 and if part of that money shall be lost, I shall not for that 
 hang myself." 
 
 " Nevertheless, monsieur, I will not permit such a piece of 
 folly." 
 
 " Then you do not want me for your friend, and you are 
 afraid you shall be compromised if I help you? " 
 
 " In Italy, monsieur, such a protector is quite recognized ; 
 ancj so long as there is nothing wrong, nobody cares for ap-
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 403 
 
 pearances ; but I cannot entertain the idea of allowing you to 
 risk so large a sum on my account." 
 
 "If it were a risk, no. But the risk is so small that your 
 engagement and the hundred thousand crowns are two sepa- 
 rate things, and I shall enter into partnership with the director 
 even if you refuse." 
 
 " Come, come, pretty one," said Jacqueline, " you must 
 make up your mind to owe this service to my friend Hal- 
 phertius ; you know that if I thought it was likely to carry you 
 further than you think quite right, I should have nothing to 
 do with it. Talk it over with your confessor, and you will 
 see what he says about it." 
 
 " I would in Italy ; but in France I should not consult him 
 about a theatrical engagement." 
 
 "Well, then, signora," said Vautrin, in the kindest way, 
 "consider your career as an artist. It lies before you, a 
 splendid road ! And when every paper in Europe is full of 
 the Diva Luigia, there will be a good many people greatly 
 vexed to think that they failed to recognize so great an artist, 
 and to keep on friendly terms with her." 
 
 Vautrin knew men's minds too well not to have calculated 
 the effect of this allusion to the secret sorrow of the Italian 
 girl's heart. The poor woman's eyes flashed, and she gasped 
 for breath. 
 
 " Monsieur le Comte," said she, "may I really trust you?" 
 
 " Undoubtedly ; and all the more so, because if I spend the 
 money, I expect to get some little return." 
 
 "And that is ?" said Luigia. 
 
 "That you show me some kind feeling; that the world 
 shall believe me to be happier than I really shall be; and that 
 you do nothing to deprive me of that little sop to my pride, 
 with which I promise to be content." 
 
 " I do not quite understand," said the Italian, knitting her 
 brows. 
 
 "And yet nothing can be plainer," said Madame de Saint-
 
 404 THE DEPUTY FOR ARCIS. 
 
 Esteve. " My friend here does not wish to look a fool ; and 
 if while he is visibly your protector you were to take up with 
 your deputy again, or fall in love with somebody else, his 
 part, as you may understand, would not be a handsome one." 
 
 "I shall never be anything to the count but a grateful and 
 sincere friend," said Luigia. "But I shall be no more for 
 any other man especially for the man of whom you speak. 
 I did not break up my life, dear madame, without due con- 
 sideration." 
 
 "But you see, my dear," said the old woman, thus showing 
 a profound knowledge of the human heart, " that the men of 
 whom we declare that we have washed our hands are often 
 just the most dangerous." 
 
 "You speak as a Frenchwoman, madame," said the Italian. 
 
 " Then to-morrow," said Vautrin, " I have your permission 
 to come for you and take you to meet this manager? Of 
 course, you know many of the parts in stock operas?" 
 
 "I know all the parts taken by Malibran and Pasta," said 
 Luigia, who had been studying indefatigably for two years 
 past. 
 
 "And you will not change your mind in the course of the 
 night?" said Vautrin insinuatingly. 
 
 " Here is my hand on it," said Luigia, with artless frank- 
 ness. " I do not know whether bargains are ratified so in 
 France." 
 
 "Ah, Diva, Diva ! " cried Vautrin, with the most burlesque 
 caricature of dilettante admiration ; and he lightly touched 
 the fair hand he held with his lips. 
 
 When we remember the terrible secret of this man's past 
 life, it must be admitted that the Human Comedy nay, I 
 should say, Human Life has some strange doublings. 
 
 The success of the singer's trial was far beyond Vautrin's 
 expectations. The hearers were unanimously in favor of 
 Luigia's engagement. Nay, if they had listened to Sir Francis 
 Drake, it would have been signed then and there, and the
 
 THE DEPUTY FOR AXCIS. 40* 
 
 singer would have set out the same day for London, where, 
 owing to la Serboni's illness, her majesty's theatre was in 
 great straits. 
 
 As he was starting for England, he said to his aunt 
 
 "To-day is the ijth of May ; at seven in the evening on 
 the 2ist, I shall be back in Paris with Sir Francis Drake. 
 Meanwhile take care that our protege is provided with a 
 suitable outfit. No absurd magnificence, as if you were dress- 
 ing up a courtesan, but handsome things in the best style, not 
 loud or too startling to the signora's good taste. In short, 
 just what you would buy for your daughter, if you had one, 
 and she were going to be married. 
 
 "For that same day, the 2ist, order a dinner for fifteen 
 from Chevet. The party will consist of the leaders of the 
 press; your client Bixiou will get them together. You, of 
 course, as mistress of the house; but I entreat you, dress 
 quietly nothing to scare the guests. Then I must have a 
 clever man of business to look through the papers before we 
 sign, and a pianist to accompany the Diva, who shall sing us 
 something after dinner. You must prepare her to give a taste 
 of her best quality to all those trumpeters of fame. Sir 
 Francis Drake and I make the party up to fifteen. I need 
 not say that it is your friend Count Halphertius who gives the 
 dinner at your house, because he has none of his own in Paris ; 
 and everything is to be of the best, elegant and refined, that 
 it may be talked about everywhere." 
 
 After giving these instructions, Vautrin got into a post- 
 chaise, knowing Jacqueline Collin well enough to feel sure 
 that his orders would be carried out with intelligence and 
 punctuality. 
 
 END OF PART I.
 
 UCSR LIBRARY
 
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