Nothing could be simpler than the apartment of the Vicomte de Mauleon, in
the second story of a quiet old-fashioned street. It had been furnished
at small cost out of his savings. Yet, on the whole, it evinced the good
taste of a man who had once been among the exquisites of the polite
world. You felt that you were in the apartment of a gentleman, and a
gentleman of somewhat severe tastes, and of sober matured years. He was
sitting the next morning in the room which he used as a private study.
Along the walls were arranged dwarf bookcases, as yet occupied by few
books, most of them books of reference, others cheap editions of the
French classics in prose--no poets, no romance-writers, with a few Latin
authors also in prose,--Cicero, Sallust, Tacitus. He was engaged at his
desk writing,--a book with its leaves open before him, "Paul Louis
Courier," that model of political irony and masculine style of
composition. There was a ring at his door-bell. The Vicomte kept no
servant. He rose and answered the summons. He recoiled a few paces on
recognizing his visitor in M. Hennequin.
The _Prefet_ this time did not withdraw his hand; he extended it, but it
was with a certain awkwardness and timidity. "I thought it my duty to
call on you, Vicomte, thus early, having already seen M. Enguerrand de
Vandemar. He has shown me the copies of the _pieces_ which were
inspected by your distinguished kinsmen, and which completely clear you
of the charge that--grant me your pardon when I say--seemed to me still
to remain unanswered when I had the honour to meet you last night."
"It appears to me, Monsieur Hennequin, that you, as an _avocat_ so
eminent, might have convinced yourself very readily of that fact."
"Monsieur le Vicomte, I was in Switzerland with my wife at the time of
the unfortunate affair in which you were involved."
"But when you returned to Paris, you might perhaps have deigned to make
inquiries so affecting the honour of one you had called a friend, and for
whom you had professed"--De Mauleon paused; he disdained to add--"an
eternal gratitude."
Hennequin coloured slightly, but replied with self-possession.
"I certainly did inquire. I did hear that the charge against you with
regard to the abstraction of the jewels was withdrawn, that you were
therefore acquitted by law; but I heard also that society did not acquit
you, and that, finding this, you had quitted France. Pardon me again, no
one would listen to me when I attempted to speak on your behalf but now
that so many years have elapsed, that the story is imperfectly
remembered, that relations so high-placed receive you so cordially,--now
I rejoice to think that you will have no difficulty in regaining a social
position never really lost, but for a time resigned."
"I am duly sensible of the friendly joy you express. I was reading the
other day in a lively author some pleasant remarks on the effects of
_medisance_ or calumny upon our impressionable Parisian public. 'If,'
says the writer, 'I found myself accused of having put the two towers of
Notre Dame into my waistcoat-pocket I should not dream of defending
myself; I should take to flight. And,' adds the writer, 'if my best
friend were under the same accusation, I should be so afraid of being
considered his accomplice that I should put my best friend outside the
door.' Perhaps, Monsieur Hennequin, I was seized with the first alarm.
Why should I blame you if seized with the second? Happily, this good
city of Paris has its reactions. And you can now offer me your hand.
Paris has by this time discovered that the two towers of Notre Dame are
not in my pocket."
There was a pause. De Mauleon had resettled himself at his desk, bending
over his papers, and his manner seemed to imply that he considered the
conversation at an end.
But a pang of shame, of remorse, of tender remembrance, shot across the
heart of the decorous, worldly, self-seeking man, who owed all that he
now was to the _ci-devant vaurien_ before him. Again he stretched forth
his hand, and this time grasped De Mauleon's warmly. "Forgive me," he
said, feelingly and hoarsely; "forgive me, I was to blame. By character,
and perhaps by the necessities of my career, I am over-timid to public
opinion, public scandal. Forgive me. Say if in anything now I can
requite, though but slightly, the service I owe you."
De Mauleon looked steadily at the Prefet, and said slowly, "Would you
serve me in turn? Are you sincere?"
The Prefet hesitated a moment, then answered firmly, "Yes."
"Well, then, what I ask of you is a frank opinion,--not as lawyer, not as
Prefet, but as a man who knows the present state of French society. Give
that opinion without respect to my feelings one way or other. Let it
emanate solely from your practised judgment."
"Be it so," said Hennequin, wondering what was to come. De Mauleon
resumed, "As you may remember, during my former career I had no political
ambition. I did not meddle with politics. In the troubled times that
immediately succeeded the fall of Louis Philippe I was but an epicurean
looker-on. Grant that, so far as admission to the salons is concerned,
I shall encounter no difficulty in regaining position; but as regards the
Chamber, public life, a political career, can I have my fair opening
under the Empire? You pause. Answer as you have promised, frankly."
"The difficulties in the way of a political career would be very great."
"Insuperable?"
"I fear so. Of course, in my capacity of _Prefet_, I have no small
influence in my department in support of a Government candidate. But I
do not think that the Imperial Government could, at this time especially,
in which it must be very cautious in selecting its candidates, be induced
to recommend you. The affair of the jewels would be raked up; your
vindication disputed, denied; the fact that for so many years you have
acquiesced in that charge without taking steps to refute it; your
antecedents, even apart from that charge; your present want of property
(M. Enguerrand tells me your income is but moderate); the absence of all
previous repute in public life. No; relinquish the idea of political
contest,--it would expose you to inevitable mortifications, to a failure
that would even jeopardize the admission to the salons which you are now
gaining. You could not be a Government candidate."
"Granted. I may have no desire to be one; but an opposition candidate,
one of the Liberal party?"
"As an Imperialist," said Hennequin, smiling gravely, "and holding the
office I do, it would not become me to encourage a candidate against the
Emperor's Government. But speaking with the frankness you solicit, I
should say that your chances there are infinitely worse. The Opposition
are in a pitiful minority,--the most eminent of the Liberals can scarcely
gain seats for themselves; great local popularity or property, high
established repute for established patriotism, or proved talents of
oratory and statesmanship, are essential qualifications for a seat in the
Opposition; and even these do not suffice for a third of the persons who
possess them. Be again what you were before,--the hero of salons remote
from the turbulent vulgarity of politics."
"I am answered. Thank you once more. The service I rendered you once is
requited now."
"No, indeed,--no; but will you dine with me quietly today, and allow me
to present to you my wife and two children, born since we parted? I say
to-day, for to-morrow I return to my _Prefecture_."
"I am infinitely obliged by your invitation, but to-day I dine with the
Comte de Beauvilliers to meet some of the _Corps Diplomatique_. I must
make good my place in the salons, since you so clearly show me that I
have no chance of one in the Legislature--unless--"
"Unless what?"
"Unless there happen one of those revolutions in which the scum comes
uppermost."
"No fear of that. The subterranean barracks and railway have ended
forever the rise of the scum, the reign of the _canaille_ and its
barricades."
"Adieu, my dear Hennequin. My respectful _hommages a Madame_."
After that day the writing of Pierre Firmin in "Le Sens Commun," though
still keeping within the pale of the law, became more decidedly hostile
to the Imperial system, still without committing their author to any
definite programme of the sort of government that should succeed it.