morning, at about half-past eight, he sent a message for Du Poizat
to come to him. The prefect arrived with a cigar in his mouth, and
seemed in high spirits. They talked and joked together as they had
done in former days, when they had lodged at Madame Correur's, and had
roused each other with playful slaps. However, while the minister was
washing, he questioned the prefect about the neighbourhood, asking for
particulars of the different officials and their various desires and
vanities. He wanted to have a pleasant remark ready for each of them.
'Oh, don't worry yourself,' replied Du Poizat, with a laugh; 'I will
prompt you.'
Then he gave him some information about the different people with whom
he would come into contact. Rougon occasionally made him repeat what
he said in order to impress it upon his memory. At ten o'clock, M.
Kahn made his appearance. They all three had _déjeuner_ together, and
finally arranged the details of the ceremony. The prefect would make
a speech, as would also M. Kahn. Rougon would follow the latter; but
they considered that a fourth speech would be desirable. For a moment
they thought of the mayor, but Du Poizat declared that he was a stupid
fellow, and advised the selection of the chief surveyor of bridges and
highways, to whom the proceedings of the day naturally seemed to point,
though M. Kahn was afraid of this official's spirit of criticism. As
they got up from table, M. Kahn took the minister aside to tell him of
the points which he hoped he would bring forward in his speech.
It had been arranged that the party should meet at the prefecture at
half-past ten. The mayor and his assessor arrived together. The former
stammered forth his unbounded regret that he had been absent from Niort
on the previous evening, while the latter affectedly hoped that his
excellency had slept well, and had quite recovered from his fatigue.
Then the President of the Civil Tribunal, the public prosecutor and
his two assessors, and the chief surveyor of bridges and highways made
their appearance. They were quickly followed by the receiver-general,
the comptroller of the direct taxes, and the registrar of the
department. Several of these officials were accompanied by their wives.
The wife of the head-master of the college, the beautiful blonde, wore
a most effective sky-blue dress, and attracted great attention. She
begged his excellency to excuse her husband, who had been prevented
from coming by an attack of gout, which had seized him soon after his
return home on the previous evening. However, other personages were
arriving; the colonel of the seventy-eighth regiment of the Line, which
was stationed at Niort; the President of the Tribunal of Commerce,
the two justices of the peace, the conservator of rivers and forests,
accompanied by his three daughters, with various municipal councillors
and delegates from the consultative Chamber of Arts and Manufactures,
the Statistical Society, and the Council of the Board of Arbitration
between employers and employed.
The reception was held in the large drawing-room of the prefecture.
Du Poizat made the presentations, and the minister received all the
guests with smiling bows as though they were old friends. He exhibited
wonderful knowledge about each of them. He spoke to the public
prosecutor of a speech lately made by him in the course of a trial for
adultery; he asked the comptroller of taxes, in sympathetic tones,
after the health of his wife, who had been laid up for the last two
months; he detained the colonel of the seventy-eighth for a moment to
let him see that he was not unacquainted with the brilliant progress
made by his son at Saint Cyr; he talked about boots to a municipal
councillor, who owned a great boot-making establishment; while with
the registrar, who was an enthusiastic archæologist, he discussed a
druidical stone which had been discovered during the previous week.
Whenever he hesitated, thinking of the right thing to say, Du Poizat
came to his assistance and cleverly prompted him in a whisper.
As the President of the Tribunal of Commerce came into the room and
bowed to him, Rougon exclaimed, in an affable voice: 'Ah! are you
alone, Monsieur le Président? At all events I trust that we shall have
the pleasure of seeing your wife at the banquet this evening----'
He stopped short, noticing the expression of embarrassment which came
over the faces around him. Du Poizat, moreover, nudged his elbow.
Then he recollected that the President of the Tribunal of Commerce
was living apart from his wife in consequence of certain scandals. He
had made a mistake. He had thought that he was addressing the other
president, the chief judge of the Civil Tribunal. However, he was in
no way disconcerted. He still smiled; and, making no reference to his
unfortunate remark, continued, with a shrewd air: 'I have a pleasant
piece of news for you, monsieur. I know that my colleague, the Minister
of Justice, has put your name down for the cross of the Legion of
Honour. Perhaps I ought not to have mentioned it, but you will keep my
secret.'
The President of the Tribunal of Commerce turned quite scarlet. He
almost choked with joy. His friends pressed round him to congratulate
him, while Rougon made a mental note of this cross--which he had so
opportunely thought of bestowing--so that he might not forget to
mention the matter to his colleague. It was the betrayed husband that
he was decorating. Du Poizat smiled with admiration.
There were now some fifty people in the drawing-room. They still waited
on; but the faces of many of them were beginning to show signs of
weariness.
'Time is flying; we might perhaps make a start,' said the minister.
But the prefect bent towards him, and explained that the deputy, M.
Kahn's former opponent, had not yet arrived. Presently, however, this
gentleman made his appearance, perspiring profusely. His watch had
stopped, he said, and he had been quite put out of his reckoning.
Then, wishing to let the company know of his visit on the previous
evening, he went on to remark, in a loud voice: 'As I was saying to
your excellency last night----' And afterwards he walked off alongside
of Rougon and informed him that he intended to return to Paris on the
following morning. The Easter recess had terminated on the previous
Tuesday, and the Chamber was again sitting. He had considered it his
duty, however, to remain for a few days longer at Niort in order to
welcome his excellency to the department.
All the guests trooped into the courtyard of the prefecture, where ten
carriages, drawn up on either side of the steps, were awaiting them.
The minister, the deputy, the prefect and the mayor got into the first
barouche. The others installed themselves as hierarchically as they
could. There were two more barouches as well as three victorias, and
some waggonettes with seats for six or eight persons. The procession
formed up in the Rue de la Préfecture, and started off at a gentle
trot. The ladies' ribbons streamed in the air, and here and there their
skirts protruded out of the carriages, while the gentlemen's black
hats shone brightly in the sun. The procession had to pass through a
considerable section of the town; and, owing to the rough pavement of
the narrow streets, the vehicles jolted dreadfully as they passed on
with a crash like that of iron. And at every door and every window were
townsfolk who bowed in silence while looking for his excellency, and
experiencing much surprise when they saw his plain frock-coat beside
the prefect's gold-laced uniform.
On leaving the town, the procession passed along a wide promenade
planted with magnificent trees. It was a warm, pleasant, April day,
with a clear sky full of sunlight. The road, which was straight and
level, lay between gardens gay with blossoming lilacs and apricot
trees. Presently, however, cultivated fields spread out, dotted here
and there with copses.
'That's a spinning mill, isn't it?' asked Rougon, towards whom the
prefect had just bent. 'A mill which belongs to you, I believe,' he
continued, addressing the mayor, and calling his attention to a red
brick building on the river bank. 'I have heard of your new system
of wool carding. I will try to find time to go and inspect all those
wonders.'
Then he began to ask some questions respecting the motive power of
the river. In his opinion, said he, hydraulic power, under favourable
conditions, possessed enormous advantages. He quite astonished the
mayor by the amount of technical knowledge he displayed. Meantime the
other carriages followed on in somewhat irregular fashion. Snatches
of conversation, bristling with figures, could be heard amidst the
jog-trot of the horses. Then a rippling laugh attracted everyone's
attention. It came from the head-master's wife, whose sun-shade had
just flown away and fallen on to a heap of stones.
'You have a farm about here, haven't you?' said Rougon, turning
to the deputy with a smile. 'That's it on the hill, if I'm not
mistaken. What splendid meadows! I know that you interest yourself in
cattle-breeding, and won several prizes at the last shows.'
Then they began to talk about cattle. Steeped in the sunshine, the
meadows looked like soft green velvet. Wild flowers were springing
up all over them. Athwart the curtains of tall poplar trees one had
glimpses of charming bits of landscape. However, an old woman leading
an ass came along and was obliged to stop at the roadside to let the
procession pass. The ass, frightened by the sight of so many carriages
with panels gleaming in the sunshine, began to bray; but the gaily
dressed ladies and begloved gentlemen remained perfectly serious.
The procession now climbed a slight hill on the left, and then
descended again. They had reached the scene of the ceremony. It was a
sort of _cul-de-sac_, a hollow gap walled in by hills on three sides.
Nothing broke upon the prospect save the gaping ruins of a couple
of windmills. And in this hollow, in the centre of a patch of grass
land, a tent of grey canvas, with a wide crimson border, had been set
up; its four sides were decorated with trophies of flags. A thousand
sight-seers, middle-class folks and peasants whose curiosity had
induced them to walk over, had taken up position in the shade on the
right-hand side, where one of the hills rose up like an amphitheatre.
A detachment of the seventy-eighth regiment was ranged in front of the
tent, opposite the Niort firemen, whose fine bearing was much noticed;
while a gang of navvies in new blouses, with engineers in frock-coats
at their head, stood waiting at the edge of the patch of grass. As soon
as the carriages appeared, the Niort Philharmonic Society, composed
of amateur instrumentalists, began to play the overture to 'La Dame
Blanche.'
'Long live his excellency! cried a few persons whose voices were
drowned by the sound of the instruments.
Rougon alighted from his carriage, raised his eyes, and looked about
the hollow in which he found himself, vexed to find the spot so small,
so shut in, for this seemed to detract from the impressiveness of the
ceremony. He stood for a moment on the grass, waiting for some one to
receive him. At last M. Kahn hastened up. He had left the prefecture
immediately after _déjeuner_, and had just been to examine the mine
which his excellency was to fire, to see if all were right. It was he
who conducted the minister into the tent; and then the guests followed.
There was some little confusion for a moment; and Rougon began to ask
for particulars. 'It is yonder, then, in that cutting, that the tunnel
is to commence?'
'Exactly,' replied M. Kahn. 'The first mine has been laid in that
reddish rock where your excellency sees a flag flying.'
The hill-side at the end of the hollow had been broken up by picks till
its rocky base was disclosed to view. Several uprooted trees were lying
about amongst the excavations, and the cutting was strewn with foliage.
M. Kahn pointed out the course the line would take. It was marked by a
double row of stakes stretching away amid grass and paths and thickets.
It was a pretty piece of quiet country that they were going to rip up.
However, the guests and officials had by this time collected in the
tent. Some curious sight-seers in the rear were bending forward
to glance through the openings, and the instrumentalists of the
Philharmonic Society was just finishing the overture to 'La Dame
Blanche.'
'Monsieur le ministre,' suddenly exclaimed a shrill voice which
vibrated amidst the silence, 'it is my privilege to be the first to
thank your excellency for having so kindly accepted the invitation
which we ventured to address to you. The department of Deux-Sèvres will
ever preserve a grateful recollection----'
It was Du Poizat who had begun to speak. He stood some three yards
away from Rougon; and at the finish of certain sentences they slightly
bowed to one another. The prefect went on speaking for a good quarter
of an hour. He reminded the minister of the brilliant fashion in which
he had represented the department in the Legislative Assembly. The
town of Niort had then inscribed his name in its annals as that of a
benefactor, and longed for any occasion upon which it might show its
gratitude. Every now and then the prefect's voice was quite lost in the
air, and only his gestures, an even, regular working of his right arm,
could be seen; and then the crowd ranged on the hill-side gave their
attention to the gold embroidery on his sleeve, which flashed brightly
in the sunshine.
Afterwards, however, M. Kahn stepped into the middle of the tent.
He had a very deep voice, and seemed to bark out some of his words.
The hill-side gave an echo which repeated snatches of sentences upon
which he lingered too complacently. He spoke of all the long efforts,
studies and toilsome steps which had devolved upon him during nearly
four years in his struggle to obtain a new line for the district. Now,
every kind of prosperity would rain down upon the department. The
fields would be fertilised; the factories would double their output;
and commerce would make its way into the humblest villages. To hear him
talk, it might have been supposed that Deux-Sèvres was about to become
a sort of fairy-land, with rivers of milk and enchanted groves, where
tables laden with good things would await every passer-by. All at once,
however, he affected an exaggerated modesty. They owed him, said he,
no gratitude whatever. He himself could never have carried out such a
vast scheme without the high patronage of which he was so proud. Then,
turning towards Rougon, he called him 'the illustrious minister, the
promoter and supporter of every useful and noble idea.' In conclusion,
he dwelt upon the financial advantages of the scheme. At the Bourse,
he said, people were fighting for the shares. Happy were those who
had been able to invest their money in an enterprise with which his
Excellency, the Minister of the Interior had been willing to connect
his name!
'Hear! hear!' cried some of the guests.
The mayor and several of the officials grasped M. Kahn's hand. He
affected to be greatly moved. Outside there were bursts of cheering,
and the bandsmen of the Philharmonic Society considered it proper to
strike up a quick march. Thereupon the mayor's assessor sprang forward
and sent a fireman to silence them. In the meantime, the chief surveyor
of bridges and highways was hesitating and repeating that he had
prepared no speech for the occasion. However, as the prefect continued
to press him, he gave way. At this M. Kahn seemed very uneasy, and
murmured to Du Poizat: 'You've made a mistake. He's sure to say
something nasty.'
The chief surveyor was a tall, lean man, who considered himself endowed
with great powers of irony. He spoke slowly, and gave a twist to his
mouth every time he delivered himself of one of his epigrammatic
thrusts. He commenced his speech by overwhelming M. Kahn with praises.
Then the unpleasant remarks began; and he briefly criticised the
projected railway with all the contempt of a government engineer for
the plans and designs of a private one. He referred to the opposition
scheme of the Western Company, which had contemplated carrying the
line past Thouars, and he laid stress, without seeming to do so
maliciously, upon the fact that the loop in M. Kahn's plan would
benefit the blast-furnaces at Bressuire. There was nothing obviously
bitter in what he said, but amidst his pleasant sentences there was
many a little stab which could be felt only by the initiated. He
became, however, more cruel towards the end of his speech, when he
seemed to regret that 'the illustrious minister' should have run
the risk of compromising himself by countenancing an undertaking
whose financial prospects were a source of disquietude to all men of
experience. Enormous sums of money would be wanted, he said, as well
as the greatest integrity and most perfect disinterestedness. Then,
in conclusion, he gave his mouth a twist and spoke in this fashion:
'That these fears, however, are quite chimerical we can have no doubt,
when we see at the head of the undertaking a man whose wealth and high
commercial probity are so well known throughout the department.'
A murmur of approval ran through the audience; though a few people
glanced at M. Kahn, who with pale lips was endeavouring to smile.
Rougon had listened with his eyes half closed, as though he were
inconvenienced by the brightness of the light. When he opened them
again they were black and stern. His original intention had been to
make a very brief speech indeed; but he now felt that he had to defend
one of his own band. With three steps he reached the edge of the tent,
and there, with a sweeping gesture that seemed to call upon all France
to listen to him, he began: 'Gentlemen, let me in imagination overleap
these hills which surround us and embrace the whole empire at one
glance, and thus exalt the ceremony which has brought us together by
making it a festival of industrial and commercial labour. At this very
moment, while I am now addressing you, from the north to the south of
the country canals are being excavated, railway lines are being laid
down, mountains are being tunnelled, bridges are being built----'
Perfect silence had fallen all around. Not a sound broke upon the
speaker's words save the rustling of the trees or the grating of some
river-lock in the distance. The firemen striving to bear themselves
as martially as the soldiers beneath the hot sun, cast side-long
glances at the minister, without turning their necks. The spectators
on the hill-side, however, were taking their ease. Ladies had spread
their handkerchiefs on the ground and were sitting on them; and two
gentlemen, whom the sun was reaching, had just opened their wives'
parasols. And Rougon's voice gradually grew louder and louder. He
seemed ill at ease in that little hollow. It was as if the narrow
valley did not afford him sufficient space for his gesticulations. As
he threw his hands energetically in front of him, it seemed as if he
desired to sweep away all obstructions and open out a wider horizon.
Twice he gazed into the air as if seeking space, but nothing met his
eyes on the hill tops save the gutted ruins of the windmills which were
splitting in the sun.
He had taken up M. Kahn's text and was enlarging upon it. It was not,
he said, the department of Deux-Sèvres alone that was about to enter
upon an era of wonderful prosperity, but the whole of France, thanks
to the branch line from Niort to Angers. For ten minutes he recounted
the innumerable advantages which would rain down upon the people. He
even went so far as to allude to the hand of God. Then he began to
reply to what had been said by the chief surveyor, though he in no way
discussed it or even referred to it. He simply said the direct opposite
of what the surveyor had said, dwelling for a long time upon M. Kahn's
devotion, and praising his great modesty and disinterestedness and
nobility of mind. The financial aspect of the matter, he said, caused
him no uneasiness whatever; and he smiled and seemed to be sweeping up
big piles of gold with a rapid movement of his hands.
An outburst of cheering quite drowned his voice.
'One word in conclusion, gentlemen,' he said, after wiping his lips
with his handkerchief. That one word lasted for a quarter of an hour.
He was growing excited, and went further than he had meant to do.
Indeed, in his peroration, while speaking of the grandeur of the reign,
and extolling the Emperor's great ability, he even hinted that his
Majesty would bestow his patronage in a special manner upon the branch
line from Niort to Angers. It was as if the undertaking had become a
State affair.
However, three great bursts of cheers rang out. A flight of crows,
skimming aloft across the cloudless sky, took fright with much
noisy croaking. Immediately the minister's speech had finished, the
Philharmonic Society had begun to play again, a signal being given
from the tent; while all the ladies sprang up, anxious to miss nothing
of the ceremony. The guests were smiling around Rougon with delighted
faces. The mayor, the public prosecutor, and the colonel of the
seventy-eighth infantry were wagging their heads approvingly while
listening to the deputy, who expressed his admiration of his excellency
in tones which, although subdued, were yet loud enough to reach the
minister's ears. However, it was the chief surveyor of bridges and
highways who manifested the greatest enthusiasm. He displayed an
extraordinary amount of obsequiousness, and seemed quite thunderstruck
by the great man's magnificent language.
'Would your excellency do me the honour to follow me?' now asked M.
Kahn, whose fat face was perspiring with pleasure.
The concluding part of the ceremony was at hand. His excellency was
about to fire the first mine. Orders had just been given to the gang of
navvies in new blouses. The men preceded the minister and M. Kahn into
the cutting and drew themselves up in two lines at the far end. Then a
foreman who held a piece of lighted rope presented it to Rougon. The
officials, who had remained in the tent, craned their heads forward.
Everyone waited anxiously. The Philharmonic Society was still playing.
'Will it make very much noise?' the head-master's wife inquired, with
an uneasy smile, of one of the public prosecutor's assessors.
'That depends upon the nature of the rock,' hastily interposed the
President of the Tribunal of Commerce, who at once entered upon various
mineralogical explanations.
'I shall stuff up my ears,' murmured the eldest of the three daughters
of the conservator of rivers and forests.
Rougon felt that he was looking very foolish, standing in the midst of
all these people with the burning rope in his hand. Up above, on the
hill crests, the ruined windmills were creaking louder than ever in the
warm sunlight. Then he hastened to light the fuse, the end of which,
lying between two stones, was pointed out to him by the foreman. One of
the navvies immediately blew a long blast on a horn, and all the gang
hurried off, while M. Kahn hastily pulled his excellency back into the
tent, manifesting much anxious solicitude for his safety.
'Well, why doesn't it go off?' stammered the registrar, who was
blinking nervously, and would very much have liked to close his ears,
as the ladies were doing.
The explosion did not take place for a couple of minutes. It had been
considered prudent to have a very long fuse. The expectation of the
company turned almost to anguish; every eye was fixed upon the red
rock; some spectators fancied they could see it moving, and timid ones
expressed a fear of being struck by the fragments. At last there was
a low reverberation, and the rock split, while a number of fragments,
twice the size of a man's fist, shot up into the air amidst the smoke.
Then everybody went away; and on all sides one could hear the same
question repeated, 'Don't you smell the powder?'